Belfast

2nd Class Citizens

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2014-02-17 CuparWay2ndClass+

Recent work around Conway and Canmore Streets on Cupar Way has revealed this old piece of graffiti: “We will never be 2nd class citizens to you scum[m]y bastards – L/S C/Coy” [Lower Shankill C Company]. C Company (2nd battalion) was Johnny Adair’s UDA unit and the location is just inside UVF territory (west of Agnes/Northumberland Street); this graffiti might thus date to the feud with the UVF in 2000. Alternatively, the intended audience might be residents in Bombay Street and St. Galls Avenue. If you have more definite information, please leave a comment or send an e-mail.

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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Cry “Havoc”

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2014-02-27 FallsMap+

Above is a new board (on painted background) at the Falls Road Garden of Remembrance for IRA volunteers in D company (the ‘Dogs’) of the 2nd battalion Belfast Brigade and local civilians from the lower Falls who died in the 20s, 70s and 90s. The main board shows a map of the area from Dunville Park to the Divis flats with lilies marking the spots of various deaths. Surrounding it are the portraits of fourteen of the volunteers listed on the marble – Maguire, O’Rawe, McKelney, Donaghy, Quigley, McAreavey, Hughes, Loughran, MacBride, Kelly, Carson, Campbell, Skillen, Marley.

Below is a wide shot showing the garden and mural.

CAIN have video of the garden

2014-02-27 FallsMapGarden+

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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X01709 X01708 falls cultural society quest for irish freedom ar son saoirse na heireann oglaigh roll of honour monument

Centenary Window

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2014-02-28 CityHallIndustry1906+

This stained glass by Ann Smyth was designed for the centenary of the construction of Belfast city hall, 1906-2006. At the top are the wolf and seahorse of the Belfast coat of arms, the city hall, and a tree of life. Below these we have a landscape in the style of John Luke’s The Fox, modified with a Massey Ferguson tractor and an electric hare (which CultureNI claims was invented by a Belfast man) instead of the fox. To the right of these stand a guitar, an artist’s palette, boxing gloves, various sports balls, and snooker’s fifteen reds. Ernest Walton smashed the atom in 1932. Short Brothers in 1957 produced the world’s first vertical take-off and landing aircraft and in 1963 the Skyvan. We also see the Waterfront, the Big Fish, the Thanksgiving Square Beacon, and Harland & Wolff’s Samson & Goliath and Titanic. In the bottom left corner is a town page upon which is repeated the refrain from I’ll Tell Me Ma: “She is handsome, she is pretty, she is the belle of Belfast city”.

Previously: One Big Union | Famine Window

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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Caırde Sınn Féın

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2014-02-24 ConwayCairde+

Above is the second of three 2013 murals sponsored by Australian groups outside the Republican Museum in Conway Street. This one shows members of the main sponsoring group, Caırde Sınn Féın (Fb).

Previously: Australian Aid

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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Fáılte Go Dtí An Maıgh Ard/Welcome To Moyard

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2014-02-13 MaighArdFailte+

Welcome sign and insignia of the Matt Talbot youth centre (and óglaıgh sign on the building) on New Barnsley Gardens in Moyard.

Previously: Moyard Waterworld

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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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A Changing Face

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2014-02-17 ChangingFaces+

This board on the Cupar Way “peace” line is a project young people in the Impact Training train (part of the Greater Shankill Partnership) concerning murals over the years. Its face has been changed by hundreds of messages and signatures of visitors from all over the world.

“The Changing Faces artwork is a project that has been undertaken by a group of young people from Impact Training . They looked to their surrounding area where they explored and documented how it appears in 2010. What is the Shankill? What does it look like and what does it mean to youth culture now? Murals have been something that has been prevalent in the community for many years. Times change, opinions soften and people can begin to build a changing face.”

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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Deconstructions

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2014-03-03 CityWoman+

This emic (web) paste-up, which he titles ‘Deconstructions’, is on Rosemary Street at the junction with Lombard Street in the city centre.

Previously by emic: CameraMan (2013) | Through The Fog (2012)

Previously: A Leo & Pipo sticker in Paris

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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Famine Window

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2014-02-19 CityHallEmDetail+

Above is a detail from, and below is the whole of, a stained glass window in Belfast City Hall commemorating emigration and the great hunger, commonly known as “the famine”. The piece is by Stephen Calderwood of GlassMarque. The window shows a sailing vessel and the coast of north America, scenes of destitution, Clifton House (home to the Belfast Charitable Society, on Clifton Street), and a potato harvest.

Friar’s Bush and Clifton Street graveyards both contain the remains of people in died in the famine (and in cholera epidemics).

Previously: One Big Union (stained glass in City Hall) | White Line (stained glass in the Cultúrlann)

2014-02-19 CityHallEm+

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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Our Youth, Our Future

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2014-02-06 AntrimHurlingStraight+

“Our youth, out culture, our community, our future”. Above is a new Ross Road mural celebrating gaelic games (football, hurling, and handball) and in particular Michael Davitt’s (green, white, and gold strip) and Sean MacDermott’s (yellow with green stripe) GAA/CLG clubs. The banner on the low wall is bookended by images of St. Peter’s cathedral and the fountain in Dunville Park, which are detailed below.

2014-02-05 AntrimHurlingLeftWall+

2014-02-05 AntrimHurlingRightWall+

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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X01669 X01665 X01666 óıge na bhfal Falls youth est. 1932 aontroım

Defending The Community

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

This (ninth) panel shows UDA paramilitaries (the UVF was formed in 1965, the UDA in 1971) standing guard in front of a barricade of sand-bags.

One of fourteen panels in Thorndyke Street, east Belfast. For a list of entries for each panel, see East Belfast Historical And Cultural Society.

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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X01642 ulster news people take stand against republican tyranny july 1972 bloody friday 9 killed 130 injured by pira bombs june 1970 2 dead 28 injured people shot like flies by provo gunmen the city is saved civil and religious liberty for all better the grave than slavery their sacrifice our freedom united kingdom ulster to britain hitler attacks belfast unity solidarity their loyalty betrayed out of the ashes new life