A PUPPET exhibition at the Ulster Museum in Belfast is to address some of the city's most taboo issues.
Peace Walls and Human Trafficking are just of the topics touched on as part of the Whispering Belfast exhibition, which includes 15 handmade puppets.
The project was developed by the Workers' Educational Association (WEA) with community groups in north and west Belfast, who made handcrafted puppets with an aim of exploring taboo topics which people rarely talk about out loud. Three of the puppets represent peace walls in Belfast.
The body of one of the puppets, which has an anonymous white mask for a face, has been decorated with maps of the city and newspaper clippings about the walls.
It is flanked by puppets of First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness. The puppets are hung in such a way that peace walls divide them.
At the same time, a whispered sound track plays, depicting local community frustration at the structures. "By using drama, story-gathering and visual art techniques, the demeanour and decoration of the puppets reflect how Belfast life has also shaped the characters of the participants," Carole Kane, from WEA, said.
The exhibition, which is part of August Craft Month, runs until August 27.
n PULLING STRINGS: Left, Doreen Quinn and, below, Amy Quigley at the launch of the Whispering Belfast exhibition yesterday
PICTURE: Hugh
Russell