This new piece from Belfast One BID is full of literary references (web). The blackberries (top left of the image above) are perhaps for Seamus Heaney, and the kites (bottom right of the image above) are perhaps for John Hewitt. Comment/Get in touch if you can identify others.
Below the Linen Hall library in Fountain Street, Belfast city centre.
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Copyright © 2024 Fintan Woods
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The Guinness toucans – invented in the 1930s by John Gilroy (Collectors’ Weekly | Guinness Project) – balance pints of “Guinness 0.0” on their beaks as they fly over Clonard Monastery and the houses and shops along the Springfield Road, including (in white) Dan’s Bar (Fb), which is the site of this large poster (on its Cupar Street side).
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Saoırse don Phalaıstín [Freedom for Palestine]. On August 9th, 2024, Irish-language rappers Kneecap launched a third mural in Hawthorn Street/Sráıd Na Sceıthe, (joining Incendiary Device and England Get Out Of Ireland,) which blows up a sticker seen on a nearby street-sign (seen previously in Land Grab) into a mural and which imitates the version from England Get Out Of Ireland which shows Britain grabbing a piece of Ireland.
For images from the launch, see the Paddy Duffy collection.
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The info plaque next to this new piece of street art in north Belfast reads: “The Dark Dreamer – The Silkie mural by Loretta Lizzio is a recreation of the oil painting “Dark Dreamer” by world-famous Irish artist Patrick Jones who lived here in the family home.”
Patrick J. Jones (web) grew up in Belfast before leaving for London, England, in 1984 and Brisbane, Australia, in 1997. Lizzio, (web), who is also from Australia, reproduced Jones’s original (Fb) on the side of the Stax coffee-shop on the Cliftonville Road, renaming it ‘The Silkie’, though it depicts a mermaid rather than one of the seal-folk; compare with KMG’s interpretation of the Selkie myth in the city centre.
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This is a second piece of street art by Dan Kitchener (web) in Bank Square, next to his painting of fast cars (Fast Enough So We Can Fly Away?): a painting of Jesus Of Nazareth for Crown Jesus Ministeries (web).
Replaces JMK’s The Whisper And The Wish.
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The rosette at the centre of the poppy wreath shows the UK armed services badge (with the crown overlaid by the Ulster Banner) surrounded by a verse from Binyon’s ‘For The Fallen’ and “Tiger’s Bay – York Street – Sailortown loyal”. That group’s Facebook page is private and no home-page seems to be available for ‘North Belfast Friends Of The Somme’.
North Queen Street, Tiger’s Bay, Belfast, at the old Lewis Street.
The large cloth on the Shore Road was also seen last year.
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Perhaps this graffitist was interrupted in Ann Street (on the phone box, above) or decided to escalate their demands in Fountain Lane, below.
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Copyright © 2024 Fintan Woods
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Part of the most recent development of the upper streets in the Village was not to rebuild the two rows of houses on Ebor and Nubia/Moltke streets and in their place construct a park – the Village Green, and now officially the “Ruby Murray Village Green” – and playground. The board on the outside railings make the park a “community park of remembrance” for WWI, showing an Ulster Banner with a Union Flag in the canton. (Seen previously in The Village Green Preservation Society.)
There is also a memorial to “loved ones and friends”, “volunteers, defenders & civilians” of the South Belfast UVF (though there is 36th (Ulster) Division emblem in the corner!) who were “cruely taken away from us by republican scum”: Dinah Campbell, Francis Campbell, Alexander Scott, Frankie Smith, Stevie McCrea, John Hanna, Sammy Mehaffy, William Kingsberry, Jackie Campbell, David Poots.
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“Funny how everything was [roses] when we held on to the guns …” The line accompanying this half-Union-Flag in the alley between Ebor and Kilburn streets (in the Village, south Belfast) comes from the Guns N’ Roses song ‘Breakdown’ (youtube).
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The 1916 centenary mural in Andersonstown has been repurposed and repainted to express solidarity with the people of Palestine.
From the frame of the previous mural – see The Undauntable Thought – the title, phoenix, and chains have been preserved but two instances of the inverted red triangle have been added at the top and bottom – see Resist! (and My Kite You Made).
The main panel puts the struggles in Palestine and Northern Ireland in parallel, showing (from top to bottom on each side) political prisoners, violence against protesters, and relatives carrying portraits.
On the left, Palestinian prisoners languish in Israeli jails (based on a photo of Hamza Abu Halima and on this Reuters photograph of prisoners sitting in the street, both from December 2023) and IDF soldiers make violent arrests – the one on the left is from 2016 (CCUN) and the one on the right is perhaps based on this Reuters photograph.
On the right: British soldiers restore order after the Burning Of Long Kesh (see Operation Pagoda), next to blanket-man Hugh Rooney, above three arrests made by British Army soldiers – their caps indicates that they are from the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders (left) and the Paratroop regiment (centre). (For two of the original photos, see BBC | Getty.)
Along the bottom of both sides, marchers hold portraits of the dead, including the recently-killed leader of Hamas Yahya Sinwar (BBC).
Also visible in the wide shot is Ag Fíorú Na Poblachta.
Launched on November 10th, 2024 (PD Fb). An Neasc Theas, Baıle Mhıc Aındréıs, Béal Feırste thıar (South Link, Andersonstown, west Belfast)
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Extramural Activity 