With the United Kingdom’s Brexit, Northern Ireland will also have to leave the EU – although most people here want to stay in the European Union. There is great concern that a hard border could revive the Northern Ireland conflict. Especially as the border region already offers few prospects. Toby Binder’s photo series “Wee Muckers” accompanies teenagers from six different Protestant and Catholic neighbourhoods of Belfast and offers a glimpse into the everyday life of a whole generation.

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»If I had been born at the top of my street, behind the corrugated-iron border, I would have been British. Incredible to think. My whole idea of myself, the attachments made to a culture, heritage, religion, nationalism and politics are all an accident of birth. I was one street away from being born my ‘enemy’«. Paul McVeigh, Belfast-born writer and author of the novel ‘The Good Son’.

Old conflicts may recur, compromising the youth’s future prospects

Photographer Toby Binder has been documenting the daily life of teenagers in British working-class communities for more than a decade. After the Brexit referendum he focussed his work on Belfast in Northern Ireland. There is a serious concern that Brexit will threaten the Peace Agreement of 1998 that ended the armed conflict between Protestant Unionists and Catholic Nationalists who live in homogeneous neighborhoods that are divided by walls till today. Old conflicts may recur, compromising the youth’s future prospects.

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Nevertheless, being underage, most teenagers were not allowed to vote in the referendum. Problems they struggle with are similar – no matter which side they live on. And whatever the effects of Brexit will be, it‘s very likely that they will strike especially young people from both communities.

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Whatever comes of Brexit, the ramifications will be felt by communities on both sides

The images of the project “Youth of Belfast” were photographed in six different neighborhoods of Belfast. Binder’s photo essay depicts the ubiquity of unemployment, drug crime, and violence afflicting Belfast’s youth, whether they live on one side of the “Peace Wall” or the other. Whatever comes of Brexit, the ramifications will be felt by communities on both sides. The project accompanies teenagers in six different Protestant and Catholic neighborhoods, providing an intimate and immediate insight into the daily lives of a whole generation.

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“Wee Muckers – Youth of Belfast” is a long term photography work by Toby Binder. The hard cover book is published by German Kehrer Verlag.

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The topos issue 104 deals with the topic “border” from different perspectives and sheds light on the impact borders have on people, political processes, landscapes and urban space.

This year the Scientific Committee of the Fondazione Benetton Studi Ricerche dedicates the International Carlo Scarpa Prize for Gardens to an impressive and historically significant site in Ireland: the Céide Fields site near Ballycastle, a small village on the north coast of County Mayo.

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The Céide Fields site consists of a Neolithic agricultural landscape with a geometric pattern of man-made structures. The place is characterized by an interplay of landscape, archaeology and human activities.

The International Carlo Scarpa Prize for Gardens is a study and care campaign for a place that is particularly rich in natural, historical and creative values. Since 1990, the Fondazione Benetton Studi Ricerche has organized the event annually.

Programme of the public events:

Saturday 12th May

Treviso, Fondazione Benetton Studi Ricerche, 9.30 am-1.30 pm
public seminar on the award-winning site

Treviso, Municipal Theatre, Corso del Popolo 31, 5-7 pm
public ceremony of the Carlo Scarpa Prize

Sunday 13th May

Treviso, Church of San Teonisto, Via San Nicolò 31, 6 pm
concert for Céide Fields: Ancient Irish Music