One Struggle!

“Ireland – Palestine – one struggle!” Carlos Latuff’s Belfast piece with Rısteard Ó Murchú about Palestinian hunger-striker Khader Adnan was featured yesterday in They Hungered For Justice And Freedom. Here is the piece Latuff did on Free Derry Corner with local artist Razer (Fb), showing Irish and Palestinian hands together throwing a Molotov cocktail.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2023 Andy McDonagh/Eclipso Pictures (ig | Fb)
X12404 X12403

Ready To Rumble

Art by Danny Rumbl (ig), HMConstance (ig), KMG (ig), Zippy (ig), Codo (ig), and various writers on the Cupar Way “peace” line, on top of pieces from last year by Bust, Lobster, and others – New Levels, Same Devils.

For a history of the wall, see State Art Vs Graffiti On The West Belfast “Peace” Line.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2023 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X12286 X12291 [X12290] X12288 X12287
X12296 X12289
X12292 X12293 X12294 X12295

They Hungered For Justice And Freedom

Long-time Palestinian activist and former spokesperson for Islamic Jihad Khader Adnan died on May 2nd, at the age of 45, after 87 days on hunger strike in Ramla prison, in central Israel (Al Jazeera).

This was Adnan’s fifth time on hunger strike. In 2017, he spent 58 days on hunger strike and in 2015, 56 days. The strike in 2011-2012 lasted 66 days, during which time a mural was painted just to left of the mural shown here, featuring Adnan and Hanna Shalabi; they, along with many other prisoners, were on hunger strike to protest the “administrative detention” (imprisonment without trial) of more than 300 Palestinians – see Administrative Detention. Earlier, shorter, strikes took place in 2002 and in 2000, when he was imprisoned by the Palestinian National Authority for directing a protest against Lionel Jospin, then French Prime Minister (Gulf News).

According to Amnesty International, there are currently more than 1,000 Palestinians being held on ‘administrative detention’ (Amnesty).

As can be seen from the in-progress shots below, Rısteard Ó Murchú painted Latuff’s cartoon, with Latuff looking on.

Cartoons by Latuff himself, in Belfast: Pacifying The Six Counties and in Derry: Killing With Impunity.
Latuff-based murals: The Butcher’s Apron | Do Not Disturb | Hand Across The Yard. Poster: End Impunity

This mural takes the place of the No To PII mural on the “International Wall”, Divis Street – see the Visual History page for the wall.

Also included is a “March for Palestine – 75 Years Of Nakba” poster on the Saber Al-Ashkar mural.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2023 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X12407 [X12408]
X12378 [X12381] [X12383] X12384 X12385 [X12386] X12387 [X12390]
X12409 [X12382]
X12379

The Spiritual And The Temporal

Work by emic (ig) in Castle Lane, Belfast, perhaps picking up a theme from Friz’s Under The Cherry Blossoms in Castle Arcade which focused on the castle and grounds in the era of Arthur Chichester. Chichester’s castle burned down in 1708 and by 1800 the castle and its grounds were vanishing under buildings akin to the nearby corn market and Belfast entries (WP).

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2023 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X12366 [X12368] X12367

Hit The North – Union Street

This is a gallery of the new Hit The North pieces on Union Street south of Kent Street. There is a separate post for the new pieces on Union Street north of Kent Street.

From north to south (top to bottom in this post) the works are by:
Conor McClure (ig)
All The Doodz (ig)
Wee Nuls (ig)
Glen Molloy x2 (ig)
Hixxy (ig)
Ed Hicks (ig) – on the Sunflower side of the street
Danny Rumbl (ig)
NOL (ig)
Andrey Palval (ig)

[Nol faces] see the Paddy Duffy collection

[Owl] see the Paddy Duffy collection

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2023 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X12311 X12312 X12313 X12314 X12315 X12316 X12310
X12309 X12308
X12324

Hit The North – Kent Street

Here is a gallery of the new pieces from Hit The North 2023 on the north side of Kent Street (there is a separate post for the south side and there is a separate post at Paddy Duffy’s site for Kent Street above Union Street).

From left to right (top to bottom in this post), the artists are:

Zippy (ig)
Alana McDowell (ig)
Asbestos (ig)
Angry Dan (ig)
?TMN krew?
Sufek West
Hallion – “Цe нaшe поле до біса” [this is our hell on earth] – a common description of the battle for Bakhmut by Ukranian soldiers (AP | France24 | CNN); this was the last of several slogans painted by Hallion throughout the festival (tw)
RASK (ig) + STER (ig) + SUMS (ig)

[writing]

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2023 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X12297
X12298
X12306
X12307
X12323 X12299
X12300
X12301 X12302 X12303

Ceci N’Est Pas Une Pint (Hit The North – Wasteground)

Davd J McMillan (ig) returned to Belfast from Bristol for HTN2023, which this year used the interior walls of the wasteground opposite the Sunflower. The writing appears to read “Ce nas pas une pint” but based on the pipe in the other hand, presumably should be “Ceci n’est pas une pint” in homage to Magritte’s famous non-pipe “Treachery Of Images” (or perhaps, based on the sketch, “Je n’ai pas une pint”).

Also included are various pieces of graffiti art, including a tiger-cat by PENS (ig) and a red-nosed boy by KVLR (ig).

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2023/2025 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X12322 X12321 X12320 X12319

Fox’s Classier Tints

Annatomix (web) painted a giant fox for HTN23 over DanLeo’s 2016 Palm Cockatoo and (as the wide shot below shows) next to BUST’s Dry Gin.

Union Street, Belfast.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2023 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X12318 X12317

A Window On The World

A new piece by Alice Pasquini (ig) and UNO (web) is in progress in College Street, Belfast. A throw-back to the days before mobile devices, surely.

The completed work (with paper aeroplanes added) can be seen in the Paddy Duffy collection.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2023 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X12145 X12144

Stigma Breakers & Law Makers

This is Wee Nuls’s (web | ig) street art celebrating the success of the ‘menstruation matters’ (ig) campaign for free period products and the passage of the Period Products Bill.

The piece is perhaps a “gremlin” self-portrait in the style of Mr Blonde/Vic Vega. It was painted for HTN22 in the spot below Transport House where her original version of Free Period Items was painted and blacked out. (It was then repainted at Artcetra.) To the left is Claire Prouvost’s tribute to women workers of the world and to left is a Unity (union) hoarding: Workers Of The World Unite.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2022 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X11426