A timely release from Steidl brings together John Duncan’s photographs of bonfires built by Protestant communities in Belfast, Northern Ireland to be lit the evening before the annual July 12 celebrations. Each is depicted as an unlit, imposing structure piled together from wooden pallets and tyres. While post-ceasefire political progress has been lauded in the past decade, these images reveal the divisions that remain within parts of Belfast…
The bonfires still represent a form of resistance, not least against the power of urban developers and the complaints of environmentalists. Shot from the middle distance, Duncan’s framing situates the bonfires within their wider social context while also implying an objectivity.
Indeed, there is an uneasy, latent power to these seemingly mundane structures as they await their final transformation.
Bonfires is published by Steidl (£20) and more images of Duncan’s work can be seen at johnduncan.info