four provinces

Freedom In Arabic

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2014-08-03 McQuillanResistance+

“Oppression breeds resistance”, in the form of Leila Khaled and an IRA gunman, and a clenched fist in the colours of the Palestinian flag. This is a new pro-Gaza mural in McQuillan Street with Irish “Tıocfaıdh ár lá” [our day will come] and Arabic “يومنا قادم” [our day is coming] (and in the shields “Saoırse” and “حرية”[freedom]).

The artist is DD Walker (“Rebel Rebel”), who painted the “Against Established Law” Che Guevara mural last (2013) October which this replaces.

2014-07-25 ArabicLá+

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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Eastát Ghleann Collaınn

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2014-03-18 EastatGhleannCollainn+

This mural in the Glen Colin estate, just off the Glen Road, shows The Roddy’s club (in white) with the hunger striker memorial in the shape of a harp in front (shown in the image below) and the St. Oliver Plunkett church, which is in fact on the other (southern) side of the Glen Road, with the twin peaks of Divis and Black Mountain in the background. The Bobby Sands quote “Our revenge will be the laughter of our children” is at the bottom.

Previously featured: The Battle Of Antrim in the grounds of The Roddy’s.

2014-03-31 RoddysHarp+

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His Free Will No Thing Can Kill

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2014-03-18 FallsSaoirse+

This printed tarp on the side of the Falls Road commemorates the ten 1981 hunger strikers (along with Frank Stagg, Michael Gaughan, Nora Connolly, and Maıréad Farrell, paired with international figures Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Leonard Peltier, and Nelson Mandela) and features a verse from a Bobby Sands poem The Crime Of Castlereagh: “All things must come to pass as one/So hope should never die/There is no height or bloody might/That a freeman can’t defy./There is no source or foreign force/Can break one man who knows,/That his free will no thing can kill/And from that freedom grows.”

This tarp, which is 20′ x 20′, was printed from Mo Chara’s original 8′ x 8′ painting; it was also printed on a 30′ x 30′ tarp in New York. For all three, see the Chronological Catalogue of Mo Chara’s works.

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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Davitt’s

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2014-03-05 MacDaighéad+

CLG Mac Daıbhéıd/Davitt’s GAA club is named for Mícheál Mac Daıbhéad/Michael Davitt, famous for leading the Irish Republican Brotherhood and the Land League. Mac Daıbhéad himself had his right arm amputated at age eleven after it got caught in the cogs of a spinning machine. The murals shown today are in the grounds of the social club on Clonard Street and celebrate the centenary of the club, 1912-2012.

X02459 2014-03-05 Devitts ClonardSt+

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Cry “Havoc”

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2014-02-27 FallsMap+

Above is a new board (on painted background) at the Falls Road Garden of Remembrance for IRA volunteers in D company (the ‘Dogs’) of the 2nd battalion Belfast Brigade and local civilians from the lower Falls who died in the 20s, 70s and 90s. The main board shows a map of the area from Dunville Park to the Divis flats with lilies marking the spots of various deaths. Surrounding it are the portraits of fourteen of the volunteers listed on the marble – Maguire, O’Rawe, McKelney, Donaghy, Quigley, McAreavey, Hughes, Loughran, MacBride, Kelly, Carson, Campbell, Skillen, Marley.

Below is a wide shot showing the garden and mural.

CAIN have video of the garden

2014-02-27 FallsMapGarden+

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The Dark

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2013-12-23 TheDark+

“I don’t mind being called a dissenter, I’ve been a dissenter all my life”. Mural to, and quote from, Brendan Hughes, IRA volunteer and leader of the 1980 (first) Maze hunger strike (WP).

Painted by Rebel Rebel of Gael Force Art in October, 2013. Previously at this location: End Internment.

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Copyright © 2013 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Gaelic Clubs

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2013-12-07 ShawsGaelic+

Four local GAA clubs are celebrated in this sloping mural on Shaw’s Road: Naomh Pól, Naomh Treasa, Padraıg Sáırséıl, Uí Donnabháın Rossa. (St. Paul’s, St. Teresa’s, Padraig Sarseil’s, O’Donovan Rossa).

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Against Established Law

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2013-10-09 CheFallsRd+

“Che Guevara – Blood of an Irish rebel.” A colourful new mural has been completed on the Falls Road (at the end of McQuillan Street) in time for the anniversary of Che Guevara’s death, on October 9th, 1967. The mural features multiple copies of Korda’s iconic Guerillero Heroico (discussed in the Visual History page on Jim Fitzpatrick), two quotes from Che – “When forces of oppression come to maintain themselves in power against established law, peace is considered already broken” and “If you tremble with indignation at every injustice then you are a comrade of mine” – and the flags of (from left to right) the Basque Country, Palestine, Ireland, Cuba, Catalonia and Argentina (where Che was born; or perhaps Guatemala, where he was first active – the shield above contains no central icon, which would distinguish the flags).

Che’s father declared that the blood of Irish rebels ran through his son, in reference to their Irish ancestry. For genealogical information, see the previous entry on the Che Guevara Lynch mural in Derry.

The artist is Damian “DeeDee” Walker, of the Gaelforce group. The piece has been in progress for about a month.

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Copyright © 2013 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Australian Aid

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2013-08-20 ConwayStBanners+

Above is an extra-wide shot (2700 pixels) of another panel from the wall next to the Republican Museum on Conway Street (next to the previously featured Eileen Hickey). The mural features banners of two Australian Republican support-groups, holding banners reading “Australian Aid for Ireland QLD [Queensland] Branch – The Spirit of Freedom” and “The Casement Support Group – Saoirse Melbourne”.

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Joe McKelvey Society

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Poster from the 1916 Societies (Fb), specifically the West Belfast Joe McKelvey Society, named after the anti-treaty IRA commander (WP). (There is also a society named after McKelvey in his home town of Stewartstown, Co Tyrone. (Fb)) The flag (shown below) is in the Republican Museum, Conway Mill.

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Copyright © 2013 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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