H-BLOCK HUNGER STRIKE POSTER. Hunger Strike. Support Their Demands.

Dublin: National Smash H-Block Committee, 30 Mountjoy Square, [1980–81]. Large original political poster, printed in black and white, featuring the stark image of two emaciated raised arms and hands beneath the legend “HUNGER STRIKE”, with “SUPPORT THEIR DEMANDS” below. Approx. 79 x 61cm. Original horizontal and vertical folds, with creasing and some marginal wear and short tears, otherwise a remarkably well-preserved example.

A powerful piece of Irish Republican political ephemera produced by the National Smash H-Block Committee during the H-Block prison protests and hunger-strike campaign. The Committee coordinated public opposition to the withdrawal of Special Category Status and campaigned in support of the prisoners’ five demands, which included the right not to wear prison uniform and not to perform prison work.

The stark graphic treatment – the wasted forearms terminating in raised hands – makes this an especially arresting visual document of the campaign. Posters of this nature were produced for immediate political use and survival in complete, unrestored condition is consequently uncommon. An evocative artefact of one of the defining episodes of the Northern Irish Troubles.

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