Belfast city centre

Red Heads

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Here, in sequence, are the HTN22 pieces on the west side of Kent Street, above the gates into the construction site: unicorns from Zurdie (ig), Not Pop (ig), ‘Hope Never Dies’ from Glen Molloy (ig), sushi from Zippy (ig), FGB (ig), ‘The Belle Of Belfast City’ from Alana McDowell (ig), Leo Boyd (ig), Codo (ig).

The Lyra McKee tribute (If You Listen Very Carefully, You Can Hear Her Breathe) completes this side of the wall.

For other walls painted during this year’s HTN, see Vagabonds Of The Western World | The Children Of Gear | A Burning World | Evoke | Love, Loss, And Beyond.

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Vagabonds Of The Western World

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Hit The North (organised by Seedhead Arts and sponsored by Hennessy) brings street artists from around the world to Belfast. All of these images – which show the lower west side of Kent Street – are by artists from Ireland, north and south – with work by KloWi (ig), Conor McClure (ig) who has painted Phil Lynott, NRMN (Gerry Norman ig), HM Constance (ig), Kilian (ig) who has painted UK chancellor Rishi Sunak saying “Give me all your money, punk”, Liam Gillick‘s quote “How can quantum gravity explain the origin of the universe?” (previously in lower Ormeau) by Laura Nelson (ig), Kerrie Hanna (ig), and All The Doodz (ig).

For other walls painted during this year’s HTN, see Red Heads | The Children Of Gear | Evoke | A Burning World | Love, Loss, And Beyond.

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Нет войне!

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Protestors in the Russian Federation – 15,000 by late March (Economist) – face fines and imprisonment for holding up signs that say “Нет войне” (“Nyet voyne” – Russian for “No war”) or anything that indicates dissent from the official line on the so-called “special operation” (e.g. AP).

In Belfast, Tadeusz Tradewski’s 1952 poster “Nie!” [Polish for “No!”] (MOMA) has been updated for the current war in Ukraine – in the shadow of the bomb (which has a “Z” on the tail) is not a city but a graveyard, the graveyard of the planet. (See previously: Stop War)

An advice centre for Ukrainians opened in Belfast this week – BBC.

By Leo Boyd (ig) in Warehouse Lane, Belfast, to the side of a 2020 piece by Irony.

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And There’s More

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Three Jimmys by Glen Molloy (ig): comedian James Young (WP), actor James Nesbitt (IMDb), and comedian Jimmy Cricket (web | tw) with “sadly no room for Jimmy ‘Rock’n’roll’ Symmington”.

This is the second “3 Jimmy’s” mural; the first was in Exchange Place in 2017.

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For The Football

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Before he died (in 2005), George Best asked that people “remember me for my football” and the phrase became the title of a Best retrospective. It is also inspired the life-size title of the statue of created by Tony Currie and funded by fans (Belfast Live) in front of Windsor Park (and the Glen Molly (ig) mural in Hill Street). When it was launched, the statue drew criticism for not looking like its subject (BBC | Newsletter). Soccer star sculptures are perhaps hard to do: here’s a list of ten questionable statues of soccer stars, including Maradona in Kolkata (Guardian) and Ronaldo in Madeira (BBC), but missing Mo Salah in Sharm al-Sheikh (BBC).

For an awkward painting of Best, see The Best A Man Can Get in Newtownards.

See also the new Best mural in Cregagh: Maradona Good, Pelé Better, George Best

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Circusful

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“Circusful” is the new name of the Belfast Community Circus (Arts Council NI) which offers class to artists of all ages (web). Festival Of Fools, an annual extravaganza this year with 70+ comedy and circus performances, starts on Friday (April 29th).

This time last year (2021-04) KVLR (ig | Fb) revamped the mural on the front of the Gordon Street premises with two new characters (above and directly below) and substantial changes to the third (final image). (For the previous version, see Circus Fools.)

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Ukraine Has Suffered Enough

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After amassing roughly 200,000 troops along the border, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began on February 24th; yesterday thus ended the tenth day of fighting. Perhaps 10,000 soldiers (both Ukrainian and Russian) and 2,000 civilians have died, and roughly 1.4 million people have fled the country. “Слава Україні!” [Slava Ukraïni!] is the salute of the Ukrainian armed forces but has become a rallying cry in the mouths of people and nations around the globe in support of Ukraine, amongst which are artist FGB (ig) and the Sunflower bar in Kent Street, Belfast.

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Keep The Pizza In Mind!

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Combo piece by Pens (ig) x KVLR (ig) x Wee Nuls (Nuala Convery | ig | web) replacing the Gang Of Freaks by KVLR x Ten Hundred x Wee Nuls in Union Street, with an echo back to KVLR’s 2015 piece in this spot: Pizza Pipe. Official title: Patchwork Creeps. KVLR and Wee Nuls had earlier done the pieces in the windows of the Sunflower (see final image), as a demo for an audience at the August launch of the programme for HTN21 (Belfast Live).

The menagerie in the background is by Malarky.

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