painted wall

In The Land Of The Giants

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03112 2015-10-11 Belfast Giants d+

Here are three shots of the new Blaze Fx (web | Fb) “Belfast Giants” mural in east Belfast’s Lord Street. The Giants have been Belfast’s ice-hockey team for the last fifteen years, beginning in 2000. The detail above shows mascot Finn MacCool and the image of the full mural, below, includes the team motto, the (a)politically-motivated “In the land of the giants, everyone is equal.” The mural takes the place of a UDA mural (featured previously, Feriens Tego; see also the second info board, below, on “the re-imaging of Lord Street 2012-2015”) and is one of three large murals and various small murals to be replaced or painted out. (This News Letter article puts the total at nine.)

03164 2015-11-11 Giants Supporters+

03162 2015-11-11 Belfast Giants+

03370 2016-04-07 Belfast Giants info+

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Copyright © 2015/2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03112 X03164 X03162 ice hockey stick jersey mobile phone go foam finger cheering taking picture skates X03370 junior and senior teams local media likes mark morrison nathan clements bradley scott kaitlyn morrison X04481

Giz A Wee Lick At Ye!

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03060 2015-09-24 kjboe CNB15 A Wee Lick+

In the video profile included below, Keith Boe (Fb) expresses a wish to participate in CNB and for this year’s celebration he brought his “creepy stuff” to a car park in Kent Street in the form of skeletal head with a threateningly long tongue.

The artist of the boy statue below is unknown; perhaps JMK.

X03062 2015-09-28 CNB15 Statue+

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03060 X03062 skeleton face eyeball red culture night belfast mural streetart kjboe

Nan With The Pearl Earring

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03053 2015-09-24 DavidCreative CNB15 Nan+

Vermeer’s original is given a local twist in this piece of street art by David McClelland (web) for CNB15.

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Workers & Warriors

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03165 2015-11-11 Lord St Remembers+

For Armistice Day commemorations 2015 an old mural (below) depicting east Belfast mill workers in cloth caps going to work beneath the H&W cranes was replaced with an image of a single soldier standing over a WWI burial cross with head bowed. In front are the same kind of small wooded crosses and poppies featured on Saturday (Row On Row) from Pitt Park. By Glenn Black and Ken Maze of Blaze FX (web).

03167 2015-11-11 Lord St Remembers close+

01543 Mill Workers+

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Copyright © 2013 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Pristine Wilderness

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03042 2015-09-23 Filth CNB15 Camping+

Work by This Is Filth (Fb) in the city centre shows an idyllic scene: a campfire burning beneath a crescent moon over the mountains.

Replaces: Chips & Ketchup

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03042 Graham Watson text river pine fir tree

Face In The Crowd

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03082 2015-10-03 Dreph CNB15 Mouths+

This CNB15 street art by Neequaye Dreph (web | Tw) is a collage of mouths, eyes, and the occasional nose.

Previously featured: Dreph’s writing for CNB14.

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03082 belfast culture night 2015

Cross & Crane

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02989 2015-09-05 Flora St 36th Ulster main+

Samson and Goliath, the cranes of the Harland & Wolff shipyard in east Belfast, stand alongside crosses on the burial grounds of the 36th (Ulster) Division in Flanders (though Cave Hill might be in the background) in this Flora Street mural in east Belfast. UVF flags fly overhead. One of the cranes can be seen in the background of the wide shot, below.

On the headstone in the front-middle is written “Francis Lemon 1916”, perhaps this Francis Lemon, from Ballymacarrett, who died on July 2nd: FindAGrave | IWM.

02990 2015-09-05 Flora St 36th Ulster w+

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Copyright © 2015 Extramural Activity
X02989 X02990 francis lemon 1916 remembrance day armistice day veterans

By Hand

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03105 2015-10-08 Le Bas CNB15+

Work by Dublin-based street artist Le Bas for CNB15 in Kent Street: a hand-drawn abstract, repeating design against a yellow background with jagged white lines over the top.

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03105

Red Mick

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02856 2015-08-26 DevineShantallow+

Michael “Mickey” (though here “Micky”) Devine was red-headed and was a founder member of the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP) in his native Derry (The Plough & The Stars) and also of the INLA (IRSP Derry). The mural on the gable shown above includes the socialist symbols of the red star and the plough, great bear (ursa major), or “big dipper” shining over the towers of Long Kesh, where Devine died on the 21st of August, 1981, after 60 days on hunger strike, the tenth and final striker to die.

The writing that can be seen faintly in the lower third (from a previous version of the mural) reads “They have served their British masters, the poor pathetic fools. They think that inhumanity and cruelty can break us. Haven’t they learnt anything? It strengthens us, it drives us on, for then more than ever we know that our cause is just. INLA Vol. Micky Devine, Long Kesh 1981”

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02856 shantallow derry

The Prejudices And Postures Of The Past Could Be Swept Away

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03066 2015-09-28 Jackalope CNB15 City Hall+

From an image of the city hall in flames during the week, we move to a city hall floating away on kites and being swept away by waves: “It might become conceivable that the prejudices and postures of the past could be swept away”. Both this city hall and the previous one were drawn by Ailie O’Hagan. We also below have a BA in a banshee studies from Queens by Jamie Baird. Both are part of the panels drawn during CNB15 in the Waring Street alley. The full squad also included Conor McClure, Martina Scott, Aaron Cushley, Chris Ellis, Laura Robinson, William Woods, Kevin Conaghan and the crew from Jackalope.

03069 2015-09-28 Jackalope CNB15 Teacher+

03064 2015-09-28 Jackalope CNB15 Full+

Update: the piece was soon (by mid-November) “vandalised” by JJ’s “Know no fear”:

03195 2015-11-19 Know No Fear+

While we’re at it, here’s another JJ piece, “Bring the war!” from Harbour Promenade …

03103-2015-10-07-bring-the-war

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03066 X03069 X03064 X03195 waring st alley yesterday is not ours to recover but tomorrow is ours to win or lose mcguinness robinson remember devolution we don’t we do this every friday life is beautiful when you’re high up kabloom QUB university belfast ba (hons)