Simply Devine



The Devine family ran several small businesses in North Belfast including a flower shop, a fruit- and-veg shop, and a café, serving their local community from the 1971 until 2015. These shops were not only a place of daily life, family, and connection, but also sites marked by sectarian violence, including several attacks and murder. Despite this, the Devine family continued to work, to serve, and to remain a steady presence of North Belfast.

When the shops closed in 2015, the family’s work did not end. Instead, it moved into the home. Bridal bouquets assembled at the kitchen table, funeral arrangements made in the shed, Christmas trees sold from the entryway. Mr. Devine still delivers fruit to local schools from his home. The values and resilience that defined the original shops remain, much like the memories, both cherished and traumatic, that were made there.



Simply Devine pairs archival photographs with new portraiture to explore how shared experiences, inherited trauma, and cultural identity shape the lives of ordinary people. The project seeks to create space for intergenerational dialogue and understanding of the past.