In Flanders’ Fields

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A Somme/WWI soldier contemplates a grave next to a hill of poppies. Mural on the shutters of the Peppercorn café in east Belfast.

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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04046 Woodstock Rd

The Glass Slipper

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In the folk tale, Cinderella gets her finery and glass slippers from a fairy godmother. Belfast folk must instead rely on The Glass Slipper, a dancewear shop in east Belfast specialising in ballet shoes and clothing.

Woodstock Road, east Belfast

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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04044

Free Gaza

A clash of priorities in Lower Garfield Street: “Free Gaza” – “Free your own country first #LegaliseSameSexMarriage”

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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04482

Uncensored Memorials

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Two images of mason’s shops in west and east Belfast. Above, on the Falls Road, McAdams Memorials, with IRPWA signs for “Uncensored Béal Feırste political tours” on the first floor. Below, Hamilton Memorials on Woodstock Road, with “Justice 4 Rings(?) RIP” on the side wall.

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X04031 X04008

End The Age Of The Dinosaurs

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More from the 2017 campaign (see also Tapaıgh An Deıs), this time a Labour party (WebFb) hoarding (this one for Courtney Robinson, standing in East Belfast), encouraging voters to “end the age of the dinosaurs” which has wrought “RHI scandal, NHS in crisis, LGBT and abortion rights denied, and sectarian squabbling” and vote for a “cross-community alternative”. The Ulster banner hangs from the light-pole.

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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04038 Woodstock Rd

Be My Valentine

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The movie adaptation of Fifty Shades Darker opened just before Valentine’s Day, with Holywood native Jamie Dornan starring as Christian Grey, the billionaire entrepreneur into BDSM – hence the rope heart in the VisualWaste mural shown above.

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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04035 north st

Culture Amid Commerce

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“The Belfast Scottish Association was founded in 1888 and headed by prominent businessmen, including Sir George Clark of Workman Clark and Andrew Gibson (pictured) whose Robert Burns collection is now housed in the Linenhall Library.”

This is the final entry in a series from discoverulsterscots.com about York Street businesses and Ulster Scots businessmen: Shipbuilding | London, Midland and Scottish | Workman Clark’s | Belfast Goods

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X03985 X03988

Never Again

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This is an old poster (dating to November 2012) still visible in Castle Street, calling for a march and vigil in remembrance of Savita Halappanavar, a 31-year-old Indian dentist living in Galway, who died from a septic miscarriage after being denied an abortion.

As a result of her death, the Protection Of Life During Pregnancy Act was signed into law in 2013, more than 20 years after the X Case, clarifying the issue of abortion in Ireland in the case of a threat to the mother’s life.

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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03510

Life Span

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There are 11 faces in the railings of the Royal Victoria Hospital, created by Bruce Williams and Avril Wilson in 2000, one for each decade in age from infancy to 100 years old. The letters “X” and “Y” run along the top of the helically-twisting railings between the portraits, representative of DNA. Included here are the portraits for 20, 80, and 50.

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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Make Art Not War

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Work by screen-printer Leo Boyd (Fb | Tumblr) in Belfast city centre. A tank gets a spray-can top for a turret.

Are you a robot? | Big Men Wail Hammers | When Urban Love Goes Wrong | Oh You Pretty Thing

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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03930