painted wall

Out Of The Trenches

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2015-02-05 CastlemaraYCV+

The Young Citizen Volunteers of 1912 eventually joined the Ulster Volunteers (in 1914) as the 14th battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles and part of the 36th (Ulster) Division (WP). In 1972 the name was resurrected for use as the youth wing of the UVF (WP). In the wide shot, below, this history is presented as a continuous movement from left to right; a modern-day hooded gunman climbs out of a WWI trench with one hand on a YCV flag.

2015-02-05 CastlemaraYCVFull+

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X02497 X02498 ulster volunteer force ulster’s young elite c. company carrickfergus paramilitary somme fricourt arras thiepval ypres grandcourt messines st. quentin

The Final Volley

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2014-11-08 GlenwoodVolley+

This republican mural in Glenwood shows a funeral party firing a volley of shots over a tricolour-draped coffin containing one of the ten hunger-strikers of 1981: Bobby Sands, Francis Hughes, Raymond McCreesh, Patsy O’Hara, Joe McDonnell, Martin Hurson, Kevin Lynch, Kieran Doherty, Tom McElwee, Mickey Devine. The H-blocks of Long Kesh are in the background.

2015 repainting of a 2001 mural.

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X02336 lark fuiseog barbed wire thomas

Made Beautiful By Age

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2014-12-04 IndiaTyres+

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).

2014-12-10 CocaCola+

2015-02-09 LambertButler+

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X02420 X02421 X02512 butler the finest tyres made king size special mild

Wortley

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2015-01-23 LarchesWortley+

“Sgt. Thomas George Wortley , “D Coy” 14th Btn. Royal Irish Rifles, Service No. 14/17063, Died Messines 07-06-1917, Spanbroekmolen British Cemetary Grave C10″. Wortley was born in Carrickfergus, lived in Belfast, died on the first day of the battle at Messines (findagrave), buried in a small cemetery of British soldiers, many from the 36th (Ulster) Division, in Spanbroekmolen on the Ypres Salient in Flanders (WP) – shown in the mural – and is remembered in Carrickfergus with a parade each year on the date of his death (carrickfergusrollofhonour).

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X02488 cemetery belgium

The Reason That We Are Being Tortured

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2014-11-13 NLodgeEndStrip+

Above, “End forced strip search, controlled movement” RNU/Cogús (web) stencil (“End forced strip search, controlled movement”) in front of a gallery of RNU/Cogús boards (see Until All Are Free We Are All Imprisoned).

Below, stencil of the iconic Che over his father’s words: “[In my son’s veins flowed the] Blood of an Irish rebel”. (See previously: Che Guevara Lynch)

2014-10-03 NLodgeRebel+

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X02362 X02265 oglaıgh na heıreann rnu network unity cogus teach oısín

The Titanic Story

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2014-11-22 CubaWalk+

“Titanic Sinks” is the headline of the newspaper in this recent mural in east Belfast. In fact, news was hard to come by in the first few days after the sinking in the early morning of April 15th, 1912, as Titanic sank a thousand miles from New York and wireless was the only means of communication. The Evening Sun’s headline on April 15th (which might be partially reproduced here) announced “All Titanic Passengers Are Safe; Transferred in Lifeboats at Sea” (image at Pratt Library). Here is a NYTimes article about the difficulty in getting reliable news in the days after the sinking. This is new work by John Stewart. (Report on the launch at NIHE.)

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X02395 titanic sinks queen of the ocean Edward Harland 1831-1895, Gustav Wolff 1834-1913 built in belfast story sinks inglis white star line

Time In Hell

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2015-01-23 LarchesTimeInHell+

A dead WWI soldier in the scorched Belgian countryside is comforted by an ethereal figure who will convey him to heaven: A soldier standing at heaven’s gate/To St. Peter he did tell/I’m here to enter heaven now/I’ve served my time in hell – a variation on James Donahue’s WWII Soldier’s Poem (WP). The poem was previously used of Republicans in a 1981 mural in Derry (see I Refuse To Change/M00151).

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X02487 36th ulster division somme wwi barbed wire angel ghost woman carrickfergus the larches guadalcanal 1942

Sign Here

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2014-06-29 Eoin+

Here is a gallery of seven pieces of street writing from the Cupar Way “peace” line, starting above with Eoin (see previously: Kiss And Make Up) and ending with NOYS. The wall, and the works on it, are covered in the signatures of tourists who come to see the wall and the murals of west Belfast, though these images (taken between June and October of 2014) are mostly of fairly fresh work.

2014-07-02 CuparWay4+

2014-07-02 CuparWay2+

2014-07-02 CuparWay1+

2014-10-17 CuparWriting+

2014-08-19 CuparWriting+

2014-08-19 NOYSCupar+

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X02004 X02010 X02007 X02006 X02296 X02093 X02096 puerto rican judo it says doc arnz bopie gabe sam matt eq roach manone razer vyal tl bd coi amc tda klann tnb tds tiws sums noys am moon

Show No Mercy

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2015-02-05 CastlemaraEddie+

“Show no mercy and expect none”. Iron Maiden’s Eddie the trooper, armed with an assault rifle and carrying a UDA flag, leads the grim reaper over the graves of “G. Adams”, “McGuinness” and “A. Maskey”. UDA/UFF mural in Carrickfergus.

For more on Eddie, see his Visual History page.

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X02496 south east antrum UDA b coy quis separabit

At The Pass

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2014-08-11 UVFDonegallPass+

South Belfast Ulster Volunteer Force 2nd Battalion “A” Company Donegall Pass, with the flag of England (St. George’s Cross) in one corner and in the other an orange star with “1912” written below, the year the Ulster Volunteers were founded. The colour-scheme is the reverse of the Orange Order’s: its flag has the purple star of the Williamites on an orange field.

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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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