PUL

Woodvale OK

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“#ItsOKToTalk” “This art project was completed as part of Alternative – Safer Areas For Everyone (SAFE) project. The young people involved identified mental health as the theme for their art project and incorporated positive mental health messages & support numbers to highlight the issue. The group also identified the “Steps” area as the location for the art work, to help brighten up the area which had become unsightly, neglected and a focus for anti-social behaviour. This project also engaged with the residents through door to door surveys, provided information leaflets on support services and organised community clean ups to help improve community pride & spirit in the area. Special thanks to Jamie, Dylan, Kyle, Corey and Mason who showed positive leadership in their community, to street artist Emic & Sam from Signlink for the art work & graphics and to the local residents and young people who were involved in the clean ups. SAFE Shankill is supported by the The Executive Office through Communities In Transition programme.”

For the steps, see previously: Steps To Mental Health

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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Better To Die On Your Feet

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This is the bonfire in Edgarstown, Portadown, a month shy of Eleventh Night, when it will be set alight. (The UVF banners will be removed before burning.) Since these images were taken on June 10th, a third “storey” has been added – see the Facebook page.

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Copyright © 2021 squire93@hotmail.com
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It’s A Secret

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“Shhhhhhhh, it’s a secret. Don’t tell anyone!” Who did this piece of street art? We don’t know. Maybe that’s the secret? Next to Mark Worst’s (ig | web) “The Muse/Erin” piece on Glendermott Road, in the Londonderry Waterside.

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Copyright © 2021 Andy McDonagh/Eclipso Pictures (ig | Fb)
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Steps To Mental Health

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Five steps to mental health – give, connect, be active, take notice, keep learning – and affirmations to live by – “This is me”, “You’re a superstar”, “I am what I am”, and “Simply the best“. Part of the Shankill SAFE (Safer Areas For Everyone – see the tarp below) project in the Woodvale, with support from Alternatives and the Communities In Transition programme.

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Copyright © 2020 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Deal Off!!

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Commentary from Tullyally Young Loyalists, who on their Fb page call for the collapse of Stormont and an end to the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement: “PSNI Out”, the “Deal [is] off!!” “FTP” is typically “eff the Provos” but here “P” might be “police”.

Previously from TYL: And The Cry Was “No Irish Sea Border”

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Copyright © 2021 Andy McDonagh/Eclipso Pictures (ig | Fb)
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Deserted! Well, We Can Stand Alone

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The well-known anti-Home Rule slogan used previously in various PUL murals (see Together We Stand Alone (2010), Female Guardians (2005), Deserted! Well I Can Stand Alone (2004), How Is Freedom Measured? (1989) and Deserted! Well – I Can Stand Alone (1988)) to express a sense of abandonment by Britain and fear of (what would initially be) “Southern Ireland” is found fitting for the present situation, in which Britain – by means of the NI Protocol – is abandoning Northern Ireland to Europe. “No surrender!”

For contrast, the shot below includes the Kitchener’s Own mural to the left: Britain Wants You!

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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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The Greater Shankill

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London street artist Dan Kitchener (web | tw | ig) is back on the Shankill (after recently completing Night Taxi) painting in an even bolder location: where Night Taxi was up around the bend in the Woodvale, the new piece – “Hope” – is at the bottom of the Shankill on Northumberland Street and moreover sits atop Conor’s Corner (2015 | 2021).

Both murals feature Tokyo landscapes (as is the case with Dan’s work) but a geisha is featured here rather than a familiar black taxi. “The wall is dedicated to Sandra- サンドラ. Sandra McCurry worked and owned Mikala’s Kitchen on The Shankill Road, Sandra worked tirelessly for the local community and sadly passed away” (Belfast Walking Tours Fb).

These two murals represent the strongest incursion of street art beyond the city centre and into “sectarian” areas. Reaction has been correspondingly mixed: while no one doubts the craftsmanship and aesthetic value, one twitter user (echoed by various others) asks “What is it’s [sic] relevance to the Shankill? Or is it just a lovely mural?” Dan has travelled in Japan and takes actress Ayumi LaNoire “the pole dancing geisha” (IMDb | vimeo | Afloat on vimeo) as muse (Inspiring City) but taken straightforwardly as a representation of a classical geisha this could appear an act of fetishising cultural appropriation. See also: DanK’s geisha in Belfast city centre, The Dream. See also: Visual History 11 on the rise of street art.

Conor’s Corner itself replaced a Shankill Protestant Boys mural.

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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Paint Your Community With Positivity

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An appeal for positive graffiti (or non-political murals??) languishing in a builder’s yard on Lanark way, similar to the mural in Castlemara – see Spray-On Culture (and a different tactic from the ‘Spray Is Not The Way’ board in Portadown a decade ago).

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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Come For One, Come For All

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In April, UK Defence minister Johnny Mercer resigned/was sacked due to his protestations over the Overseas Operations bill (which passed on April 29th but does not apply to service in NI (BBC)) and the prosecution of two soldiers for a 1972 killing of Joe McCann – they were acquitted (BelTel). Cases against British Army soldier will continue to be investigated, however, unless there is legislation introduced by the British government to deal with “legacy” issues in Northern Ireland. This VASU tarp is next to the Boundary Way waste ground, site of the lower Shankill bonfire. “Support the men who supported & protected us against Sinn Fein IRA – Soldier A-Z.”

See previously: Soldier A-Z.

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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Not All Superheroes Wear Capes

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During WWII, Tom Moore worked with motorcycles and tanks (rather than aircraft) in India and Burma (Myanmar) and achieved the rank of captain. He became famous during the pandemic for raising about 33 million pounds for NHS Charities during the pandemic. He died in February of this year, aged 100 (WP). He is honoured by this new mural in Tullyally, Londonderry.

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Copyright © 2021 Andy McDonagh/Eclipso Pictures (ig | Fb)
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