Sacred Heart

Antrim Ladies (web) play in the county’s traditional saffron but also have a pink strip supporting the current organ donation campaign (featuring Dáithí Mac Gabhann – see previously Yes I Do).

Below: “We are in this together” on the shutters of the Upper Springfield Resource Centre.

From the same wall of the Ballymurphy “bullring”, in 2014: Padre Pio and the BVM At The Centre Of Health & Well-Being

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Copyright © 2022 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Glory Days

Henrik Larsson left Glasgow Celtic for Barcelona in 2004, after scoring 174 goals in 221 appearances (WP), but he replaced Katie Taylor as an inspiration to the kids at Victoria Nursery in the New Lodge. (Her faded right shoulder is still visible in the bottom left corner of the image below; for the whole thing, see School Of Champions.)

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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Sweets For My Sweet

For a trip down memory lane, check out the wide variety of sweets available from Old Time Favourites, including the foam shrimps and bananas painted by Pigment Space (Fb | ig) on the side of the shop in Winetavern Street, Belfast. Painted by street artist MWAK/Pigment Space (ig).

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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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When Irish Eyes Are Smiling

London-based artist Fanakapan (ig) specialises in what he calls “balloon graff”. For his trip to HTN2021 he painted shamrock smiley faces. Kent Street car park, Belfast.

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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Builders At Work

This Nathan Bowen (ig | web store) piece is on the hoarding on the west side of North Street (in front of the car-park). There is no actual construction taking place – the area has been in decline since the fire in the arcade in 2004 (see below and Condensed Community Confidence and Who Burnt Us Out?) and the Tribeca renovation has proven controversial.

Previously by Bowen: Covid-Era Canvasses

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X08734 Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X07586 Copyright © 2020 Sabine Troendle (web | Fb)
X08735 Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle

Stars, Look Down/A Réaltaí, Féachaıg’ Anuas

For his contribution to the ‘Art And The Great Hunger’ exhibition in 2019, OMIN (ig | web) drew inspiration from the battering rams used to evict people from their homes – for a photograph see History Today – and the Gabriel Rosenstock poem “Dóıbh Sıúd A Dúnmharaíodh 1845-1850” [To The Murdered Of 1845-1850], which ends “A réaltaí, féachaıg’ anuas/Go dtí nach mbeıdh sa ghrıan/Ach abhac dubh” [Stars, look down/Until the sun is nothing/But a black dwarf] (ig).

With support from UV Arts. The van is part of the piece.

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Copyright © 2022 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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We’re All Mad Here

This mural of characters from Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland – including the Mad Hatter, shown above – was painted back in August (or late July) with about twenty feet of purple-painted wall to the right but there has been no advance made on it since then. Also included are the White Rabbit (or possibly the March Hare), the Cheshire Cat – speaker of our title quote – and Alice herself.

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Death

Chuck Schuldiner was the founder, vocalist, and guitarist of the metal band Death – one of the first “death metal” bands – from 1983 until his death at 34 from a brain tumour, twenty years ago today (WP). The mural in his honour is in the alley off Bloomfield Avenue, behind the former Vault HQ; it reproduces a Getty image of Schuldiner from 1995 holding a BC Rich Ignitor guitar, now out of production. Please leave a comment if you can decipher the artist’s sig.

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Copyright © 2021 Extramural Activity
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Act Now

“Act now” on the climate crisis – the hands “evoke action” in preserving the flowers, butterflies, and bees (Irish News). The work by Danni Simpson (web | ig) is on the Montrose Street side of the Skainos Centre in east Belfast. The mural was unveiled by Rosalind Skillen, a podcaster and writer (e.g. BBC) on climate from east Belfast. Funding was provided by the Climate Coalition (Friends Of The Earth).

See also: Life Preserver

See previously in east Belfast: emic’s ‘twisted hands’ mural which was further along the Newtownards Road when the Vault artists were in the old Ulster Bank building – see 35.

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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Hill Or High Water

The Community Rescue Service (web | Fb | tw) respond to calls about missing persons on both land and water. They were involved in the search for Noah Donohoe and in distributing PPE during the pandemic.

The mural was painted by Mickey Doherty – see the ‘in-progress’ images below – and reproduces a Philip Magowan photograph and a photo of founder Sean McCarry (Belfast Live) from the CRS web site. It is sponsored by Cab Tours Belfast (web). It was launched on November 27th. It replaces the Fidel Castro memorial mural.

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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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