Women of Belfast IX

This sculpture depicts a woman being flung back by the impact of a bomb explosion and is part of a series of sculptures on the same subject. McWilliam was responding to a bomb explosion at the Abercorn Tea-Rooms in Belfast, which killed two women and injured 130 others during the most violent year in the history of The Troubles, 1972. The figure is not only a symbol for the women of Belfast but also for all the victims who perished in like circumstances at the height of The Troubles in the 1970s. The suffering figure can also be seen to represent the experience of people caught up in modern conflicts elsewhere in the world. This work forms part of Wolverhampton's collection on the theme of conflict and specifically The Troubles in Northern Ireland.