Thank you for visiting! Extramural Activity is …
(1) a map/database of the wall paintings in Northern Ireland/north-east Ireland. The database is accessed via the maps. There is one map showing all the wall paintings ever, and another showing only those that are currently visible.
(2) a collection of images and information about them. The collection of images is searchable using the tools in the side-bar. You can also scroll through the entries below — the newest works are at the top. If you want a feed of the latest art, “follow” us using one of the methods in the side-bar — a new entry is added (almost) every day.
(3) a set of “Visual Histories”, that is, pages describing and illustrating the history, trends, and common motifs in muraling and street art, e.g. Cú Chulaınn murals, the Bobby Jackson murals, Free Derry Corner, the International Wall, murals with Iron Maiden’s Eddie The Trooper, etc., etc.
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Street art by emic (ig) and Alana Barton (ig) for the Carrickfergus Women’s Group (Fb).
Thomas Street, Carrickfergus.
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Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
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Tosaíonn An Domhan Ar Leac An Doraıs
“Think global, act local – [the world begins on the doorstep]”. This environmental message is by UV Arts (ig) at Buncrana Youth Club, Castle Avenue, Buncrana, Co. Donegal (Inish Live), painted for Children In Crossfire (web | see also Derry Lama, A Wall For All, and Break The Bias).
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Copyright © 2024 Andy McDonagh/Eclipso Pictures (ig | Fb)
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The Craigavon Two
“There is no lie big enough to cover the shame of jailing two innocent men #JFTC2”. Brendan McConville and John Paul Wootton were convicted of the 2009 murder of Constable Stephen Carroll (BBC), and sentenced to life with 25-year and 18-year minimums, respectively. The case is under review (Guardian | An Phoblacht).
This RNU (Fb) board also appeared on Northumberland Street in west Belfast.
Berwick Road, Ardoyne, north Belfast. For the Fıanna mural, see Gal Greıne. For the pro-Palestine board, see Old Is The New New. For the right-most board, see Óglach Sean McCaughey.
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T = Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
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Born For A Storm
The family of “Andrew Jackson 1767-1845”, seventh president of the United States, hailed from Carrickfergus (Discover Ulster-Scots | Carrickfergus History) and there is a period cottage that functions as a museum on the site of the home from which his parents and two older brothers departed (Discover NI).
There is a Visual History page on Ulster-Scots murals. A series of murals was painted, beginning in 1999, under the title ‘Pioneers To Presidents’, the last of which was of Andrew Jackson in the lower Shankill in 2007. Why he was chosen as the subject of this new mural in Pinewood Avenue, Sunnylands, Carrickfergus, is as yet unknown.
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Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
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How About This For Art?
Here is a gallery of three waves of painting (24 pieces) from the Project 24 space (Spectator) on Queen’s Parade, Bangor. From top to bottom, the images are from late March, the bank holiday at the start of April, and mid April. (The wall was also painted in January – see Stop Ruining Art.)
Above is a self-portrait by artist Jossie Pops (Johnny Hamilton) (ig) who also painted the portrait of actor Gerard Butler immediately below. Shortly, after, RickyDrewAPiccy added a piece between these two – a robot with the words “Don’t drink flat whites. Don’t wear massive coats. Don’t be a robot.” (Fb) – but it was quickly replaced by the Codo heads (under ‘April 7th’, below).
Good Boys by Ana Fish (ig)
Seahorse by ?
Quest Love by Chop Suey (ig)
Utility box painted by Codo (ig)
April 7th
Bananas 4 You and How About This For Art by ?
Fish by HMConstance (ig)
Octopus by Cha Cha/Carla Hodgson (ig) (see previously her 2021 octopus in This Is Not The Same As Other Days)
Witch by Ana Fish (ig), replacing Jossie Pops’s self-portrait
Heads by Codo (ig)
[Gerard Butler remains untouched]
Sleeping Dog by Jo Pearson (ig) replaces Ana Fish’s Good Boys.
Groundskeeper Willie (from The Simpsons) by ?
Dandelions by Imogen Donegan (ig)
Surfer by Soaring Tides (ig)
“Love” by Benjomac (ig)
All-Seeing Eye by Dara Condon (ig)
The Caterpillar by ?
A utility box painted by Codo (ig)
April 21st
Orangutan by ?
Writing by ? replaces Dandelions
Captain Pikachu by ? replaces Surfer
Wide shot. The gable on the left is Ward Park 3 by Friz.
“Key to 2024” Penguin and Luxo Jr by ?
Dory by ?
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Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
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The Lion Of Judah
“But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.”” Isaiah 43 continues: “When you pass through the waters I will be with you … When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched.” Thus, although the text is addressed to Jacob/Israel and the lion is a symbol of Jacob’s son Judah, whose eponymous tribe later gives its name to the Jews, Christians interpret it more generally as a promise to all believers.
In this way, this new board at Rehoboth Evangelical Mission in Mount Vernon is perhaps in the same tradition as the previous board, with its quote from John 11 (in the New Testament) promising that believes shall never die (shown last, below).
The inclusion of the flag of modern Israel which dates back to the Zionist movement in the late 1800s, however, gives this board a political edge, seeming to make it a token of support for Israel in its current conflict with Hamas and attack on the Gaza Strip. (The roaring lion and the lightning also give a sense of physical power.) As such, it would be (to our knowledge) the first printed board in support of Israel and an advance over the more typical flying of the Israeli flag.
Hill & White (2007 – paywall) begin their article with a survey of newspaper articles (including this free piece in Salon) about the flying of Israeli flags in Northern Ireland in 2002, explaining the practice as a response to the flying of Palestinian flags during the Second Intifada (p. 33) and an expression of admiration for Israeli’s use of physical force against its minority population (p. 37). The first appearance of an Israeli flag in the Peter Moloney Collection is from 2006, at a republican bonfire site.
If the Rehoboth board is counted as religious rather than political, the most sophisticated graphical expression of PUL support for Israel is the small paste-up seen in Ulster Supports The People Of Israel. (There is also implicit support for Israel in the board in Peter’s Hill to John Henry Patterson, which includes amongst his other exploits – Operation Lion – his role as Godfather Of The Israeli Army.)
See also: PUL swastika graffiti 1985 | 1993 | 2008 | BelTel 2015
See also: Rehoboth The Well
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Still Standing
The WHO and UNRWA now estimates that of the 34,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza, about 14,000 were children (Egypt Today). 18 were killed in a single explosion in Rafah yesterday (AP). This new board in west Belfast illustrates the disparity between Israeli forces and ordinary Palestinians by showing children in ragged clothing armed only with a single, odd-looking (AI hallucinated?), slingshot facing off against other children armed was assault rifles and wearing riot gear.
Of the RNU social media handles along the bottom, only the Facebook and TikTok ones actually work.
Previously, from 2018: RNU Stands With Palestine.
Northumberland Street, Belfast.
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Copyright © 2024 Extramural Activity
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The Men Of 108th Brigade
In the Great War, the men from Ballyclare generally joined the 12th (Central Antrim) battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles (the emblem of which is on the left), and were assigned to the 108th brigade along with others from south Antrim and County Down.
The wear on this mural suggests that it might have been painted (by Dee Craig – Fb) at the same time as Ballyclare Remembers, for the centenary of the Somme; there is no record of it in any of the usual sources or Dee’s page.
Rashee Ct, Ballyclare
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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Woodstock Wader
The grey heron is common throughout Ireland (Ulster Wildlife) including the walls of the Cregagh Road (the side of Haus Of Hair, site of Glen Molloy’s tribute to Carrie Fisher).
The work is by Sheffield artist Peachzz (ig), organised by Cregagh-Woodstock Traders (Fb) with support from Belfast City Council (web).
Also in the Woodstock-Cregagh project: Down The Woodstock | Up The Cregagh | Back On The Streets
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Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
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Stand Up And Speak Out
Here is a survey of the republican boards along Central Drive, Creggan. Above, “Victory to Hamas” graffiti has been added to emic’s Younger Days street art. The piece immediately below was seen in Victory To The PFLP, and the anti-extradition piece was seen previously in the 2022 post covering Central Drive. The other pieces – “Stop crown force harassment”, the 1981 hunger strike board, the “struggle for equality and social justice” board, and the IRPWA board, are all new.
“Bear witness to both right and wrong, stand up and speak out.” is from day two (March 2nd) of Bobby Sands’s hunger strike diary (Sands Trust).
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Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
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