Siobhan O'Mahony, a volunteer with the LGBT Heritage Project NI, explores the significance of Louise Walsh's renowned sculpture Monument to the Unknown Woman Worker, located just outside Belfast’s Great Northern Mall. 

Created in response to a commission by the Department of the Environment, the sculpture was originally intended to reflect the city's historical red-light district with playful, cartoon-like figures. However, Walsh’s response reimagined the brief and sought to honour Belfast’s underpaid, working-class women, challenging the initial brief with a deeper, more critical depiction of labour and gender.
Dubbed by Walsh as a "covert dyke piece," the monument faced opposition from both the Belfast Development Office and the Belfast City Council, resulting in the project being cancelled in 1989. Despite these setbacks, a private developer recommissioned the work, and the sculpture was eventually unveiled in 1992.

O'Mahony provides a detailed analysis of the monument’s symbolic elements and design, while also shedding light on Walsh's broader body of work, connecting the piece to hidden aspects of LGBT+ history, framing the sculpture as a landmark in both feminist and queer art in Northern Ireland. O'Mahony presented this research as part of the 2021 Places of Pride online tour, which showcased significant sites in Belfast’s LGBT+ history.

• Rainbow Project