Cousins Francis Hughes (Ó hÁodha) and Thomas McElwee (Mac Gıolla Bhuídhe) were the second and ninth of the 1981 hunger strikers to die. They share a grave in St. Mary’s churchyard in their hometown of Bellaghy, Co. London-/Derry. The image above shows their gravestone “erected by the people of Co. Derry and Co. Antrim”.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03932 ı measc laochra na nGael go raıbh a nanamacha óglaıgh na héıreann IRA
These two murals of five women and five babies at the rear of the Maureen Sheehan health care centre are entering (at least) their eighth year of existence and are showing their wear due to both the natural and human causes, such as graffiti and burning (see previously: A Philosophy of Liberation). For the murals in better condition (in 2010) see M05732 and M05733.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03676 X03677
“Hasta siempre, Comandante” is a 1956 song celebrating the life of Che Guevara, with Fidel Castro appearing in the final verse to join the Cuban people in saying “Hasta siempre, Comandante” to Che as he departs Cuba for the Simba Rebellion in Congo. The slogan is here applied to Fidel himself on the occasion of his death in November 2016 at the age of 90.
Here is French singer Nathalie Cardone’s version on the song, which reached #2 in France and #1 in Belgium in 1997:
The Castro mural is next to one for fellow Marxist Salvadore Allende of Chile: see La Historia Es Nuestra.
See also Hasta La Victoria Siempre.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03997 1926-2016
IRPWA sticker on a road sign in Dalton St (Bridge End), east Belfast.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03368
Children’s drawings of houses complete a mural for the Equality Can’t Wait/Build Homes Now (Fb | web) mural that has remained unfinished for a long time on Northumberland Street – the intermediate stage in the last image below, beneath a lamppost sticker for the campaign.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03996 X03730 X03547
“¡Hasta la victoria siempre!” (“Ever onward to victory!”) was a saying of Che Guevara’s. It is used in this mural as a valediction to Che comrade and long-time Cuban leader Fidel Castro, who died at the end of November (2016). The portrait of Castro is perhaps this Korda image of Castro entering Havana after the deposition of Batista in 1959.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03998 Beechmount Ave
A Christian cross was added (in early 2015?) to the dove and oak leaf on Rossville Street, Derry. For a 2013 image of the previous version, see Network.
The official title of the work is The Peace Mural. For more, see the Visual History page on the Bogside Artists.
Bogside Artist William Kelly passed away today, 2017-01-10 (Derry Journal).
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03665
Two kids’ murals from the bottom of St James, where the ‘Garden Of Hope’ community farm is (and next to Music Is Our Drug), one showing various insects and the other (“St James Goes Wild”) showing the sun rising over a meadow of flowers.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
[X02933] X03556 X02936 [X02934] [X02935] rodney pde
Graffiti from the Republican School Of Shorthand in Creggan, Derry.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03597 Central Drive
The solidarity mural for the outlawed Basque Askatasuna (Freedom) party at the junction of the Falls and Glen Road has been repainted and extended with the Irish and Basque flags on one side and various calls for justice on the other: “Scaoıltear saor uılıg ıad – Free them all”, “Over 350 political prisoners in Spanish and French jails.” “Tugtar abhaıle na cımı Bascacha”, “End dispersal of Basque prisoners now”.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03968 X03967 X03969 X03966
Extramural Activity 