Red Mick

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02856 2015-08-26 DevineShantallow+

Michael “Mickey” (though here “Micky”) Devine was red-headed and was a founder member of the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP) in his native Derry (The Plough & The Stars) and also of the INLA (IRSP Derry). The mural on the gable shown above includes the socialist symbols of the red star and the plough, great bear (ursa major), or “big dipper” shining over the towers of Long Kesh, where Devine died on the 21st of August, 1981, after 60 days on hunger strike, the tenth and final striker to die.

The writing that can be seen faintly in the lower third (from a previous version of the mural) reads “They have served their British masters, the poor pathetic fools. They think that inhumanity and cruelty can break us. Haven’t they learnt anything? It strengthens us, it drives us on, for then more than ever we know that our cause is just. INLA Vol. Micky Devine, Long Kesh 1981”

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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The Prejudices And Postures Of The Past Could Be Swept Away

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03066 2015-09-28 Jackalope CNB15 City Hall+

From an image of the city hall in flames during the week, we move to a city hall floating away on kites and being swept away by waves: “It might become conceivable that the prejudices and postures of the past could be swept away”. Both this city hall and the previous one were drawn by Ailie O’Hagan. We also below have a BA in a banshee studies from Queens by Jamie Baird. Both are part of the panels drawn during CNB15 in the Waring Street alley. The full squad also included Conor McClure, Martina Scott, Aaron Cushley, Chris Ellis, Laura Robinson, William Woods, Kevin Conaghan and the crew from Jackalope.

03069 2015-09-28 Jackalope CNB15 Teacher+

03064 2015-09-28 Jackalope CNB15 Full+

Update: the piece was soon (by mid-November) “vandalised” by JJ’s “Know no fear”:

03195 2015-11-19 Know No Fear+

While we’re at it, here’s another JJ piece, “Bring the war!” from Harbour Promenade …

03103-2015-10-07-bring-the-war

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X03066 X03069 X03064 X03195 waring st alley yesterday is not ours to recover but tomorrow is ours to win or lose mcguinness robinson remember devolution we don’t we do this every friday life is beautiful when you’re high up kabloom QUB university belfast ba (hons)

Roll Of Honour

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02870 2015-08-26 RollOfHonour2009+

Mural in Derry commemorating members of Na Fıanna Éıreann, the youth wing of the IRA. The names are listed in the order of death, from earliest to latest, beginning with fifteen-year-old Gerald McAuley who was shot dead in Clonard (Belfast) in 1969, and ending with John Dempsey shot on the Falls Road (Belfast) in 1981.

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02870 michael sloan eamonn mccormick gerard donaghey david mcauley sean oriordan michael magee joseph campbell john dougal tobias molloy joseph comiskey bernard fox sean hughes michael marley neal mccrory robert allsop james templeton kevin mccauley james o’neill paul mcwilliams brıogaid dhoıre 1909-2009 oglaıgh na héıreann fuaır sıad bás ar son saoırse na héıreann sunburst ógra shınn féın

Coming Of Age In The Lower Shankill

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03076 2015-10-01 Never Doubt+

The quote on this new board in the Lower Shankill estate – “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, concerned citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has” – is attributed to “Margaret Mead, American Author 1901-1978”. Mead in fact was best known as an anthropologist and in particular for her study of adolescent coming-of-age in the islands of Samoa which concluded that adolescence there was not at all the stressful and confused period that it was Western teens.

03077 2015-10-01 Never Doubt info+

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X03076 X03077 [X12019] The campaign against social exclusion group CASE created this artwork using themes of social justice to highlight how a group of residents by standing together can create real change within their area for the benefit of all residents the quote was written by the american author margaret mead and reflects what the residents aspire to within their community artist lesley cherry worked with case during this project drawing out their concerns hopes and fears for the future and how this statement can relate to similar communities not only in northern ireland but at an international level funded by the housing executive working in partnership with the lower shankill community association replaces several contentious paramilitary murals removed during the redevelopment of the shankill estate

Pick Us Up If We Fall Down

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02833 2015-08-25 BrandywellPanel+

This mural featuring the rights of children was painted in Derry’s Brandywell area in 2014; it puts images alongside parts of Caroline Castle’s rendering of the UN’s Rights of the Child. The one above reads “Understand that all children are precious. Pick us up if we fall down and if we are lost lend us your hand. Give us things we need to make us happy and strong and always do your best for us whenever we are in your care. Right no. 3”.

02832 2015-08-25 BrandywellFull+

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X02833 X03154 X03155 X03156 X03157 X02832 whoever we are wherever we live these are the rights of every child under the moon and the stars gallagher and sons oil and coal all children shall have time to play and time to rest when we are tired right no 31 watch over us wrap us up against the cold and rain and give us shade from the hot sun make sure we have enough to eat and drink and if we are sick nurse us and comfort us right no 24 if we are disable either in body or mind treasure us especially and give us the care we need to live happily in the world right no 23 no one on earth has the right to hurt us not even our mums and dads protect us always from anyone who would be cruel right no 19 all children should be allowed to live and to grow and grow and grow until we are grown up and and can decide things for ourselves right no 6 keep our families together and if we have no family look after us and love us just the same right no 9 faılte go dtí welcome to

The City May Bring About Its Own Utter Downfall

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03065 2015-09-28 Jackalope CNB15 Godzilla+

Here are three pessimistic panels from CNB15. The first (The City May Bring About Its Own Utter Downfall by Ailie O’Hagan) shows an apocalyptic scene: Belfast city hall in flames while Godzilla rampages. The second shows artists in hoodies and face-masks stealing through the city with brushes and a camera. (Yesterday (Nov. 3rd) saw a march on Stormont to protest cuts in arts funding. See Twitter | BBC-NI) The third has a giraffe in a fishbowl helmet ‘reaching for the stars’ but beneath it is written “Politics is the art of the possible, except in Northern Ireland”.

For pictures of the folks they got to draw panels in September, see the Jackalope Twitter feed.

03067 2015-09-28 Jackalope CNB15 Gang+

03068 2015-09-28 Jackalope CNB15 Giraffe+

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The Trenches Have Vanished Under The Ploughs

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02847 2015-08-25 StruleWWIFull+

This WWI mural is fading somewhat after at least eight years on a wall in Strule Gardens, Londonderry. It shows soldiers going over the top, as depicted in JP Beadle’s Attack Of The Ulster Division (belfastsomme.com).

The title comes from the Eric Bogle song No Man’s Land (better known as “The Green Fields Of France” or “Willie McBride”. Here (youtube) is the recording by Tommy Makem and Liam Clancy.)

02849 2015-08-25 StruleWWIRight+

02848 2015-08-25 StruleWWILeft+

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Stop Wars Not People

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03143 2015-10-19 Capitalism Imperialism Created Refugees+

The bombs of the US, NATO, and the EU drive fleeing refugees into a circle of barbed wire in this new mural on Beechmount Avenue: “Capitalism & imperialism created refugees! Syria • Iraq • Afghanistan • Libya … Stop wars not people!!!” A report in Saturday’s New York Times on the migrant crisis cites a June UN report when it asserts that “There are more displaced people and refugees now than at any other time in recorded history — 60 million in all”.

Previously: Refugees Welcome

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X03143 ascaill ard na bhfeá antifa international

The Monster Mash

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03146 2015-10-19 Halloween d left+

More Halloween-themed art today, this time by Rich T and 45RPM (ig), two artists from Bristol who were over in Belfast for CNB15. They have mashed together a wide variety of spooky and frightening imagery, from bats, chains, and a bloody axe to webs, skeletons, and claws! Two close-ups are included and a full shot, below.

03147 2015-10-19 Halloween d right+

03145 2015-10-19 Halloween w+

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X03146 X03147 X03145 lamp lantern rosary beads newt toad eye tree brain in a vat rope brainz fist television gothic arch

The Darker Half Of The Year

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03080 2015-10-03 Faigy CNB15 Witch d+

For the day that’s in it, spooky work by Faigy showing a skull-faced spider on the brim of a fedora-like hat on a witchy woman with an unhappy cat for a familiar. See Andrew Stewart’s tumblr for a work-in-progress image.

03079 2015-10-03 Faigy CNB15 Witch+

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