Built to burn; designed to heal

Temple turned traditional associations with bonfire burning in Northern Ireland on their head

Bonfires have long been a part of Northern Ireland’s history. To some they are a time-honoured tradition, to others they create tension and division.

Artist David Best has a reputation for constructing huge, soaring temple structures at Burning Man in the Nevada Desert. Built with his volunteer Temple Crew, the structures have become a place for remembrance, their ritual burning an opportunity to let go of painful memories.

Artichoke planned to bring David to Derry~Londonderry to build a shared structure that would enable the local community to let go of the past and look to the future.

Over two years, we worked to realise the project. A Kickstarter campaign raised over £30,000 in 40 days. Finally, David arrived in early 2015 with his Temple Crew to begin work.

Joining 40 local unemployed volunteers, the team battled through rain, snow and high winds to build the 72ft high structure. Its timber frame was clad with intricate panels, some of which had been designed and cut by young people in the Nerve Centre’s Fablab.

Temple belonged to everyone: from the donors around the world who supported the project to the many people across Derry~Londonderry who helped build the structure and every single person who came to see it.

Up to 60,000 people visited over the seven days it was open, covering the inside of the structure and its central pillar with personal messages. They included a delegation from the Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace, founded by families of victims of the 1993 IRA bomb attack in Warrington, and the family of PSNI Constable Philippa Reynolds, who was killed in 2013 when a stolen 4×4 vehicle crashed into her police car in Derry, as well as many family members from all sides of the ‘Troubles’.