U’ll Do Nottin!

A drugs-related dialogue on the walls of Berwick Road in Ardoyne. “AAD” is “Action Against Drugs” who threaten that “Drug dealers will be shot” (in June, they claimed responsibility for two killings – Irish News). But the respondent – perhaps with the power of the resurrection in mind – is unimpressed.

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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Dead End

A good deal of attention was recently paid to the removal of a “peace” wall at the top of Springhill Avenue (e.g. Guardian | Irish Times). As can be seen from the image above, however, a high fence has been put in its place and the dense shrubbery left intact, so that it is impossible to enter or exit the area this way. The new “transparency” is similar to the see-through gate in Workman Avenue in 2015 and in Howard Street in 2013. The immediate impact has been to remove a large wall used for muraling: Palestine Abú | Man Against Machine | Apache Hellfire.

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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Abortion Rights Now

#TrustWomen with a raised fist in a ‘Venus’ symbol.

North Howard Street, west Belfast.

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Jobstown Not Guilty

We go beyond the North for today’s post: November 2014 protests over water charges (and austerity measures in general) in Tallaght, Dublin blocked in Deputy Prime Minister Joan Bruton’s car for 2.5 hours (some video | broader account). A teenager was convicted of false imprisonment but conditionally discharged in 2016 (Irish Times). The placard shown above relates to the trial of a first group of (adult) protesters, including TD Paul Murphy, at the end of June, 2017 which ended in their acquittal – which led to an internal inquiry by Gardaí of their handling of the case. Yesterday, charges were dropped against the remaining accused. For yesterday’s events see journal.ie; for a timeline, see the JobstownNotGuilty site.

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Civilisation Has Its Roots In The Soil

“Civilisation has its roots in the soil & without soil there will be no future life – Tá an duıne fréamhaıthe san ıthır, gan í ní hann dó” by Ed Reynolds (webtw) and Tancredi Caruso. Together they put on an exhibition and painted a mural for the Belowground Visions Of Life project (Soil Security Programme). The mural is outside Bunscoıl Mhıc Reachtaın (hence the Irish translation) in the old ‘Little Italy’ area of Belfast. Sand or soil has been added to the mural to give it texture.

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Embrace Change Together

A mosque rises between Samson and Goliath, the Harland & Wolff cranes, while in the lower third, people of different races and nationalities share the same streets of terraced housing.

Here are pictures of the launch on August 21st, part of the Active Communities Network‘s ‘Walk The Walls‘ event.

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Keep Ahead With Your Mental Health

Kids from the Divis youth project at the Frank Gillen Centre were involved in designing the new mental health mural which was unveiled last week in west Belfast. BelfastLive has pictures of the launch on (August 11th).

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Somebody’s Child

Dublin Councillor Mannix Flynn’s installation Somebody’s Child lists the names of 796 children deemed illegitimate and buried without funeral rites by “a cruel Catholic state” in St Mary’s Mother And Baby Centre in Tuam, Galway (Dublin Live | Mannix Flynn).

The work was launched in November 2015. It was set ablaze in January of this year and restored in July with the addition of a call for the disbandment of the Artane Boys Band, the public face of what was the Artane Industrial School which closed in 1969 in advance of the Kennedy Report into abuses carried out by the Christian Brothers. For more on this dispute, see Dublin Inquirer.

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Boyne Bridge Defenders

The Boyne Bridge joins Durham Street and Sandy Row. Translink plans to demolish the bridge to make way for a new Transport Hub costing 150 million pounds. The Boyne Bridge Defenders (web | Fb) are organising a petition against it on the basis of the bridge’s age (parts of it were built in 1642) and long history. More info from the Tele.

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Made By Children

Amnesty International is working with Eden Place Arts centre on a project into the lives of children, which includes learning to stencil and paint with Donal O’Doherty and Karl Porter from UV Arts in order to produce various murals and paintings. The largest image, of a child’s t-shirt, is shown above. More information from Derry Journal.

“This mural was designed by youth from Pilots Row Youth Club to raise awareness of child labour within the fashion industry, to educate and promote the basic human rights of children across the world. In association with Amnesty International, Eden Place Arts Centre and UV Arts, participants had the opportunity to reflect on the true cost of our throw-away fashion industry and created this thought provoking mural. Help us spread awareness of this and show your support by standing up for someone’s rights today!”

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