Ballynougher Orange Hall Northern Ireland, 2024

(image only contribution)
Approximately 700 Orange Halls currently exist across the historic province of Ulster in Ireland. These traditional meeting places for the fraternal religious organisation known as the Orange Order are often contested spaces in post-conflict (Northern) Ireland. In a society that can no longer run on the ‘trusty’ binaries of the past, their gradual decline is symbolic of irreversible advances towards a more inclusive society. These halls can appear variously quaint, well-tended and accessible, vandalised and derelict, or fortress-like and impenetrable. While nature slowly reclaims some, others are being temporarily repurposed as shared community spaces, classrooms or childcare centres to attempt to secure their physical and financial survival.