The Fight For Rights

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It’s still anybody’s guess as to how Brexit will happen in March, 2019. This week, the ball is in the court of the hard-Brexiteers as they decide whether or not to challenge Theresa May’s leadership of the Conservative Party. Political parties in Northern Ireland claim to be “fighting” for their side – such as this Sinn Féin board on Falls Road – but in practice this means only looking on with fascination and anxiety. “The fight for rights continues – 1968-2018. Don’t let the DUP/Tories take away your rights through Brexit.”

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Copyright © 2018 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X06306 Falls Road

Run For It

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Belgian artist DZIA (ig | tw | web | Fb) specialises in geometric animals, like this fox and hare that he painted in Union Street for CNBX/HTN18, sponsored this year by Heverlee beer (also from Belgium!).

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Westwinds East Belfast

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This large Union Flag is another “East Belfast UVF” marking in the Westwinds estate in Newtownards (10 miles to the east of Belfast), a more colourful companion to the hooded gunmen in  East East Belfast and EB UVF. The familiar purple-and-orange UVF flag flies over the playground.

X06078 2018-08-27 Playground UVF flags+

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From The River To The Sea

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Saoradh’s (web) support of Palestinian rights continues with its most ambitious mural to date. Previously: Resistance Is Not Terrorism | Ireland Stands With Palestine.

For the history of art on this wall, see Visual History 11.

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Victoria Crosses Of The 36th (Ulster) Division

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Dee Craig has updated the Victoria Crosses mural in Cregagh, honoring G[eoffrey St. George Shillington] Cather, W[illiam Frederick] MacFadzean, R[obert] Quigg, and E[ric] N[orman] F[rankland] Bell. Five more were included in a board on the Shankill and another in Willowfield Street. (For the previous Cregagh version, see M03390)

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Copyright © 2018 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X06313 [X06314] X06315 cappagh gardens

The Peelers

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Glasgow artists Conzo Throb (web | Fb) and Ciaran Glöbel (ig | BBC Arts) were in Belfast for CNBX/HTN18 with a locally-themed mural and business suggestion for the PSNI: “Pommes frites … like chips but more expensive.”

Previously by Conzo: Fill Up On Colour | Let’s Melt

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Copyright © 2018 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X06258 Kent St

Fur Collar

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Here is Friz’s (web | tw | ig) piece for Culture Night/Hit The North 2018. The official title is “Hide And Seek” but the local surroundings suggest other titles.

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Faulky Lad

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Craig Faulkner died by suicide on July 8th, 2016 (Belfast Live). His was one of the deaths among amateur footballers that spurred the SAMHI initiative (Belfast Live). (See previously: It’s OK To Talk). This board to his memory is on the path between Hightown Road carpark (above the Horseshoe Bend) and the top of the Cavehill Road – he was from and played soccer in Ballysillan.

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Copyright © 2018 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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We Buy Stolen Goods

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“Up the gangbangers.” Hoods from the New Lodge Road (some recent disturbances: Belfast Live | Irish Times | BelTel | Irish News) leave a graffiti message on top of Ed Reynolds’s (web) mural, seen previously in The Old New Lodge, On My Wedding Day, St Patrick’s and Faces From The Past, the last of which includes an image of the mural getting a coat of anti-graffiti varnish.

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The Art Of Precious Scars

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Kintsugi, according to WP, is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with a metallic lacquer, which means that the repair is visible, and “treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise.”

Conor McClure (web | Fb | tw) writes that “My Hit The North piece is based on the link with this philosophy and mental health in our society. Rather than have to hide round the stigma of mental illness people should be able to display their scars and wear them with pride.” October 10th was World Mental Health Day.

Previously: More Wolf Than Woman | Spring Wings

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Copyright © 2018 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X06169 Kent St title from LifeGate