Belfast east

Making Changes

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2015-06-08 MakingChanges+

The history of music is told (from right to left) in a new mural. The gramophone gives way to the cassette and then to the CD and finally the iPod, with a mic and speakers in the middle. The suggestion, presumably, is that life in east Belfast also changes. From Blaze FX, who also did the Teenage Dreams repaint on the other side of the flyover, and local youths from both Short Strand and Newtownards Road.

2015-06-08 MakingChangesHW+

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Hope, Change, Progress, Obey

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Shepard Fairey used Mannie Garcia’s AP photo of Barack Obama for his ‘Hope’ poster of the 2008 US Presidential election (WP). The three-quarter profile, faraway look and four-tone shading have been repurposed for the board, shown above, in east Belfast: a boy gazes beyond Samson and Goliath, backgrounded by a sunburst: “Dream, Seek, Achieve, Educate, Achieve!”

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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The Strand Bar

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2015-03-27 StrandBar+

After adding windows to the downstairs, The Strand Bar has reinstated the mural previously at the front in the form of a painted board (above) showing the original bar in Anderson Street (the current Arran Street), which was attacked by the UVF in 1975 with the loss of six lives. The relative size can be gauged from the wide shot, below. The previous mural can be seen in the bottom two images. For photographs of the original bar, see the BelfastForum.

2015-03-27 StrandBarWide+

2011-00-00 StrandBarDetail+

2011-00-00 StrandBarWide+

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Copyright © 2011 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Teenage Dreams Never Die

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2015-03-28 TeenageDreams+

The ‘Teenage Dreams So Hard To Beat’ line from the Undertones’ ‘Teenage Kicks’ is back after a 21-month absence, officially unveiled on Saturday (2015-03-28) during the Urban Village festival (Belfast Live). The new version makes no mention of DJ John Peel, who helped promote the song and after whose 2004 death the original was painted (Tele) by TDS (The Dark Side). The new version was painted by TDS together with youth from Doyle and Ballymac Youth clubs – the sig is below.

See also: Teenage Dreams | John Peel

2015-03-28 TeenageDreamsSig+

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Treepot – Drugs Out

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2014-09-19 MountfordeTreepot+

Here are two shots of a long mural between Mountforde Road and Beechfield Street in east Belfast. It features a tree growing out of a book, a golden teapot, with teabag hanging out the side, and a street scene. “Drugs Out” has been helpfully graffitied at the far end.

There doesn’t seem to be any information at all about this mural on-line. So, if you have any leads, please e-mail or leave a comment.

On the same wall: Geordie Bell

2014-09-19 MountfordeTreePotFull+

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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Enclosures

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2014-11-21 PittPark+

A tale of two east Belfasts: above is the playground at Pitt Park (next to the Ballymac Youth Centre’s SafeZone); below is Dee Street at its junction with Medway and Severn Streets and next to the Connswater Women’s Group (see The Verticality Of The Divine): “Quis Separabit • Simply the best • UFF • UDA”.

2014-11-21 DeeStQuisSep+

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Laundry Service

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2014-11-21 AllWashedUp+

The Andy Tyrie Interpretive Centre on the Newtownards Road was opened on August 31st, 2012 (FB) and includes UDA/UFF memorabilia from troubles, including the 1974 Ulster Workers’ Council Strike in which the centre’s namesake, then head of the UDA, played a large role (WP).

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The Titanic Story

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2014-11-22 CubaWalk+

“Titanic Sinks” is the headline of the newspaper in this recent mural in east Belfast. In fact, news was hard to come by in the first few days after the sinking in the early morning of April 15th, 1912, as Titanic sank a thousand miles from New York and wireless was the only means of communication. The Evening Sun’s headline on April 15th (which might be partially reproduced here) announced “All Titanic Passengers Are Safe; Transferred in Lifeboats at Sea” (image at Pratt Library). Here is a NYTimes article about the difficulty in getting reliable news in the days after the sinking. This is new work by John Stewart. (Report on the launch at NIHE.)

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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02395 titanic sinks queen of the ocean Edward Harland 1831-1895, Gustav Wolff 1834-1913 built in belfast story sinks inglis white star line

Maghaberry

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2014-10-09 StrandMaghaberryPOWs+

Maghaberry Prison’s Roe House, home to about 50 republican prisoners, was this past week the scene of a stand-off with prison guards, as 30 (BelTel) or 40 (BBC) inmates refused to enter their cells. There was also a protest outside the jail and a bomb-threat on Tuesday (U.tv).

The mural above is on the Mountpottinger Road wall in east Belfast’s Short Strand.

2014-10-15 MountpottingerWide+

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Safezone

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2014-11-21 Ballymac+

On one side are children rock-climbing and canoeing, on the other are the masks of tragedy and comedy and a skeletal Death, shrouded in vapours from an earth split open and cloaking a multitude of souls ensnared with needle, pipe, and pills. The south wall of the Ballymac Youth Centre in Pitt Park promises a safezone from the “devastation of suicide” or becoming “addicted to death”. Harland & Wolff’s Goliath stands in the background.

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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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