Belfast

The Belfast Blitz

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2013-09-19 Blitz+

Above is a new mural by JMK (Jonny McKerr – Fb) in Hogarth Street (in Tiger’s Bay) with images of the Belfast Blitz – in the apex a Nazi bomber sets buildings alight; in the main panel, people, including a milkman, walk among the bombed-out buildings.

900 people died and half the homes in Belfast were destroyed or damaged (WP).

In the bottom right corner, men listen to a woman testing a piano after it was moved – the original can be seen at Communities NI. The garden wall (to the right of the shot) has an outline on it but is not yet finished.

Update 2013-10-16: The garden wall to the right has been completed. It features a painted frame surrounding a manufactured plaque. See below for an image.

2013-09-19 BlitzDetail+

2013-10-16 BlitzPlaque+

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Copyright © 2013 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X01318 X01319 X01395 this mural is dedicated to the people who lost their lives in tiger’s bay on the 16th april 1941 during the belfast blitz anderson brown campbell carson christy clarke donnnelly dornan duffy erskine fee flack gordon halliday hillis howard irwin jerwood kennedy kinghan lilley lynas lyttle mcatamney mcavoy mccary mccullough mcdowell mchugh mcintyre mcilwayne mckinty mcknight mclellan mcneil millar miller moore mulhulland pollock renton rossborough spratt taggart toogood venn venton warwick wilson

The Big Plan

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2013-09-21 Gaeltacht+

The new Gaeltacht mural on Divis Steet’s International Wall is to mark the launch of The Big Gaeltacht Quarter Plan and the signing of the Gaeltacht Quarter Charter (Tele).

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Copyright © 2013 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X01324 an domhan an chathaır ceılıúır próıfíl athléımneach saınıúıl údarach spórt oıdreacht draíocht turascóıreacht oıdeachas teanga cultúr the world the city celebrate profile resilient distinctive authentic sport heritage magic tourism education language culture

Broken Bad

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2013-09-26 VisualWasteBrBad+

Hit TV series Breaking Bad ended last night after five seasons on-air. The popularity of the show is such that artist Visual Waste chose to make lead character Walter White the subject of his contribution to Culture Night Belfast. The new piece is right next to Visual Waste’s piece (which we called ‘The Mark Of Zorro’) from last year’s festival, in North Street.

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Shankill Reflections

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2013-08-02 ShankillReflections+

For the Union Flag mural on the other side of the road, see The People’s Army and LPWA, and for the plaque see Big Bill Campbell.

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Copyright © 2013 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Direct Action

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2013-09-23 InverwoodComplete+

After a delay, the UVF mural in Inverwood Court, replacing a George Best mural, has been finished. (The Belfast Telegraph reports it was finished on 2013-09-21, and that negotiations to remove it are “ongoing”.) The quote on the right – Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed – comes from the section of Martin Luther King’s Letter From A Birmingham Jail in which he considers the merits of civil disobedience or direct action. For a shot of the half-finished piece, see Second Best.

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X01330 for god and ulster

Industrial Legacy

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2013-08-26 IndustrialLegacy+

A fourth and final metal-work piece from the Cupar Way “peace” line shows an aeroplane in outline over a globe and gives a list of various Belfast streets which were formerly industrial centres: Shankill Rd., North St., Victoria St., High St., Ann St., Peters Hill, Royal Ave., Castle Place, Queens Bridge. A wide shot of all (one | two | three) four pieces (as well as Let Go Of The Past and 3 R’s) can be found below.

2013-09-03 CuparMetalWorks+

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Fox & Bird

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2013-09-26 FoxBird+

A new piece by Friz (previously: The Girl With The Flaxen Hair and Working On A Building) and Danleo (whose web site has a few photos of the piece in process; CNB has a photo of the sketched piece) in North Street, completed as part of Culture Night Belfast 2013, shows a bird fighting off a fox who wants her eggs, all in a mane of human hair. The building to the right was also featured on ExtrAct at this time last year: An Essay On The Necessity Of Art. Official title: Fight Or Flight

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Copyright © 2013 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Total Abstinence

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2013-09-17 Angel+

Two more images from inside the hall of the Loyal Orange Order on Clifton Street, both having to do with temperance. (Previously: All Our Hope On Thee Is Stayed | Occupy Till I Come)

The first, above is of ‘the angel with the book’, a reference to Revelation 10: “And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire: and he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth.” (King James trans.)

The second, below, shows Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley being burnt at the stake in 1555. “Be of good comfort, Master Ridley and play the man. We shall this day light such a candle by God’s grace in England [as I trust] shall never be put out.” (WP)

2013-09-16 Abstinence+

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X01311 X01308 Ballygomartin l.o.l. no. 741 st. michael’s church defender 1890

End

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2013-09-17 End+

Detail from a new mural on the Springfield Road, opposite the barracks: End British internment of Irish Republicans, 2013. Painted by Rebel Rebel of the Gael Force Art group. A shot of the whole piece can be found below.

2013-09-17 EndInternment+

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Occupy

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2013-09-14 OccupyTillICome+

Another image from inside the Clifton Street Orange Order hall: an outline of the island of Ireland under the title (in Old Irish script) Oḋreaċt na [h]Éıreann – The Heritage of Ireland – surrounded by the coats of arms of the cities of Londonderry, Dublin, Cork and Belfast, and with the words “Occupy Till I Come – Luke 19:13” at the bottom.

“Occupy until I come” is the King James translation of Luke 19:13 (Greek: πραγματεύσασθαιἐνᾧἔρχομαι) and is better translated as “conduct business until I come [back]”. It is from the story of the king who gave money to 10 servants to see what they would make with it. The one who does nothing with it says he knows the king is exploitative and harsh (αὐστηρὸς, austere!) and he was afraid (to lessen or lose the money, presumably). To which the king says, roughly, ‘if you knew that I expect to profit from other people, you should have done something with it!’ and has his money taken away; meanwhile, the citizens who spoke against the king in his absence are executed. So the moral of the story for Ireland is … the King has given Ireland to Protestants in order to increase its value, and they better make sure they do, because he expects to collect the profit; and anyone among the natives who protests is to be executed upon his return?

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