Silent Testimony is a new display at the National Portrait Gallery, featuring eighteen large-scale portraits by Belfast-born artist, Colin Davidson.
Connected by the theme of loss, the display will reveal – through portraiture – the personal stories and experiences of those whose lives were impacted, and continue to be affected, by the Troubles.
It is a true privilege to see ‘Silent Testimony’ installed at the National Portrait Gallery. First shown in Belfast in 2015, this exhibition is, not only my personal response to the lived legacy of the Troubles, but a comment on the fall-out of all conflict. These eighteen people represent the many thousands who daily pay the price for everyone else’s peace. ‘Silent Testimony’ is not about the past – it is about right now – what is left behind. I continue to be indebted to my eighteen sitters and their families for entrusting me with their stories. My continued thanks to WAVE Trauma and National Museums NI. My sincere appreciation also goes to Dr. Alison Smith and all those at the National Portrait Gallery who have made this display possible.
Colin Davidson Artist
Eighteen large-scale portraits, painted by the Belfast-born artist, Colin Davidson, are set to be displayed at the National Portrait Gallery between 22 April 2024 and 23 February 2025. First displayed at the Ulster Museum in Belfast and most recently exhibited at Stormont’s Parliament Buildings and the Irish Arts Center in New York, the free display, titled Silent Testimony, will tell the stories of individuals whose lives were impacted, and continue to be affected by the Troubles, a 30-year period of conflict in Northern Ireland.
Painted between 2014 and 2015, the portraits are connected by each sitter’s shared experience of personal loss. From friends and family members injured and killed to those who witnessed extreme violence, the portraits speak to the impact of conflict on individuals, as well as wider communities in Northern Ireland and beyond.
The National Portrait Gallery tells the stories of those who have shaped, and continue to shape, the United Kingdom as it is today, so it’s important to have these eighteen portraits – so striking in their scale – now hanging on our walls. Each face in Colin Davidson’s ‘Silent Testimony’ tells a powerful and moving story that reminds us of the impact of The Troubles on individual lives.
Dr. Alison Smith Chief Curator, National Portrait Gallery
Colin Davidson received an Art and Design degree from the University of Ulster (1987-91) and an Honorary Degree in Art from Queen’s University (2016). His many portrait sitters have included HM The Late Queen Elizabeth II, President Bill Clinton, Brad Pitt and Ed Sheeran. He has participated in the Gallery’s acclaimed painting competition – now named the Herbert Smith Freehills Portrait Award – three times, winning the Visitor’s Choice Award in 2012. In 2021, he was installed as Chancellor of Ulster University.
About the sitters – Silent Testimony
John Gallagher: John Gallagher’s father, John (29), was shot dead on 14 August 1969 in Armagh. He was married with three young children, one of whom was later injured in a landmine attack in Armagh on 24 July 1990. John Junior was six years old at the time of his father’s death.
Flo O’Riordan: Flo O’Riordan’s son, Sean (13), was killed on 23 March 1972 on Cawnpore Street in west Belfast. Sean received a gunshot wound to the back of the head and died a short time later in hospital. He was the second of six children. Flo O’Riordan died in 2021.
Mo Norton: Mo Norton’s brother, Terence Griffin (24), was one of twelve people killed when a bomb exploded on a coach on the M62 in England, on 4 February 1974. Mo recalls the family not knowing if Terence was caught in the bomb until they saw one of his record sleeves by the road on a lunchtime television report.
Thomas O’Brien: Thomas O’Brien was bereaved on 17 May 1974. His brother, John (23), sister-in-law, Anna (22), and two nieces, Jacqueline (17 months) and Anne Marie (5 months), were killed when a no-warning car bomb exploded as the young family were walking along Parnell Street in Dublin. A total of thirty-three people lost their lives that day, in separate bombings in Dublin and Monaghan.
Anna Cachart: Anna Cachart’s father, Patrick (36), was shot dead on 1 April 1975 in Carrickfergus. Patrick, who was born in India, had married a woman from Belfast and together they had three children. He was killed at home in front of his wife while his young children were asleep upstairs.
Maureen Reid: Maureen Reid’s husband, and father of their ten children, James (44), was killed on 17 January 1976, when a bomb was thrown into the Sheridan Bar in the New Lodge district of Belfast. Maureen never remarried and raised her family on a widow’s pension. Throughout the years, Maureen referred to James as ‘Daddy’. She passed away on 25 March 2015 with her family by her side.
Damien McNally: Damien McNally’s father, Paul (26), was shot on 5 June 1976 in the Ardoyne district of Belfast. Paul and a friend were crossing Brompton Road, after leaving a bookmakers in the early afternoon, when two gunmen approached them. Paul died in hospital two days after the attack, knowing his injuries would be fatal. Damien was four months-old and his sister, Karen, was four years of age.
Walter Simons: Walter Simon’s son, Eugene (26), disappeared on 1 January 1981. Eugene was a father of three children and had recently remarried following the death of his first wife. He was due to become a father again. Eugene’s body was recovered in May 1984, when a bog in County Louth was drained. His remains were identified by the rose gold Celtic cross worn round his neck, which had belonged to his first wife. Walter Simons died in 2019.
Johnnie Proctor: Johnnie Proctor’s father, John (25), was killed on 14 September 1981. Johnnie was born the day before, and his father was visiting the Mid Ulster Hospital in Magherafelt to see his wife and new born son when he was shot dead in the hospital car park. Johnnie was named after his father.
Margaret Yeaman: Margaret Yeaman was injured on 15 March 1982. She was working in an estate agents in Banbridge when a no-warning car bomb exploded close by. Much of the town was destroyed. Margaret sustained serious facial injuries, requiring over 100 stitches, and was permanently blinded. She was the mother of four young children at the time. Margaret is now a grandmother, but grieves that she will never be able to see her grandchildren.
Virtue Dixon: Virtue Dixon’s daughter, Ruth (24), died in a bomb attack in Ballykelly on 6 December 1982. Ruth was celebrating her birthday in the Droppin Well public house when there was an explosion, causing the roof to collapse. Sixteen other people lost their lives in the attack. A witness tells of hearing the DJ play ‘Happy Birthday’ for Ruth at the moment the bomb exploded. Ruth’s son, who was six at the time of her death, died suddenly when he was aged thirty.
Jeff Smith: Jeff Smith and a colleague were driving near Kinawley, close to the border in County Fermanagh, on 18 June 1985, when their Ford Sierra was caught in a landmine explosion. As a result of his injuries, Jeff was left permanently paralysed. His colleague, William Robert Gilliland, died in the attack.
Paul Reilly: Paul Reilly’s daughter, Joanne (20), was killed on 12 April 1989 in Warrenpoint. Joanne had been working in a builder’s yard when a no-warning bomb exploded beside her office. She was killed instantly. The sitting for this portrait took place in Joanne’s bedroom, kept exactly as she had left it that day. The clock on the wall is stopped at 9.58am, the time of her death.
Paul Reilly: Paul Reilly’s daughter, Joanne (20), was killed on 12 April 1989 in Warrenpoint. Joanne had been working in a builder’s yard when a no-warning bomb exploded beside her office. She was killed instantly. The sitting for this portrait took place in Joanne’s bedroom, kept exactly as she had left it that day. The clock on the wall is stopped at 9.58am, the time of her death.
Mary Finnis: Mary Finnis’ son, Rory (21), was shot dead in June 1991. Rory’s body, displaying evidence of torture, was found barefoot and hooded behind shops in the Creggan Estate in Derry. He had last been seen with a close friend in a city centre pub five days before his body was found on 6 June 1991. Mary still lives surrounded by photographs and mementoes of her son. Rory’s son was just eighteen months-old at the time of his death.
Jean Caldwell: Jean Caldwell’s husband, Cecil (37), was killed on 17 January 1992, when a landmine was detonated at Teebane Crossroads on the main road between Omagh and Cookstown. He and seven colleagues died, and many others were injured, when the bomb destroyed their work van as they travelled home for the weekend. Cecil and Jean had two girls.
Fiona Kelly: Fiona Kelly’s father, Gerry Dalrymple (58), was killed on 25 March 1993, when gunmen opened fired on the van in which he and his colleagues were travelling in Castlerock. The workmen had been carrying out building and renovation work for some months in the seaside town. Three other men died in the attack. Gerry Dalrymple lived in Rasharkin and was the father of six children.
Emma Anthony: Emma Anthony’s father, Frederick (38), was killed on 13 May 1994 in his home town of Lurgan by an under-car booby trap bomb. His family were with him in the car. Emma, then three years of age, was seated behind her father and sustained serious injuries. She was not expected to survive. Emma still lives with the impact of her injuries.
Stuart McCausland: Stuart McCausland’s mother, Lorraine (23), was beaten to death by a gang on 8 March 1987. Lorraine’s body was found face-down in a stream near Tynedale Community Centre in Belfast. She was a single mother of two boys, Stuart and Craig. Eighteen years later, on 11 July 2005, Craig (20) was shot dead in front of his girlfriend and her two young children.
Silent Testimony, 22nd April 2024 and 23rd February 2025, National Portrait Gallery –
Room 14, Level 3, Free
This display at the National Portrait Gallery was made possible with the assistance of WAVE Trauma Centre Belfast and National Museums NI.
