“We too are strong. We too are a threat to the oppressive enemy. We are revolutionaries. We are the other half of our revolutionary men. We are their equal halves.” Earth is contained within the symbol for woman. The IRA’s Maıréad Farrell is in the top left.
Above is a new (November 9th, 2013) piece by Damian Walker/Rebel Rebel of the Gael Force Art group (Fb) showing a bleeding poppy with a skull at its centre, under the words “Symbol of British imperialism around the world”. Palestine, Libya, Malvinas, Ireland, Iraq, and Afghanistan are listed as areas under British influence or occupation. At the bottom, in red streaking paint, we have “Britain out of Ireland”
“Liberté, égalité, fraternité”. The United Irishmen of 1798 had been inspired by the revolutions in both the United States and France, and France attempted without success to send troops to Ireland in 1796 and 1798 (Irish History). “It is new strung and shall be heard” – this style of harp is called a Maid Of Erin harp.
Painted by Andrea Redmond in South Link, Andersonstown, Belfast, for the 200th anniversary of the rebellion. Also new for the 200th anniversary is the stone below in the nearby memorial garden outside the PD. “Who fears to speak of 98? This plaque was erected to the memory of the United Irishmen who gave their lives for Irish freedom; also all those who died as a result of the Great Hunger. ‘These are the times that try men’s souls’ [Thomas Paine] ‘The rich always betray the poor’ – Henry Joy McCracken.”
Above is the centre portion of the board on the west side of the underpass on Donegall Avenue and Tates Avenue. It shows ‘John catching spricks + tadpoles’, ‘men playing pitch ‘n toss’, ‘gypsies who collected our potato peelings’ and ‘Nancy + Josie swinging from the lamppost‘. The wide show, below, also includes Mickey Marley’s Roundabout (the Townsend Street image of which was featured previously one | two) on the left and ‘me and Dad going to the football’ past Jamesons shop, on the right. The companion board on the east side of the underpass was featured a few days ago. The title of today’s post is the official title of the project, by david creative.
The wide image, below, shows an elderly gent pulling back a curtain under the Tates Avenue-Broadway overpass to reveal a scene from times past which includes suited men “going to the football”, a “Broadway hairdressers”, a “Nummy grocery van” and the two figures shown in the detail, above: “Andy of Broadway” and “Rev. Charlie Maguire, the minister on a bicycle”.
The piece (and its companion across the street) were done by “david creative,” (David McClelland) and you can see images of the conception and development of the piece at his web site.
“History is ours, and history is made by the people — La historia es nuestra y la hacon los pueblos”
Here is a super-wide image of the new (c. Dec. 10th, 2013) board on Northumberland Street celebrating the socialist movement in 1970’s Chile. The Unidad Popular, whose emblem can be seen centre-left and in the close-up below, was a coalition of left-wing parties who supported the Marxist Salvador Allende (seen in the middle) for president in the election of 1970. Allende served as president from 1970-1973 until committing suicide during the coup.
An ageing UDA/UFF mural in Boyne Court, just off Sandy Row shows three masked men firing a funeral volley. “In proud memory of our fallen comrades. We forget them not. ‘At the going down of the sun/And in the morning/We will remember them.”
The collaborative mural depicting and deploring Margaret Thatcher and The Sun newspaper has been painted out; it lasted only four months. (Featured previously: The Sun Will Make You Blind.) As a riposte to that, perhaps, someone has stencilled this “Ballex” version of the Belfast tourist board’s ‘heart’ symbol.
“Ulster’s covenant of hearts” is the title given to the main board in this collection commemorating the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Covenant in 1912 and the figure of Edward Carson, leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, founder of the Ulster Volunteers, and first signatory of the covenant.