12 faces, 45 years hunger strike commemorative banner

At first glance

This is a single object, a large banner created to commemorate republican hunger strikers.

Looking closer

Some of the faces belong to the most recognisable names associated with the 1981 hunger strike, but the history represented here takes us back further. It also includes photographs of republican prisoners Michael Gaughan and Frank Stagg, who died in England in the 1970s.

In the film above, historian Tom Hartley and Joe Austin, Chairperson of the National Graves Association Belfast, explain the significance of this banner within the Republican community.

Tom was Chair of the POW committee during the 1981 Hunger Strike. Joe is a former Belfast City Sinn Féin Councillor. Together they recall friendships and personal connections with some of the men pictured and reflect on the importance of preserving these stories.

One banner, a longer history 

This banner was carried through West Belfast during the National Hunger Strike Commemoration in August 2025. 

Its portraits include the ten republication prisoners who died during the 1981 Hunger Strike in the Maze/Long Kesh prison, during a protest connected to the removal of Special Category Status. This was and remains one of the most divisive periods of the Troubles. It is central the Republican narrative of the conflict, with the prison symbolising state oppression. The election of Bobby Sands in the Fermanagh and South Tyrone by-election in 1981 represented a strategic shift in the republican campaign and heralded the emergence of Sinn Fein as a significant force in local politics. 

At the same time, it was a period associated with a steep rise in violence, including a campaign targeting prison officers outside the prison. 

We are actively collecting oral histories associated with this period through our Voices of ’81 project. This brings together diverse range perspectives from across the social and political spectrum, and will examine the impact of conflict on people and communities, and its continuing legacy. It builds upon previous oral history projects such as Voices of ’74.  

We are currently planning a major exhibition at the Ulster Museum on Prisons during the Troubles for 2028.  This will draw upon our extensive collections across history and art. You can explore an important element of this – the Northern Ireland Prison Service Collection.

45 years later, this banner reveals a longer and perhaps less familiar history of hunger strike, while also highlighting how people and events connected to conflict are remembered, represented and preserved.

From commemoration to collection 

Objects can help us explore experiences.

Through Troubles and Beyond, the Ulster Museum works with people and communities with different perspectives and experiences of the Northern Ireland conflict and its legacy.

Alongside preserving objects, we seek to record the personal and community stories connected with them: who made and used them, what they meant to people at the time, and what they can tell us today.

Collecting an object such as this banner does not mean asking visitors to share the viewpoint it represents. Bringing different objects, experiences and perspectives into the museum creates opportunities to encounter histories beyond our own experience and reflect on how the past continues to influence the present.