After almost fourteen years the long-standing Rising Sons Flute Band mural off Newtownards Road (at the old Bright Street) has been replaced with a mural to the (modern) YCV, the youth division of the UVF. The vine of flowers in yellow includes the shamrock, thistle, and Tudor rose (but not the daffodil of Wales, which is named along with Scotland, England, and the YCV battalions of east Belfast extending to Newtownards and Bangor) .
Work by Novice (Jess Tobin | web | tw | web | inst) for Culture Night/Hit The North, inspired by a Damon Baker photograph. 2018 was Tobin’s fourth year in Belfast: see also her pieces for 2017 | 2016 | 2015.
The wall at the top of Springhill Avenue was knocked down to great acclaim in 2017 (Guardian) but the impact was merely cosmetic as a wire fence and substantial shrubbery continued to block the way. The removal of the wall also meant the removal of the pro-Palestinian murals painted on it: Palestine Abú | Man Against Machine | Hellfire. In its place has now been put a large board celebrating the history of the area and especially the contribution made by Des Wilson and Noelle Ryan who worked in Springhill House for over forty years. Both Des and Noelle were interviewed by NVTv in 2012. Des turned 93 in July (encomium by Gerry Adams); Noelle died in 2014 (An Phoblacht | BBC-NI).
The left hand side of the mural shows Mother Teresa, who lived and worked in the area with four nuns from 1971 to 1973 before being put out (allegedly) by the Catholic church (TripleVision documentary).
On the right, the old and new Springhills are contrasted, with images taken from the same spot approximately 30 years apart.
Here are two more, smaller, pieces by Alice Pasquini (web | Fb | ig | tw) from Rome, Italy, done while she was in Belfast for CNBX/HTN18. Her main piece was featured in Glide.
Kathrina Rupit (KinMx Fb | tw | web | inst) made the journey up from Dublin for Culture Night/Hit The North. Previously by KinMx for CNB: 2017 | 2016. The official title of the piece is ‘A Dream Of Night’.
In the Harp Bar’s ‘half bap lane’, a picture of singer-songwriter Bap Kennedy (web) by artist Glen Molloy (Fb). Half Bap Lane used to link Hill St and Dunbar Link, around the turn of the (20th) century. For an explanation of the name “Half Bap” and its former location, see Rushlight Magazine. “Nothing is greater in the universe than the human heart to rise above the sorrowful earth, the agony and the hurt.” is from the song (and album) Howl On.
Work by Sofly (Inst | tw) and MrDrawsBristol (ig | web | tw) – who specialises in mountains – for CNBX/HTN18 in Kent Street (with other minor pieces in Library Street). In 2017, Sofly collaborated with FGB to produce Together.
As time passes, volunteers who survived the Troubles are being taken by natural causes. There are thousands of such people and it is not clear on what grounds some will be publicly commemorated and others not – it might as simple as whether surviving friends and family take the pains to do so. See, for example, the plaques of republican ex-prisoners being added to a wall in Ardoyne (Door Into The Dark). The plaques above “In loving memory of Volunteer Dennis/Denis Brine, associated with Glasgow Red Hand Commandos” are in the lower Shankill estate.
The 8th battalion of the RIR was drawn from east Belfast’s Ulster Volunteers in 1914. The board shown above, on the practice hall of Rising Sons Flute Band (Fb), shows the Thiepval Memorial to the missing of the Somme – the heroes that in whose footsteps the band claim to march.
Here is the final installment in the series done by members of Dublin’s subset collective (ig | tw | web) for CNBX/HTN18 in Donegall Street on the theme of death. Previously: Valar Morghulis | All Men Must Die | Faces Of Death.
Extramural Activity 