Painting from the Same Palette

Danny Devenny is perhaps the most prolific Irish muralist, having produced over 1500 murals in Belfast, Dublin, Galway, NY, Massachusetts, Liverpool, and elsewhere since the early 1970’s.  Originally trained as a graphic artist and designer for newspaper layouts and posters, he has worked throughout his life as a community artist.

Devenny is a former Irish Republican Army (IRA) prisoner.  He was arrested in 1973 while robbing a bank in Carryduff  for the IRA; wounded in this incident, he spent time in Musgrave Military Hospital before being sent to Crumlin Road Jail and then Long Kesh Concentration Camp.  He worked as a designer for Republican News on release from prison in December 1976 until he was arrested in April 1978 on trumped up charges.  When trial collapsed, he continued to produce the republican weekly ‘on-the-run.’  He oversaw the amalgamation of the Belfast weekly republican newspaper and the Dublin based An Phoblacht.  Devenny also worked as a graphic artist, newspaper layout designer, and poster designer for Sinn Fein throughout the 1980’s.  He was shot by the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) in an attack on Sinn Fein Headquarters in November 1981.

In the 1980’s, Devenny produced, directed and edited several documentaries and other media programmes for Sinn Fein and from 1993-1994, he directed and edited Sinn Fein broadcast videos for BBC.

His theatre credits include many production designs for republican and left wing plays.  He did set design for most of West Belfast’s Dubbeljoint Theatre Company’s productions; including Binlids, A Mothers Heart, Des, Black Taxis, Paddy on the Road, Remnants of Fear, The Voyage, Aladdin, Malachy Mulligan, and The Official Version.

Devenny has worked with both the West Belfast and Ardoyne festivals since their inception creating colour and sparkle for many of their carnival parades and shows.  He produced backdrops for the Angela Feeney Classical Bursary Awards, from 1994-1999.

Devenny’s mural skills have been requested by a multitude of commercial interests and his work has been commissioned for Hollywood films such as The Boxer, The Devil’s Own, Some Mother’s Son, The Everlasting Piece, Man on the Run, 50 Dead Men Walking and the Most Fertile Man in Ireland.

Devenny continues to paint murals in Belfast and most recently he has worked with Mark Ervine and others to paint across communities.  Their murals have garnered significant international media attention.

In March 2009 the Jigsaw Mural project on which they worked won the Silver Award at the Belfast City Council’s Youth in the Community Award.