Yesterday we had ‘Barcelona Past’ in the form of Patrick “Don Patricio” McConnell (The Don); today we have ‘Barcelona Present’, in the form of Lionel Messi. The Argentinian forward is shown in front of the Spanish League cup, which Barcelona won this year (2014-2015) with a goal from “La Pulga” (“the flea”) – Messi is 5’7″ but four-time world player of the year.
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Here is part of the new Patrick O’Connell, “Don Patricio”, mural at the bottom of the Whiterock. As a player, the Dublin-born O’Connell started with Belfast Celtic before moving on to various English and Scottish clubs, including a period at Manchester United at the time of WWI. He then went on to manage a string of Spanish clubs. As manager of Barcelona during the Spanish civil war, he accompanied the club on their tour of Mexico and the United States. The money from the tour saved the club from bankruptcy but 12 of the 16 players went into exile in Mexico and France. (WP) Barcelona returns to the US this month (2015-07) for games against the LA Galaxy, Manchester United, and Chelsea. (FCBarcelona)
The newspaper in the mural above crams all of this news onto one page: “Civil war erupts in Spain – Barcelona bombed”, “Football suspended – President [of FC Barcelona] Josep Sunyol assassinated” [by Franco’s troops] (WP); “Irishman O’Connell takes players on tour – FC Barcelona saved from extinction”; “Funds lodged in Switzerland”. In the bottom left-hand corner of the newspaper is Robert Capa’s famous photograph of ‘The Falling Soldier’, purporting to show a Republican soldier at the very moment he is struck by a bullet and dies. The image is now thought to have been staged (WP).
The image on which the portrait is (perhaps) based can be seen in this Irish Times article on O’Connell.
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The Bawnmore area lies just beyond the border of Belfast, north of the city council along the Shore Road. While the area has seen many large retail chains erect stores over the last few decades, the local businesses have closed. Above, the Boundary Bar, which was burnt out in 2007, now with fake window dressing; below, Paul’s newsagents around the corner in Mount Street.
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Here are some faded corporate hoardings: India tyres and Lambert’s cigarettes on Shore Road in north Belfast, and from much further along the same road, in Whiteabbey, Coca-Cola (with stormtrooper graffiti).
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Here is Faigy’s (Fb) finished piece, begun for CNB 2014, in William Street, just round the corner from Bellaire Hair & Beauty (Fb) in Royal Avenue (and opposite Hicks’s Lurid Wood from the previous year): one of Faigy’s wide-eyed beauties sports an extravagant pink hair-do. (Some of the jewels in the original version have been painted out.)
Previously: Faigy’s 2013 CNB piece | piece for Inked tattoo parlour.
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Here’s DMC’s (Fb | Web) CNB 2014 mural in Kent Street, featuring dubstep artist/producer Skream (Oliver Jones), who was one of the artists at the Red Bull Music Academy at the end of September (which was also promoted in KVLR’s piece – see Home Taping Is Killing Music).
Previously from Dermot McConaghy for CNB 2013: Long Runs The Fox
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This fake shopfront on the main Antrim Road through Glengormley pretends to be a bookstore but was once the Thyme Cafe. It’s not clear where the “restaurant” signage comes from.
Previously: Down The Shops | Back To Business | Needful Things | Yes, We Are Closed | Semiotics | G-8 Cover-Up
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The hoarding at the building-site on Gresham Street has been painted to represent the shop that used to be on the opposite side of the street. An (unattributed) image of the (other side of the) street in former times can be seen below.
Bigg Life Arts September 7-8, 2013, emic (Twitter), as part of the Smithfield & Library Arts Festival
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Two fake vintage shopfronts in Ballyclare town centre: one showing a “village blacksmith” pausing for a moment, the other a cobbler behind the counter.
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“Peacemaker, leader, visionary”. A new mural of Sınn Féın leader Gerry Adams was officially unveiled yesterday (Saturday, May 3rd, 2014), taking its place on the International Wall between the Local Volunteers mural and the current WBTA mural (and replacing the Falls Curfew mural). The second image, below, is of the Adams piece alone. The mural was quickly painted after Adams’s arrest on Wednesday evening (April 30th) after he went for questioning about the Jean McConville case (see also: Headstone); he was released today without charge. An earlier version of the mural (completed May 2) had the word “tout” spray-painted on it on the night of May 2nd-3rd, in the location where “ar aghaıdh lınn” now appears.
A sizeable crowd turned out, as the launch served as a rally in support of Adams, featuring a statement by Martin McGuinness. As can be seen in the third image, below, of McGuinness and Martina Anderson, protesters at the unveiling/rally carried posters showing a picture of Adams with Nelson Mandela, between the words “Defend the peace process – Release Gerry Adams TD”. Video of the launch/rally from the BBC | images from the BelTel.
For the WBTA mural on the left, see Local History From Local People.
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Extramural Activity 