"My instructions from the powers to be was destroy it, no evidence, everything must be destroyed. But at the back of my mind I kept saying ´It's terrible that things like this should be destroyed, it should be kept. So I kept them, and I kept them locked away in one of the compounds in Long Kesh, for fifteen years. And I kept changing the locks so that nobody could get into it.
And in the end the prison's starting to wind down and being really interested to put the stuff on show I took it upon myself to approach a new security governor who had just arrived at the Maze I asked if he would give permission to bring out the stuff that we had hid in the Maze. He allowed a building, which was called the laundry, the old laundry building inside Long Kesh to be used for to put on a demonstration. And I was given the time for to do that, I was in my element then, this was me really going to war on what I had collected over the years. [...]
It was tradition in the prison service that there was never ever any evidence [of the] things that went on, everything was destroyed. The prison was taboo, and nothing was released, and nothing was told about what went on in prisons. Nobody knew ever, what went on in prison, only those people who worked in it. And for to take the risk and store stuff that should have been destroyed. You know sometimes I break into sweat thinking about it. Keeping journals, keeping records, keeping items that were found that were supposed to be destroyed, it doesn't bare thinking about (laughing). The guns that were made in the Maze, they were all supposed to be destroyed but we kept them." Billy Hull, 2003.
One of our funniest finds, was one of our staff went in to investigate a large quantity of tins that was in the Compounds. And whenever they broke open one of the seals, they found that it contained vodka. And what had happened was they had punctured the seal of the tin, drained the drink out; the lemonade out. And then, filled it with vodka or poteen. And then sealed it. And the tins were sitting unmarked, and untouched.
The material had been lying outside the Compound, after the search team left this material started to disappear. Staff became aware of this and subsequently all the material was removed and taken to a centre where it could be examined. After examination it was discovered that it was a lathe, that they had converted a sawing machine in to turning gun parts down from a lathe.
Billy's
Museum was previewed by:
Contemporary Magazine Dublin section, by Valerie Connor, Artist &
Freelance writer/curator. issue no 52/54.'03.
Be Magazine, #10, 2003. By Gerrit Golhke. A publication of Kunstlerhaus
Bethanien, Berlin.
On lone to The Musée international de la Croix-Rouge/The Museum of International Red Cross, Switzerland.
Reviewed by the Irish Examiner, 13th April 2005 by Joe McNamee Deputy Arts Editor
