The Disney princesses (Snow White and Princess Anna, the younger sister from Frozen) are being watched, not just by the wicked witch, but by the communications tower on the Springfield Road barracks. There are two close-ups below, one of Ariel and Snow White, the second of Anna. The mural is new work by a local artist and local children in the Slıabh Dubh estate.
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Last Saturday (2014-11-08) saw the launch of a new mural in Ballymurphy Crescent, celebrating local IRA volunteers and community workers.
The doves at the top of the mural are in the style of Robert Ballagh’s “Legacy Of The Hunger Strikes” though there are 12 doves here rather than 10. Marty Lyons holds a copy of Ballagh’s piece in an image below, along with an image on which the halberd and pistol around the beret and gloves in the bottom of the mural are based – the rifles of the original are absent. (Possibly by Patrick Magee, the Brighton bomber (WP) – please confirm by e-mail or comment.)
Left-hand portraits (counter-clockwise from top): Eileen Gray, Margaret Campbell, Annie Adams, Kathleen Moore, Lizzie McGivern, Joe Reid, Rosaleen Russell, Mary Armstrong, Agnes Robinson, Eileen Reid.
Standing (l-r): Fra Toner, Gerry Campbell, Liam Mulholland, Paddy Tier, Sean Connolly, Michael Kane, Liam McParland, Sean Doyle, Cllr. Sean Keenan, Pat McGeown.
Squatting/Kneeling (l-r): Jim McGrillen, Francis Toner, Jr., Jimmy Duffy, Tony McAlister, Billy Carson, Cormac McArt.
The main figure is (and remains from the previous mural) Tommy “Toddler” Tolan, who escaped from the Maidstone in 1972 and served time in the cages at Long Kesh. (See Lost Lives entry #1956 and An Phoblacht.) In the original (2001) version of the ‘Safe House’ mural, he was dressed in fatigues (image at CAIN), but this was changed within 18 months to a brown suit (image at CAIN | detail at ExtrAct), similar to the way he is portrayed here.
The mural took some time to complete — the fifth image, below, shows one of the artists on a scaffold with #stoptorycuts on Slıabh Dubh in mid-October — partly because more and more figures were added.
Update 2014-11-26: In an unusual move, the launch of the mural was advertised by a board (rather than flyers), in this case at Dorothy Maguire Corner on the Whiterock Road – see the final image, below.
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X02348 X02401 X02349 X02290 X02287 X02288 X02289 X02403 the mural was unveiled by johnny doc 8th november 2014 remember our volunteers committee an trá ghearr abú
Inkie (Tom Bingle WP | Fb | Web) did five pieces for CNB 2014. Two of these have been featured previously – Boogie Down Belfast | Sleep Sweetly – and the other three are shown here, including two sigs in different styles. All three are in (upper) North Street.
Previously, from CNB13: Lost Soul
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Yesterday’s symbolic vote on Catalonian independence (for more background see Votes About Votes) showed 81% in favour of separation from Spain. Here are three shots of the encouragement on Slıabh Dubh (Black Mountain), the second with the Ballymurphy Easter Rising mural in the foreground, the third with the wall of superheroes in Slıabh Dubh estate (see Wallbusters | The Walls, Unbroken | Red-Eye | Cartoon World).
Previous messages on the mountain can be seen on its Visual History page.
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A sad Scotsman has been swallowed by a whale and is living in the belly of the beast along with an octopus, a little boy, and various other creatures. For CNB 2014 by Martina Scott, Drawn In Belfast, John McFarlane/Cosmic Bacon and others.
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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 are two details from the Ardoyne, Bone, Ligoniel mural featured yesterday, as well as a shot of bouquets of flowers in front of the plaque on the stone put in place in 2003. The first reproduces a photograph of Maıréad Farrell during the “no-wash” or “dirty” protest in Armagh Women’s Prison. (See the middle of this 1989 Frontline documentary.) The second shows the walls and guard-towers of the H-Blocks (featured previously in You Know Where). The frames and photographs of 40 locals are printed, not painted.
Video of the launch:
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X02277 X02278 X02279 dedicated to those friends and neighbours from ardoyne, the bone and ligoniel whose contribution and support to our struggle was and remains invaluable aıthníonn muıd a gcrógacht óglaıgh na héıreann meán fómhaır 2003
26 volunteers and 14 others from the Ardoyne, Bone, and Ligoniel areas are commemorated in a new (2014-10-05) mural. The images below show artist Mickey Doherty, himself an ex-prisoner, at the start of the process – with the grid-work visible – and shooting an “action” shot for VICE TV.
The previous mural also commemorated local volunteers (34 painted portraits rather than a printed board), but this mural adds a Celtic cross, funeral volley, and images of Armagh women’s prison, the cages at Long Kesh, and the H-blocks, as well as (an inverted image of) blanketman Hugh Rooney – detailed images can be seen in Prison Walls.
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X02304 X02284 X02305 X02306 gerard mcdade david mcauley james reid joseph mccomiskey pat mccabe marley alan lundy john copeland terry toolan stephen scullion terry clarke declan mccluskey patrick markey peter hamilton thomas begley jim saunders martin meehan
A pro-Gaza “Viva Palestine” mural/stencil has replaced the Maıréad Farrell piece at the top of Berwick Road/Paráıd An Ardghleanna in Ardoyne/Ard Eoın. The flyer on the box touts high-speed broadband – you can go anywhere you want on-line, but, as can be seen from the wide shot below, the road itself runs straight into the Glenbryn “peace” line.
The mural – with stencilled fists and the image of Leila Khaled – is very similar to one in Hugo Street. It is positioned between ‘PSNI Not Welcome‘ and an RNU phoenix (shown in the Maıréad Farrell image)
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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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Extramural Activity 