These republican slogans are on the fencing along Southway, Derry. “End internment”, “1916 – 2016 Unfinished business”, “IRA”, “JFT14” = “Justice for the 14 [Bloody Sunday victims]”, and “Brits out”.
Step-mother Aoıfe resents the bonds between her husband Lear and his children and their love for their lost mother and turns them into singing swans for 900 years, by the end of which time Christianity had come to Ireland. A monk heard their song and recognised them. At his touch, they are restored to human form. Being 900 years old, they die immediately but not before being baptised.
For another ‘baptised before death’ story, see the story of the mermaid Lí Ban in Sea-Born.
This is the third of three Celtic mythology boards in Creggan/An Creagán, Derry. See previously: Tír Na nÓg and Cú Chulaınn.
The experts’ best guess is that the gentleman on the white horse (on the right of the painting) is James Scott, Duke of Monmouth, at the siege of Maastricht in 1673. Scott was commander of the English forces fighting with the French during the Franco-Dutch war. It’s not clear, thus, what the connection is to the Antiville area of Larne or the wars fought in Ireland over the English crown. It was painted by Jan Wyck, who also did a painting of the Battle of the Boyne. On either side (as shown below) are a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II and the English version of the Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom.
This trio of boards has been added to a wall behind the Antiville community centre, softening (somewhat) a very aggressive set of six UDA boards (seen in UDA Flag Bearer and Secret Army Silhouettes.)
“Remember With Pride” (with a poppy). Although the dates of his birth and death are given, Stevie “Top Gun” McKeag’s name appears only on the side-wall of this new mural in the Lower Shankill estate. McKeag was the top assassin in the UDA during the 1990s, claiming at least 12 victims. Both his WP page and this Guardian article describe his career and preeminent standing within the UDA.
Sınn Féın representatives Paul Maskey (above), Gerry Adams, and Martin McGuinness are photoshopped into these beverage-themed, Irish-language puns outside the ‘Falls Rolls’ bakery: Ár tae will come, Tıocfaıgh [sic] ár látte, and Mocha-ra.
Paris street artist KASHINK was in Belfast for Culture Night 2016, working on the fencing in Union Street behind the Sunflower. According to this article, she paints “hairy four-eyed men to examine gender assumptions.”
Robert King, of the 12th Royal Irish Rifles, who joined the army from the Ulster Volunteers, was “awarded the Military Medal for gallantry in action on 1st July 1916” at the Somme. The two sides of the medal are shown in the top right, with George V on one side and “for bravery in the field”. The 12th Rifles were drawn from the Central Antrim regiment of the Ulster Volunteers including the Newington area of Larne; King, however, was from Ship Street.
A stencilled phoenix in the Bogside, Derry’s, Meenan Square. The phoenix dies in flames and from its ashes rises another; a symbol of Irish republicanism.
This past Saturday saw the north Belfast derby between Crusaders and Cliftonville, with the League-Champion and league-leading Crues coming out on top 4-3. Today’s images are from their Seaview home ground: above are the railings and below a mural on a side wall. The newspaper The Express employs the same emblem of a Christian knight.