Gas Masked

2013-12-19 GasMasked+

This piece – a small figure in white made grotesque by a gas mask, with the This Means Nothing hand in the background – is in North Street, originally next to Praise’s ‘Dot‘ (and the ‘Get Paid’ crosses, which are still on the electrical box) from Culture Night 2012, and now between DMC’s Long Runs The Fox and Visual Waste’s ‘bird snatching boy’ (Carried Away).

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Copyright © 2013 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Black & White

2013-12-15 Mandela+

Four shots of the “Go safe Mandela – RIP” lettering by Gael Force Art on Slıabh Dubh/Black Mountain two weeks ago, commemorating the death of Nelson Mandela on December 5th, 2013. The one above is on the Springfield Road with ‘The Usual Suspects’ in the foreground. (Previously from the same location: G8 War Criminals.) The second, below, is from the Whiterock Road and involves the ‘IRA Final Salute’ mural.

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2013-12-30 MandelaSands+

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X01481 X01589 X01525 X01590 dorothy maguire corner ira vol. bobby sands mp fermanagh south tyrone

Not Child’s Play

2013-11-23 YCVNoBallGames+

“No ball games” above a YCV mural in Benburb Street in the Village, south Belfast. The Young Citizen Volunteers formed a battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles and so part of the 36th (Ulster) Division during the first world war.

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Copyright © 2013 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Forever Brass

X01535 2013-12-19 GarfieldB&WDetail+

New street art in Garfield Street, in the city centre – black and white cartoon characters with long, thin necks and square faces.

2013-12-19 GarfieldB&W+

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Copyright © 2013 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Liberating Minds

Here is the completed Frederick Douglass mural in Northumberland Street. With quotes from …

  • Douglass himself (“It is easier build strong children than to repair broken adults.”)
  • Abraham Lincoln (“As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy.”)
  • Angela Davis (“We have to talk about liberating minds as well as liberating society.”)
  • Muhammad Ali (“Why should I drop bombs on brown people in Vietnam while so-called negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs …”)
  • Steven Biko (“The most potent weapon of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.”)
  • MLK (“I have a dream … black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last, free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last.””)
  • Bob Marley (“Until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race.”)
  • Nelson Mandela (“For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”)
  • Paul Robeson “The artist must elect to fight for freedom or for slavery. I made made [sic] my choice. I had no alternative”,
    and
  • (without attribution) James Connolly (“The worker is the slave capitalist society, the woman [female worker] is the slave of that slave.”)

Northern Visions TV documentary on the production and launch of the mural.

See also: in-progress shots, in Frederick Douglass.

Update: John Lewis was added in 2014; see As I Would Not Be A Slave.

Update: Aung San Suu Kyi X’ed out in 2017; see The Freedom Of Others.

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Copyright © 2013/2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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thank you sister Rosa Parks Harriet Tubman Barack Obama Betty Sinclair Mary Ann McCracken Aung San Suu Kyi, Haitian Revolution, Chief Joseph, El Salvador, CoMadres

Know Your History

2011-10-10 CelticBonnar+

“If you know your history …” – a mural sponsored by the Belfast Celtic Society in St. James’s Crescent celebrates some star players – Charlie Tully (WP), Paddy Bonnar, and  Jimmy Jones (WP) – and the old playing ground, Celtic Park or ‘Paradise’, on Donegall Road. Wide shot and close-ups below. (Belfast Telegraph write-up.)

Video from the Belfast Celtic Society of the work in progress and of the unveiling – Jimmy Jones was there in person.

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Copyright © 2011 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Gaelic Clubs

2013-12-07 ShawsGaelic+

Four local GAA clubs are celebrated in this sloping mural on Shaw’s Road: Naomh Pól, Naomh Treasa, Padraıg Sáırséıl, Uí Donnabháın Rossa. (St. Paul’s, St. Teresa’s, Padraig Sarseil’s, O’Donovan Rossa).

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Copyright © 2013 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Years Of Sacrifice

2013-11-08 UVFLongKesh3+

As can be seen from the initial cartoon for this mural, below, it was originally intended to have two hooded gunmen firing a funeral volley, but because of protest by locals (see, e.g. NewsLetter) this was changed to two unmasked men, one of whom is clearly of the WWI era. The Nissen huts and towers of Long Kesh, however, remain in the image, which thus expresses the complex relationship of loyalists (and especially the UVF, whose members Robert Seymour, James Cordner, Joe Long, and Robert Bennett are listed on the left-hand side) to the British army. As Bill Rolston put it: “How could one display visually the value of opposing British policies in the name of remaining British? What could be the symbols of such a schizophrenic message? (Drawing Support (1), p. ii).

The side-wall to the right of shot is painted solid black but otherwise remains unfinished as of the end of 2013.

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The Very System That Drove Us To Our Deaths

2013-12-09 ShawsPatsy+

“After we are gone what will you say you were doing? Will you say you were with us in our struggle, or were you with the very system that drove us to our deaths?”

The mural to hunger striker Patsy O’Hara on Shaws Road has been repainted and is now only one half of a long wall, due to impending renovations of the Spar shop whose side it is on. Launched November 17th, 2013 (source: irsp.ie)

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Copyright © 2013 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X01478 IRSP INLA in proud memory of the ten h-block martyrs who died on hunger strike in long kesh during the struggle for political status

Make Art Not Bombs

2013-12-19 MakeArt+

London-based Greek street artist ‘The Krah’ is in Belfast at the moment and has just (December 15th and 16th) produced these two new pieces in Garfield Street. Above is ‘Make art not bombs’ and below is a yellow head. ‘Make art not bombs’ was perhaps inspired by witnessing a bomb scare in the city centre this week (Fb | Web).

Replaces Not criminals. Just … Thugz

2013-12-19 TheKrah+

The first piece replaces this “Be excellent to each other/tynee bear” piece, below.

2013-10-01 BeExcellent+

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