Eastát Ghleann Collaınn

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2014-03-18 EastatGhleannCollainn+

This mural in the Glen Colin estate, just off the Glen Road, shows The Roddy’s club (in white) with the hunger striker memorial in the shape of a harp in front (shown in the image below) and the St. Oliver Plunkett church, which is in fact on the other (southern) side of the Glen Road, with the twin peaks of Divis and Black Mountain in the background. The Bobby Sands quote “Our revenge will be the laughter of our children” is at the bottom.

Previously featured: The Battle Of Antrim in the grounds of The Roddy’s.

2014-03-31 RoddysHarp+

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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X01739 X01758 volunteers irish freedom hughes mccreesh o’hara mcdonnell doherty lynch hurson mcelwee devine  mccorley

Art & Literature

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2014-03_18 FallsLibArt+

The Falls Road library is a ‘Carnegie Library’ (WP) – built with almost 4,000 pounds donated by Scotland-born American Andrew Carnegie. It opened on January 2nd, 1908, the second of three such libraries in Belfast, alongside Oldpark and Donegall Road. Its doors feature these two pieces by Holywood artist Rosamund Praeger: Art, seen here holding an artist’s palette – and Literature, seen below reading a folio. Art and Literature also take the form of angels, along with a  third muse, Science, in the stonework above the doors.

Video history of the library from Northern Visions.

2014-03-18 FallsLibLit+

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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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His Free Will No Thing Can Kill

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2014-03-18 FallsSaoirse+

This printed tarp on the side of the Falls Road commemorates the ten 1981 hunger strikers (along with Frank Stagg, Michael Gaughan, Nora Connolly, and Maıréad Farrell, paired with international figures Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Leonard Peltier, and Nelson Mandela) and features a verse from a Bobby Sands poem The Crime Of Castlereagh: “All things must come to pass as one/So hope should never die/There is no height or bloody might/That a freeman can’t defy./There is no source or foreign force/Can break one man who knows,/That his free will no thing can kill/And from that freedom grows.”

This tarp, which is 20′ x 20′, was printed from Mo Chara’s original 8′ x 8′ painting; it was also printed on a 30′ x 30′ tarp in New York. For all three, see the Chronological Catalogue of Mo Chara’s works.

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X01742 freedom saoırse easter lily an róısín roısín dubh mahatma gandhi MLK martin luther king nelson mandela fuıseog barbed wire their cause is ours dedicated brave irish sacrificed

The Lord Has Made Room For Us

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2014-04-03 Rehoboth+

This vintage grocer’s signage and “Rehoboth, The Well” shopfronts are in North Queen Street, north Belfast. “Rehoboth” was the name of the well dug by Isaac after several others which got him into disputes with other land-owners. When this one proved uncontroversial he rejoiced, saying “At last the Lord has made room for us and we will flourish in the land.” (Genesis 26:22) Demolition on the site began last week.

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Easter Parade

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2014-03-15 GlenFallsIRSP+

A board in the Glen Rd/Falls Road triangle: “Belfast I.R.S.P. Commemoration parade, Easter Sunday, Dunville Pk 11am”. The board is a permanent fixture but this year the commemoration in question is of the 40th anniversary of the IRSP itself, as well as the 1916 Rising.

Featured previously from the same location: Slash Stormont | Finucane 25 | Revolutionary Party

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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Think Independently

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2014-04-03 MulhollandHugo+

Electioneering is under way in Northern Ireland, ahead of the local and European parliament elections on May 22nd. Above is a stencil in Hugo Street drumming up support for independent (socialist) Ciarán Mulholland. “Think independently, vote independent. Neamhspleách/Independent candidate for the black mountain ward. The political parties have failed the people of west Belfast. Have your say and change things.”

Replaces the Bleeding Poppy

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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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The Great Hunger

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2014-02-20 AntOcrasMor+

This New Lodge mural shows people on the coast, near abandoned buildings, trying to grow crops during the period of the Great Hunger 1845-1852.

“An tOcras Mór” (a literal translation of “the great hunger/famine”) is usually (in Irish) “An Gorta Mór” or “An Drochshaol”.

The left-most and right-most figures are from Searching For Potatoes In A Stubble Field in the Illustrated London News. ILN images are a staple of Belfast muraling on the Great Hunger: see the Visual History page on the Great Hunger. (Here is a list, with links, of all of the illustrations of Ireland in ILN from the period 1845-1852.)

The two central figures, and the composition of the three women together, come from Millet’s The Gleaners. (Thanks to Jeryn Mayer for this pointer.)

There is a Visual History page on the Hunger in murals.

X12048 2023-02-17 Ocras Mór d1

X12049 2023-02-17 Ocras Mór d2+

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Out Of The Flames

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2014-04-06 NorthumbPhoenix+

Like a phoenix. This is part of a new (as yet incomplete) RNU (Republican Network For Unity) mural at the corner of Northumberland Street and Divis Street.

Previously: Just As Good As Others

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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Harland & Why

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2014-04-08 LocalJobsFlyer+

The poster above – seen in east and south Belfast – has been called “racist” by the Alliance party. “What happened to local jobs for local people? Why are local skilled workers denied job opportunities? Why is outside labour being used in their place? Why are hundreds of overseas workers employed at present on higher wages? Why are they not paying UK tax? Why are they not paying national insurance?”

The poster concerns the 600 temporary jobs at H&W refurbishing the oil rig ‘Blackford Dolphin‘. According to the BBC (video) only one third of the jobs could be filled from the Northern Irish workforce. A BelTel article from November 2013 specifies that another third came from Britain and the final third from “Poland and Lithuania”.

Below: Some posters with the H&W cranes in the background, just off the Newtownards Road.

See also: Inspiring Belfast.

2014-04-08 LocalJobs+

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Come On The Mac

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2014-03-14 MacFootballFull+

This new Albert Street mural in the lower Falls celebrates the 30th anniversary of the Frank Gillen Centre and the 70th anniversary of Immaculata Football Club. The figure on the right is current Cliftonville player Liam Boyce who grew up in the area and played for Immaculata as a youth. The team’s logo appears to the right of Boyce’s outstretched hand. (If you know the local player on the left, please leave a comment or send an e-mail.)

The piece was painted by Mickey Doherty and Lucas Quigley. Detail of the players in the lower right below.

Previously: Immaculata boxing | Mysterious Ways (St. Peter’s)

2014-03-14 MacFootballDetail+

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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X01732 X01731 fáılte go bóthar na bhfál st. peter’s cathedral providing a range of programmes both educational and recreational which meet the needs of young people in the Falls area.