Over the course of May, June, and July, Glen Molloy (Fb) painted eight portraits of local musicians on the hoarding in front of the Harp Bar in Hill Street: (l-r) David Holmes, Gary Lightbody, Nathan Connolly, Una Healy, Van Morrison, Bap Kennedy, Brian Kennedy, Fatboy Slim.
Above and immediately below are close-ups of Fatboy Slim and Gary Lightbody, followed by some group shots and a wide shot.
This is a 32 County Sovereignty Movement (32CSM) poster from west Belfast, asking people to “Dismantle partition – reject British rule”. The organisation describes itself as “a republican pressure group”. The Belfast cumann (Fb | web) is named after Wolfe Tone and Henry Joy McCracken (of the 1798 Rebellion).
“Some days I am more wolf than woman and I am still learning how to stop apologising for my wild.” Words from poet Nikita Gill illustrated by Conor McClure (web | Fb | tw) for Culture Night Belfast/Hit The North 2017.
We begin our 2017 Culture Night Belfast/Hit The North coverage with New York street artist and co-founder of the LISA (Little Italy Street Art) project The DRiF (aka Rey Rosa) (Fb | web | tumblr | tw) who came to town to paint a Belfast version of his “Tiny Dancer“.
Towards the end of August the advertising hoarding at the corner of Divis and Northumberland Streets was covered with brown paint and a warning scrawled along the bottom rail: “D-Coy wall – Do not touch – Belfast D Coy wall” (though the two “D”s were painted over). (See the second image.)
A few weeks later, the banner above was added, showing the men of the northern IRA’s D Coy “active service unit” (“ASU”), between images of the (Troubles-era) D Coy mural and memorial garden (PMC | Extramural). A direct line between the IRA of and the PIRA unit is possible – some of the Northern Division went with Joe McKelvey, leader of the 3rd Division, to Dublin to support the anti-Treaty forces (WP) though most of the northern IRA accepted the assurance that the six counties would soon join the South. (For some guesstimates at the number of northerners who served pro-Treaty, see treasonfelony.)
But perhaps only an ideological heritage is intended, that the Black Mountain unit of 1921, and the D Coy of the Troubles, and the contemporary D Coy, alike aim at (Northern) Irish independence.
“Martin McGuinnes [sic], the Bogside buther [sic] and victim maker 1950-2017” – commentary on IRA volunteer and Sinn Féin politician Martin McGuinness’s recent (March 2017) death from amyloidosis, in Belvoir Street.
“Civilisation has its roots in the soil & without soil there will be no future life – Tá an duıne fréamhaıthe san ıthır, gan í ní hann dó” by Ed Reynolds (web | tw) and Tancredi Caruso. Together they put on an exhibition and painted a mural for the Belowground Visions Of Life project (Soil Security Programme). The mural is outside Bunscoıl Mhıc Reachtaın (hence the Irish translation) in the old ‘Little Italy’ area of Belfast. Sand or soil has been added to the mural to give it texture.
Extramural Activity 