‘Informers, You Have Been Warned’, Northern Ireland, 1976 (oil on board)

‘Informers, You Have Been Warned’, Northern Ireland, 1976. Oil and pencil on board and paper by Ralph Lillford, 1976. Between 1971 and 1976, drawn by an interest in the civil conflict, Ralph Lillford made repeated trips to Northern Ireland to draw what he saw in the streets. The artist’s practice of street-drawing inevitably attracted children, curious to see the results. In this symbolic picture, they have become hooded ?gures in imitation of members of Northern Ireland’s paramilitary organisations, while the wizard is intended to refer to politicians trying to ‘magic’ a resolution to the con?ict.