Tomás Ághas

Thomas Ashe was working as an Irish teacher in Dublin when he joined the Irish Volunteers and in 1916 served as a battalion commander in the Easter Rising, for which he was sentenced to penal servitude for life. He went on hunger strike in May 1917 and again in September when he was rearrested by the British authorities for a “seditious” speech. He died on September 25th, one hundred years ago, becoming “an chéad staılceoır ocraıs a maraíodh san 20ú haoıs” (“first hunger striker to die in the 20th century”).

In the five circles around his portrait are Countess Markievicz, Pádraig Pearse, and James Connolly – fellow fighters in the Rising – and Máırtín Ó Cadhaın (author of Cré Na Cılle and IRA member interned during WWII), and the symbol of Laochra Loch Lao and more generally of An Ceathrú Gaeltachta/Gaeltacht Quarter (see previously The Big Plan and Onwards). In the middle (shown in detail below), An Dream Dearg march in support of Acht Na Gaeılge (an Irish language Act) past the Bobby Sands mural on Sevastopol Street.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04542 X04543 X04540 X04541 whiterock rd cearta cothramas agus coır 1885-1917 poblachtanach gael

I Would Rather Be An Ulsterman

“I am not an Ulsterman but yesterday, the First of July, as I followed their amazing attack, I felt that I would rather be an Ulsterman than anything else in the world. My pen cannot describe adequately the hundreds of heroic acts I witnessed, the Ulster Volunteer Force, from which the Division was made, has won a name that equals any in history. Their devotion deserves the gratitude of the British empire.” 

The words of Wilfrid Spender, Plymouth-born newspaper manager, quartermaster of the Ulster Volunteers, general staff officer of the 36th (Ulster) Division, winner of the Military Cross for actions at Thiepval, and Cabinet Secretary of the new “Northern Ireland” in 1921.

Kilburn St; later moved to Broadway/Donegall Ave, south Belfast

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04435

Cartwheels From Here

Here is Faigy’s (Fb | Tw) piece for CNB/HTN17, taken before he had quite finished. You can see the completed work on his Twitter feed.

“By my calculations a cart wheel takes about 4 metres to do.
It is 50 miles to the Dark Hedges from here.
There are 1609 metres in a mile, so it is 80,450 metres to the dark hedges from here.
If travelling from here to the Dark hedges via cart wheels it would take 20,112 and a half cart wheels to get there.

A tumble over is roughly 2 metres long.
Its 330 miles to Skellig Michael from here.
There are 1609 metres in 1 mile.
1609 x 330 ÷ 2 = 265,485.
Therefore, it would take 265,485 tumble overs to Skellig Michael. For some strange unknown reason this essential tourist travel information isn’t available in Belfast so I’ll just have to add a sign post to this piece I’m about to finish to help people out …”

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04575 X04574

Hill Street Bar Band

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.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04150 X04195 X04194 X04196 X04522 X04521 X04519

Together

Work by FGB (tw | web) and Sofly (Inst | tw) for Culture Night/Hit The North 2017, side by side in Union Street.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04518

Join Us And Have A Voice

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).

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04507

More Wolf Than Woman

“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.

Previously by McClure: Spring Wings.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04512

Hey!

An additional elephant piece, in Royal Avenue, by Falko One (Tw | Inst | Fb), who painted elephants in three east Belfast locations for Hit The East.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04585

Tiny Dancer

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“.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04511 Union St

Do Not Touch

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.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04504 X04426 X04464