A student makes their way through the cycles of the moon, with Pride pin, skull earring, and owl familiar (and horcrux scar on the cheek?) to guide the way.
Street art by emic (web) at Belfast Royal Academy on the Cliftonville Road, north Belfast.
God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son (John 3:16). And, greater love hath no man but to lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13, often used in the context of military sacrifice). But local homes are for local people. (The use of a stencil is a step up in sophistication.)
The Union Flag fills the empty frame where there used to be a list of locals who died in The Belfast Blitz.
39 Allied divisions – 12 of them British – participated in the Normandy Landings – officially “Operation Neptune” – that took place on June 6th, 1944; in planning for the operation, the original “D-Day” was June 5th, but bad weather postponed it until the following day, when 160,000 troops stormed the beaches of the Bay Of The Seine. By the end of August, Paris had been liberated, and by the following May, victory in Europe had been achieved. 2024 was the eightieth anniversary of D-Day and 2025 the eightieth anniversary of VE Day, on May 8th.
This D-Day board and VE Day mural are in Edlingham Street, Tiger’s Bay, north Belfast. Also included below is a WWI memorial electrical box opposite, though as can be seen from the board (immediately below) the ‘graveside mourner’ silhouette is becoming a generic symbol of lost UK forces.
Here are three stickers/paste-ups from illustrator and artist DEID (web) in Belfast city centre.
Above: “Слава Україні!” [Slava Ukraïni!] – a Ukranian soldier in front of a field of sunflowers gives the shaka/hang loose sign.
Immediately below: MAGA red-hats with an upside-down Stars And Stripes bring to mind David Bowie’s 1997 song “I’m afraid of Americans” (youtube).
Third, below, “Do you know the traffic warden?” Last below, “The end of the West?” – Donald Trump and JD Vance berate Ukranian president Vlodomir Zelenskyy in the White House in February, 2025 (PBS).
For an explanation of this latest message on Black Mountain, see Gael Force Art’s Facebook page. An Irish tricolour would later joing the lettering shown here, though the piece had a short life-span, as it was replaced a message supporting Kneecap (for background see Seas Le Kneecap).
As an apéritif for Hit The North 2025 many local artists painted on the “Belfast Stories” hoarding along North Street in mid-April. Here is a selection, from Wee Nuls (web), All The Doodz (ig), KVLR (web), Kilian (ig), and Graffic Belfast (ig). For all fifteen pieces, see the Paddy Duffy Collection.
For the previous art on these hoardings, see ‘Bout Ye?
The Bank Of Ireland building at the junction of North Street and Royal Avenue was purchased by the City Council in 2021 (Business Insider) with the intention of turning it into a visitor attraction called ‘Belfast Stories’ by 2030. The latest step in the process was a period of public consultation (BelTel). In the meantime, Leo Boyd (web) has taken over the boarded-up space that previously housed the ATM with an image of space invaders hovering over the building.
“Stop Wars” in the style of “Star Wars”, in the colours of the Palestinian flag and with a targeted Palestine for the “O”, on a sticker sponsored by “Apache Tribe Belfast – clothing for freaks”.
Castlebrooke Developments – the company behind the TriBeCa plan (for the TRIangle BEside the CAthedral) – will not renew applications for plans approved back in 2020. The slow/non-existent pace of development – a phenomenon that goes by the naming “planning blight” – has led the Cathedral Quarter Trust to consider buying some of the buildings from Castlebrooke, some of which have been vacant since 2000 (BelTel).