Belfast

The Re-Birth Of The Irish Republic

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03747-2016-08-14-atown-gpo

In addition to the seven signatories of the Proclamation of an Irish Republic, 9 other leaders of the Easter Rising were executed in the wake of the rebellion. The portraits of all 16 are part of the — newly refreshed — mural of Walter Paget’s painting The Birth Of The Irish Republic. The mural now includes a bright red phoenix. (For the original mural, and Paget’s painting, see the painting’s Visual History page.) In order of appearance, the 16 (with links to their WP pages) are …

             (Left-hand side)

  1. John MacBride
  2. Roger Casement
  3. Thomas MacDonagh
  4. Éamonn Ceannt
  5. Thomas Kent
  6. Con Colbert
  7. Michael Mallin
  8. Edward Daly
  9. Michael O’Hanrahan
  10. Willie Pearse
  11. Seán Heuston
    (Right-hand side)
  12. James Connolly
  13. Joseph Plunkett
  14. Patrick Pearse
  15. Tom Clarke 
  16. Seán Mac Diarmada

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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03747 andersonstown road provisional government

Music Is Our Drug

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Five images of the St. James Youth mural on Rodney Parade across from the farm: “Music is our drug – R speaker is R dealer” and “Mates do hugs, not drugs”.

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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03835 X03836 X03554 X03555 X03834 [X02937] [X02938] [X02939] [X02940] [X02941] [X02942] dan devine inverness FC ruari dalton all-ireland boxing stephen webb boxer joseph mccall music promoter irish champion dee walsh professional boxer stephen hall snooker bam neeson GAA

Bilal Kayed

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03797 2016-08-23 Bilal Kayed+

“RNU stands with hunger striker Bilal Kayed”. For more information on this Palestinian prisoner who recently ended his hunger strike, see Administrative Detention. Update: released 2016-12-12.

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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03797 beechmount ave

The Poppy Trail 1916

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03645 2016-07-07 Poppy Trail 1916+

 JP Beadle’s Battle Of The Somme, Attack Of The Ulster Division is reproduced in the 1916 installment of the Poppy Trail in south Belfast. (For more on the painting, see belfastsomme.com.) In addition to listing local men lost in on July 1st – from places such as Roden, Matilda, Kitchener, Barrington, Blythe, Ebor, Rowland, Abingdon, and Combermere Street – it also features an individual from each community who served and died, in this case, Rifleman Paul Irvine from Lower Rockview Street and Private Patrick McGinney from Balkan Street (in the Divis area).

Launched on 2016-06-27; Tele report.

Here are the boards for The Poppy Trail 1914 and The Poppy Trail 1915.

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03647 2016-07-07 Poppy Trail 1916 r+

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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03645 X03646 X03647 Pandora St shared history living legacies housing executive greater village regeneration trust King george V how nobly they fight and die

It Is Better For Men To Fight And Die

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03723 2016-08-06 Casement1+

Shown above is the first of three new boards at Casement Park in west Belfast, named for Roger Casement. Working for the British Colonial Services, Roger Casement wrote extensive reports on the abuse of indigenous people in Congo Free State (1904) and in Peru (1910).

In Congo Free State, King Leopold II of Belgium was using a private force to suppress the locals while extracting rubber; Casement’s report (archive.org) led to the Belgian government taking over Leopold’s operation and creating the Belgian Congo.

In Peru, Casement investigated abuses against the Putumayo indians at the hands of the Peruvian Amazon Company. As a result of his report, the PAC gradually lost business and folded. (WP) Casement was knighted in 1911 for his human rights work, though this title would be stripped shortly before his execution.

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X03723 Andersonstown Rd

Composition With Electrical Cable And Shadow Of Power Line

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03756 2016-08-17 Boyne Sq+

Two images of pleasing shapes formed by cabling, street signs, and the shadow of power lines on plastered walls.

Previously in accidentally-geometric-walls, the Mondrian-esque Composition With Orange, Bathroom Tile And Dolphin Wallpaper.

Boyne Square is a loyalist area of Larne. It hosts a bonfire and Orange Order arch in the marching season.

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X03756 X03652

Where Is The Reconciliation?

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03690 2016-07-30 Historically Significant Artwork+

A fire was lit at the base of the John Henry Patterson mural (see Operation Lion | Godfather Of The Israeli Army) on Beverley Street, prompting the notice on the railings above: “Where is the equality? This historically significant artwork, was attacked & defaced by Irish Republican racists? Where is the reconciliation?”

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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03690

Administrative Detention

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03743 2016-08-09 IRPWA Bilal+

Palestinian prisoner and hunger striker Bilal Kayed last week called off his hunger strike after 71 days of fasting, after reaching an agreement with his Israeli captors for his release in December, after a six-month “administrative’ extension to his original 14.5 year sentence (Alternative News). Hence the slogan “End internment, end administrative detention” (alongside “Free all political prisoners” and the IRPWA emblem). Update: Kayed released 2016-12-12.

The mural is at the right-hand end of the so-called International Wall in west Belfast. For the controversy over the painting of the mural adjacent to the historical panels on the rest of the wall, see The World Did Gaze In Deep Amaze.

03742 2016-08-09 IntWall2016 Amaze IRPWA+

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X03743 X03742 Divis St

The World Did Gaze In Deep Amaze

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03802 2016-08-27 IntWall2016 Amaze+

Towards the end of July, the IRPWA began painting a POW mural for the right end of the wall, space that the historical painters hoped to use for a gallery of international figures inspired by Irish resistance — Leonard Peltier, Marcus Garvey, V.I. Lenin,W.E.B. DuBois, Mahatma Gandhi, Ho Chi Minh, Che Guevara, Nelson Mandela, Angela Davis, Muammar Gaddafi, Yassar Arafat, General Giap, and Sukhdev Thapar (see the final image, below) — under the title “And the world did gaze with deep amaze” (a line from the song The Foggy Dew).

This would have provided a book-end to the mural similar to the gallery of early nationalist figures at the left-hand end. The IRPWA whitewashed the end of the wall (see the third image, below) and commenced work on a POW mural (leading to two sets of painters working at the wall in late July (second image)). In the end, only Leonard Peltier was painted, in the same style as Wolfe Tone. And later, Seany McVeigh’s Pearse Surrenders To The Developers was added (see the fourth image).

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X03802 X03689 X03688 X03803 Divis St

AndTheWorldDidGaze

Ógra Shınn Féın

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03798 2016-08-23 Ogra Shinn Fein+

A vintage Ógra Shınn Féın stencil still visible in north Belfast. On the removal of the petrol bomb from the modern Sınn Féın Youth logo, see Slugger O’Toole.

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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03798 Kerrera Street