A burnt-out car in the shadow of St. Peter’s cathedral and at the back of the Maureen Sheehan Health Centre, just off Albert Street, which is infamous for “DHLA” (Divis Hoods Liberation Army) joyriding. The new murals in the area (such as Our Youth, Our Future) are part of an intervention project to improve it. 2014-12 update: there has been an upsurge in carjackings in late 2014 (BelTel).
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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Gaelic/Gaeılge now appears (since 2011), alongside English/Béarla, on the bus-stop signs and buses in west Belfast. Above is the sign for Saint Comgall’s/Naomh Comhghall (the old school on the Falls) and below is the 10a, headed for Sruthán Na Bantıarna/Ladybrook. According to this BelTel article, there were no immediate plans to add Ulster Scots signage to any routes.
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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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CLG Mac Daıbhéıd/Davitt’s GAA club is named for Mícheál Mac Daıbhéad/Michael Davitt, famous for leading the Irish Republican Brotherhood and the Land League. Mac Daıbhéad himself had his right arm amputated at age eleven after it got caught in the cogs of a spinning machine. The murals shown today are in the grounds of the social club on Clonard Street and celebrate the centenary of the club, 1912-2012.
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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Spiderman, Hulk, Captain America and the other super-heroes have crossed the Springfield Road and are now fighting depression and drug-abuse in Maigh Ard/Moyard. The image above shows Iron Man, while Thor and Batman feature in the second and third shots, below.
“Be a hero, support your mates.” “Winter, spring, summer & fall, all you gotta do is call 08 08 808 8000 and we’ll be there. You’ve got a friend.” “Real heroes don’t need drugs. And neither do you!”
Previously: Wallbusters | Walls, Unbroken | Red-Eye | Cartoon World
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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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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
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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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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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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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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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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)
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Extramural Activity 