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Artist's depiction of massacre inspires Bloody Sunday mural

An iconic work by one of Ireland's most celebrated artists has been adapted to mark this year's Bloody Sunday anniversary.

Robert Ballagh has given permission for his work, which is based on Spanish painter, Goya's The Third of May 1808, to be in turn used as inspiration for a mural depicting the massacre on the site of many of the Bloody Sunday deaths in 1972.

The artist was in Derry yesterday at the official unveiling of the work. The mural will remain in place at Glenfada Park in Derry's Bogside throughout the anniversary events, which culminate in the annual Bloody Sunday march on February 2.

Dubliner, Ballagh is well known for his designs of irish postage stamps as well as the last series of irish banknotes before the introduction of the euro. His work is often of a highly political nature and is held in many leading galleries.

He is also a much sought-after theatre set designer. One of his most famous works was the set for the internationally acclaimed Riverdance. Although he parted company with the Riverdance team over its decision to perform in Israel.

The Derry mural is a reworking of Ballagh's The Third of May - After Goya. The Dublin artist's 1970 work was in response to the decision to deploy British soldiers onto the streets of Derry and Belfast the previous year.

The original work by the Spanish artist depicted the murder of hundreds of Madrid citizens at the hands of napoleon's invading armies. The Goya work showed the execution of the Spanish citizenry over

their resistance to napoleon in 1808 during the Peninsular War. One of the group behind the Glen fada Park mural, Jim Keys said they were delighted that Mr Ballagh gave his permission for his work to be used in Derry.

"It's perfect. It's about the massacre of ordinary people by imperialist forces so it has obvious links with Bloody Sunday," Mr Keys said.

"We also tweaked Robert's work a little. We included the backdrop of the city walls and the old Walker's Monument (dedicated to a Siege of Derry leader) on the walls as the backdrop.

"The Walker Monument was blown up in 1973 so it would have still been there at the time of Bloody Sunday," Mr Keys said.

Yesterday's official launch was attended by Mr Ballagh who said he was delighted to give permission for his work to be used for this year's commemoration.