“Education is our passport to the future. Tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today.” This ‘parachute cloth’ mural, which promotes education over gangs, joins three UVF murals in Pine Street, Donegall Pass, south Belfast. (For two of those murals, see Defenders Of The Pass | South Belfast UVF 2nd Batt.)
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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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A 2012 Belfast Telegraph opinion piece asked “Is it Orangefest or vodka and Orangefest?” This year sees a campaign to curb alcohol consumption during marching season (including both the centenary of the Somme on July 1st and the traditional Twelfth celebration of the Battle of the Boyne) using the slogan “It’s about the battle not the bottle” and the hashtag #battlenotbottle. Here is a NewsLetter article on the campaign, which includes 25,000 beermats bearing the message.
It also contains (as shown in the wide shot, below) figures for both the number of casualties suffered by the 36th (Ulster) Division on July 1 at the Battle of the Somme (5,500) and the number of Irishmen who served in the Great War (200,000).
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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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“From Warsaw to Berlin” — Polish airmen in England, in the 300 Mazovian bomber squadron, write a “dedication” on a bomb headed for Germany in August 1941. The plane added as a background is perhaps an Avro Lancaster, while the one in the middle ground (in the wide shot, below) is a Vickers Wellington. According to the information board (shown last, below) “many Polish servicemen remained in Great Britain and Ireland after the [Second World] war, laying the foundations for a large Polish community that now (in Northern Ireland) numbers over 30,000.”
Here is the original image (which has been coloured for the mural).
Previously: Love Demands Sacrifice, which celebrated the 303 squadron and The Silent Unseen, which celebrated the 1st Polish parachute regiment.
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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03551 X03552 X03553 benburb st formed on July 1st 1940 fairey battles antwerp boulogne calais ostend dunkirk pawel wojchiechowski ballyhalbert bramoote swinderby faldingworth air marshal arthur harris michael bentine cologne launched 2016-06-10 housing executive shared history ACT initiative
Two worlds spring from the mind of the youth in the centre of this new mural by Nozzle & Brush (web | Fb) in south Belfast just off Donegall Pass: on the left, the darkness of drugs, drink, and demons; on the right, the light of sport, music, and spray-painting.
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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03511 funder by the commununity foundation for northern ireland mental health
Here is another mural, this time in west Belfast, in the campaign demanding a response to a shortage in low-income housing. For more, see previously, Equality Can’t Wait.
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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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At the bottom of Divis tower: a wheel of hands from children of different races exhorts residents to overlook differences in skin-tone (“one race, one love, one world”) while the letterbox has been repainted green instead of red.
For the board without obstruction, see M08774
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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03460 divis st west belfast area project divis youth belfast city council
A shortage in low-income housing is highlighted in the #buildhomesnow campaign which has put up lots of small boards (such as the one in the image below, on Divis Street) and the mural shown above, which is in the New Lodge. The site of the old Mackie’s factory is one particular location the campaign says could be redeveloped. (See articles from BMG and Participation & Practice Of Rights.)
For another shot of the mural on the right, see The Great Hunger and the Visual History page on The Great Hunger.
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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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If you’re downtown early in the morning, you might bump into the gents who “clean the streets”, not in the sense of picking up litter but rather in the sense of graffiti (and chewing-gum) removal. They are shown here wiping out “Abortion rights now!” and “Jail the bankers” in Library Street (perhaps from the Workers Solidarity Movement – see the third image, below)
For more information on the removal process, see the first Now You See It.
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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Three more images from the recent electoral season. Political parties were putting up hoardings and posters everywhere, such as Sınn Féın’s “Vote” ad (next to one for the rock-band Busted on their ‘Pigs Can Fly’ tour) and the DUP’s use of the spectre of a nationalist first minister as a reason to “keep” Arlene Foster and colleagues. Above, however, the watch-word is “stop”: “Want change? Stop vot[i]ng”.
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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03442 X03441 X03440 railway br nothumberland st ? keep arlene f1rst minister vote for her DUP candidates it takes a4-letter word to be heard níos fear better with 5 point pledge
A colourful butterfly for the springtime by Conor McClure (web | Tw) – here is video of the work being painted, from sponsors National Trust NI.
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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Extramural Activity 