The Trenches Have Vanished Under The Ploughs

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+

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02847 X02849 X02848

Stop Wars Not People

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

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03143 ascaill ard na bhfeá antifa international

The Monster Mash

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+

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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

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+

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03080 X03079

Orange Crossing

03120 2015-10-11 School+

In this modified ‘School’ safety sign in the lower Shankill estate, a mother and child with collarettes go to school, under the watchful eye of UFF, UYM, and UDA boards on the gable wall behind it. (In 2000, a board reading “Drumcree” was placed over “School”. See J0585)

03119 2015-10-11 UFF UDA UYM+

03118 2015-10-11 UYM School+

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03120 X03119 X03118 terrae filius quis separabit UFF 73 ulster defence force young militants freedom fighters

We Borrow The Earth From Our Children

03096 2015-10-04 Emic CNB15 Bee+

The environmentalist saying “We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children” is used by emic as the title of his work for CNB15/Belfast Almanac Environment conference. Here are two details, of a bee and (below) a hummingbird, and finally a full shot which shows a tree growing from the mind of a boy. The origins of the phrase are – fittingly – unknown. (QuoteInvestigator)

03097 2015-10-04 Emic CNB15 Boy Bird+

03095 2015-10-04 Emic CNB15 Boy Bird Bee+

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03095 X03096 X03097 almanac

The Way We Were

02961 2015-08-24 TheWayWeWere+

“The way we were” written on the bog side of the walls of Derry provide a name for this mural behind Derry’s Bogside Inn. The old Rossville flats are in the top left hand corner. (Both Rossville flats and graffiti on the walls – “God made the Catholics, the armalite made us equal” – can be seen in this 1982 image (M00039) from Peter Moloney’s collection.)

In the lower right-hand corner is a “Free Gaza” board that was on the back of Free Derry Corner.

In the lower left-hand corner is a picture of the second version of the “You are now entering Free Derry” writing on the gable wall of 33 Lecky Road.

02828 2015-08-24 TheWayWeWereSide+

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02961 X02828 fuck all hoods INLA IRA BRY irish national liberation army bogside republican youth

At Home And On The Mainland

03109 2015-10-11 The Great War+

The memorial garden in Mount Vernon, which previously had and Ulster Volunteers mural and UVF stone has undergone a major redevelopment this year with a new “cut-out” mural to the 36th (Ulster) Division and memorial plaques to six UVF members who died between 1974 and 2000, including (in the second image) Joe Shaw, who was shot by the UDA during the 1974-1975 feud. (For details of the killings and its aftermath, see this Balaclava Street article.) See the final image, below, for the plaque on the outside wall of the garden listing all six members.

03110 2015-10-11 Shaw plaque+

03108 2015-10-11 Joe Shaw+

X09892 2022-03-31 Memorial Garden 4+

X09893 2022-03-31 Memorial Garden 5+

X09898 2022-03-31 Memorial Garden 10+

X09897 2022-03-31 Memorial Garden 9+

X09896 2022-03-31 Memorial Garden 8+

X09895 2022-03-31 Memorial Garden 7+

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2022 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03109 X03108 X03110 [X09891] X09892 X09893 X09898 X09897 X09896 X09895 Joe Shaw 18-5-1974 Samuel Frame 13-3-1976 Jackie Irvine 16-3-1989 Colin Caldwell 28-11-1991 Bertie Rice 31-10-2000 Mark Quail 1-11-2000 murdered in the service of ulster we salute also all volunteers at home and on the mainland who served with dignity and pride 3rd battalion north belfast ulster volunteer force lest we forget ulster defence association the great war soldiers marching profile we will remember them 1914-1918

Pandora’s Jar

03033 2015-09-22 Starfighter CNB15 Pandora jar+

L.A. artist StarFighterA (Chirstina Angelina) was in Belfast for CNB15 and painted this three-headed, four-storey, piece of street art on the side-wall of the Irish News’s offices in Donegall St. A full shot and another close-up are below.

03032 2015-09-22 Starfighter CNB15 Pandora+

03034 2015-09-22 Starfighter CNB15 Pandora faces+

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03033 X03032 X03034

Dove Hunting

03107 2015-10-09 Doves Haven't Gone Away d+

Sınn Féın leader Gerry Adams said of the (Provisional) IRA in 1995 “They haven’t gone away, you know” (youtube). The dove of peace is shot down (presumably by IRA weapons) at the junction of Northumberland and Beverly Streets in PUL west Belfast.

03106 2015-10-09 Doves Haven't Gone Away+

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03107 X03106