SABINE TROENDLE

Foreword

by David Hugh McSwiggan

 

 

It’s an honour to introduce readers to Belfast Reliable News and its anchor Sabine Troendle, a Swiss professional photographer, writer and artist. She has spent the past seven years seamlessly integrating her many skills into a multidisciplinary field research approach to capturing something of life in Northern Ireland’s capital and beyond. Her findings, which initially appeared as periodical broadcasts through the Belfast Reliable News blog, are now elegantly collected in this book.

 

Foreign correspondents were frequent fly-in visitors to a less peaceful Belfast during the heights of the now abated conflict. The late journalist Robert Fisk provides useful historical context to the conflict by tracing its roots to broader, more global and historical patterns of colonialism, imperialism, racism and sectarianism –

 

After the allied victory of 1918 ... the victors divided up the lands of

their former enemies. In the space of just seventeen months, they

created the borders of Northern Ireland, Yugoslavia and most of the

Middle East. And I have spent my entire career – in Belfast and

Sarajevo, in Beirut and Baghdad – watching the peoples within

those borders burn.  Robert Fisk, 2006

 

The Belfast that Sabine found herself in 2017 may no longer have been dramatically ablaze as witnessed by Fisk. Post-conflict, post-Brexit, Belfast is a different city. Yet a century on from the partition of Ireland and approaching the 100th birthday of the northern state, something still smoulders enough, to draw her attention and become the focus and subject for the next instalment of reliable news – Belfast Reliable News offers a reflection on this place still grappling with the aftermath of violent conflict, cultural and political division.

 

In an early chapter Sabine confides in us that before coming to Belfast, what initially drew her focus were stories that seemed so ‘absurd and bizarre’ – like the now discontinued policy whereby broadcast voices of politicians were dubbed by actors. Just one example of things that seem anachronistic to a Swiss yet accepted, in Belfast, as part of the furniture of the place.

 

Switzerland, globally perceived as a wealthy secure nation where

multilingualism and multiculturalism have long been normalised, contrasts

greatly with Belfast. Sabine’s previous posting, in the US at the helm of Texas Reliable News, perhaps gave better prep for this place and sowed the seeds of a more expansive practice. Both Texas and Ireland are contested political landscapes, shaped by the legacy of conflict and struggle. Texas fought for independence from Mexico in the 19th century, culminating in revolution and the establishment of the Republic of Texas before joining the federal United States. To this day there are anxieties about borders, patriotism and ongoing discussions about state rights versus federal authority.

 

This – allegedly new – post-truth era of culture wars, alternative facts, corporate, military, and government infused media, is actually not unfamiliar to people and places challenged by post-colonial legacy. In this environment ‘reliability’ has always taken on enhanced meaning. Jörg Huber, in his essay accompanying Texas Reliable News, speculates the importance of physical presence and immersive approach in giving Sabine’s storytelling reliability and authenticity –

 

Reliability. ‘From a reliable source ...’ assures the news business –

‘due to a presence’ the Reliable News would say. We can rely on the

reports, not because ‘it was so’, but because someone was there.

Someone showed up, was there, took their time, noticed. Registered

pictures, looked, experienced, read literature and newspapers, talked

to people, tried to live there and wanted to send this life out to others

in order to enable participation.  Jörg Huber, 2015

 

The Belfast Reliable News approach is unconventional. Unlike archetypal foreign correspondents or photojournalists of yesteryear, the work is not confined by the constraints of traditional journalism or the superficial aesthetics of coffee table photo-art books. Instead, Belfast Reliable News is a self-directed, self-funded endeavour driven by a pursuit of artistic freedom and authenticity. Based in the New Lodge in Belfast’s north inner-city, adopting a fieldwork approach akin to a social researcher, Sabine gathers and intricately weaves together stories of Belfast’s grassroots communities.

 

Collaborating with activist organisations such as Participation and the Practice of Rights or Gael Force Art, fostering often reciprocal relationships with her subjects, readers are offered an unfiltered glimpse into lived experiences. By challenging and blurring the lines between photographer, journalist, artist, and activist and yet avoiding polemic tones, what evolves is a nuanced conversation with oneself and with the city. The path taken leads Sabine to navigate the intricate webs of everyday life in a divided society, unearthing underlying questions that, for her, shape a truer narrative of the city. The scope and range of news topics that emerge over 18 themed chapters is ambitious. The work transcends mere documentation; it challenges the dominant narratives shaped by media and politics, inviting readers to question the prevailing discourse on conflict resolution and healing.

 

Belfast Reliable News investigates how the media uses power to frame the narrative of Belfast for both domestic and foreign audiences. It highlights past absurdities like the broadcasting ban and explores how censorship shaped perceptions. It delves into the challenges of accurately depicting conflict in literary fiction and how domestic authors are finding their voices in a newly emerging creative space free of threat of violence and censorship and general disinterest of editors to anything beyond simplified orange versus green tribal storylines.

 

Belfast Reliable News discusses the lack of abortion services in the North and the repeal of the 8th amendment south of the border. It highlights the rise of secularism and support for women’s rights and explores how grassroots activists and arts organisations serve as a counterbalance to mainstream media indifference, undertaking community action in the face of housing crises and entrenched sectarianism. It celebrates cultural identity and linguistic resilience in the face of historical and contemporary challenges and critiques the evolution of grassroots organisations into publicly funded institutions by shedding light on the neutralisation of radicalism that often accompanies shifts in funding dynamics.

 

Housing emerges as a central theme in Belfast Reliable News, encapsulating the struggles and aspirations of Belfast’s communities. The photographs and writing unveil the stark realities of the housing crisis, highlighting the conflict between housing needs and financial models, as well as the impact of neoliberal policies, territorialism and sectarianisation of housing,   illustrating how the tenuous nature of home compounds the trauma experienced by communities.

 

The Belfast Reliable News lens also captures the complexities of justice and reconciliation. From the inquests into tragic events like the Springhill Massacre to the ongoing struggle for accountability in cases like the suspicious death of Noah Donohoe and murder of Ian Ogle, it explores the challenges faced by families seeking justice in a system marred by state secrecy and alleged protection of intelligence assets. Belfast Reliable News questions the continued existence of paramilitary groups and their involvement in criminality.

 

Belfast Reliable News critiques security-focused redevelopment strategies of the past, noting their reinforcement of spatial and cultural division. It explores the detrimental effects on mental health and community cohesion, the persistence of ‘peace lines’ underscoring the enduring divisions that haunt the city and contextualises antisocial behaviour against the backdrop of austerity cutbacks, highlighting the growing class divide, exacerbated by gentrification and failed investment in working-class communities.

 

100 years after its creation, the border, both visible and intangible, looms large in Belfast Reliable News, particularly in the wake of Brexit, as calls for a border poll gain momentum and old wounds are re-opened across the island and beyond. The photographs and storylines of Belfast Reliable News serve as a reminder of the fragile and hard won peace that hangs in the balance.

 

It only remains to thank Sabine for the dedication to her practice and her courageous hard work also to encourage readers to ‘tune in’ and enjoy Belfast Reliable News. News that defies categorisation, transcending the traditional boundaries of photo-journalism and writing on Belfast, offering a refreshing perspective on the city’s social and political landscape.

 

When signing off in the final broadcast of Texas Reliable News Sabine reminds the reader and impresses upon us, something we must take as the motto and the moral of the reliable news project –

 

Remember this – she says – We Don’t lie, but neither do we tell the whole story.