Here is a paste-up version of Leo Boyd’s (ig) HTN2021 piece My First Paste Up.
Union Street, Belfast city centre.
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Copyright © 2023 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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My Second Paste Up
City/Town
AKSEL
AKSEL makes his mark – Union Street, Belfast city centre
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Copyright © 2023 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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A Champion Gets Up
“A champion shows who he is by what he does when he’s tested. When he gets up and says “I can still do it”, he’s “a champion.” In Irish mythology, the Tuatha invade Ireland and battle the Fır Bolg. They are successful but their king Nuadha loses his arm and with it his kingship of the Tuatha. He had it replaced with an arm made of silver and regained his position. He is used here as an inspiration for those struggling with mental health, who are encouraged to call Lifeline or Aware.
(A history of Nuadha in murals is included in the Visual History page on Jim Fitzpatrick.)
The modern-day hero accompanying Nuadha is boxer James “The Assassin” Tennyson, current Irish super-featherweight champion. There are also four mental health boards (shown below) around the corner from Urban Villages Colin Safer Streets Initiative with messages such as “Think, Talk, Feel – Positive”, “Everything that you are is enough”, “Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow”,
Laurelglen Pharmacy, on the Stewartstown Road.
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Copyright © 2023 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Carrickfergus Celebrates
About 100 people came out to Marine Gardens for the live broadcast of the coronation of Charles III on May 6th (Mid & East Antrim youtube), one of about nine such live-streams across Norther Ireland (Bel Tel).
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Copyright © 2023 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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The Rarer Action Is In Virtue
“Our revenge will be the laughter of our children” – The words of Bobby Sands are illustrated on an electrical box on the Whiterock Road, Belfast, with silhouettes of children at play in nature.
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Copyright © 2023 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Trash Mob Nomads
Work from TMN members in McKibben’s Court: AKEN, ANCO, and MASH below.
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Copyright © 2023 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Hunger Strikers, Volunteers, Comrades
“At this place of reflection, we proudly honour our heroic volunteers, who made the ultimate sacrifice for the freedom & sovereignty of Ireland and the Irish people. We salute our many comrades, who spent numerous years in captivity, and who’s [sic] lives were often blighted by the experience. Never forgetting the WOMEN & MEN of Creggan and the Derry district, who stood steadfastly with the volunteers. BEIR BUA.” The 12 Troubles-era hunger strikers and 43 Derry brigade members are at the top of each panel with 115 named comrades/comrádaithe (and three unnamed) below (and on the side wall – first image below), with each name preceded by “Com.” as though establishing a new category of activist.
The memorial garden is next to the George McBrearty mural and Crann Na Poblachta in Linsfort Drive, Creggan.
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Copyright © 2023 Andy McDonagh/Eclipso Pictures (ig | Fb)
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Óglach George McBrearty
A ceremony to mark the forty-second anniversary of the deaths of IRA volunteers George McBrearty and Charles “Pop” Maguire – shot by the SAS on May 28th, 1981 – was held last Sunday (May 28th) in the garden of remembrance in Linsfort Drive, Creggan (Derry Now). On patrol in Creggan with two other IRA men, McBrearty and Maguire pursued and a car whose driver they suspected of being an SAS soldier and eventually stopped it at the bottom of Couch Road/Southway at the edge of the Brandywell. The driver shot McBrearty as he approached the car and Maguire was shot by the driver and/or by other undercover soldiers from 14th Intelligence who emerged from two other cars. A third volunteer was injured. (Lost Lives 2330)
The “Crann Na Poblachta”/”Tree Of The Republic” – a silver birch – was originally planted in front of the previous mural to George McBrearty mural in Rathkeele Way (see Freedom Fighter For The Republic) (Derry Journal). Both that mural and this one were painted by ‘Bogside Artist‘ Kevin Hasson.
There is a plaque to McBrearty & Maguire near the spot where they were killed on Coach Road/Southway (see M01544).
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Copyright © 2023 Andy McDonagh/Eclipso Pictures (ig | Fb)
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One Of The More Difficult Periods Of Our Shared History
The Imperial War Museums’ ‘Living With The Troubles’ exhibition is open and free to the public (with advance booking available) at the Lambeth Road, London, location, from now until next January. The curators explain their intentions and hopes for the exhibition on youtube.
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Copyright © 2023 Peter Moloney
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Extramural Activity 