Posted in the window of the NI Human Rights Commission (web) in North Street: “Our workers have the right to be treated with dignity and respect at all times. They should be able to their jobs without being physically or verbally abused. Most people respect this. Thank you for being one of them.” The sign pre-dates the pandemic.
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“Lovable lefty football fans” and brandishers of beer and spirits TUFAC (web | Fb) were at the Sunflower last Friday and in the days that followed pasted a sticker or two around the city centre. This ‘refugees welcome‘ one shows the iconic ‘fleeing family’ dribbling a soccer ball as they go.
See previously: Gegen Rechts | Good Night, White Pride.
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Full title: “For the love of skulls what have I done” by Matthew Knight (ig) in Kent Street, Belfast, for HTN2021.
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Edinburgh-based artist Shona Hardie (ig) painted in Union Street, Belfast, for HTN2021.
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An ad from Big Brother Watch has been playing on Clear Channel advertising displays in malls and shopping centres across the north. The billboards have been criticised by Stewart Dickson and Danny Donnelly of Alliance; Paul Givan of the DUP called the passport programme – which came into effect yesterday – “divisive and rushed” (BBC) after it was approved on the 17th (BBC). A rally was held outside City Hall on the 20th to protest the programme (Belfast Live). Hospitality interest-groups are against the passports (BelTel).
The three panels of the ad are presented here in (what is probably) the reverse of their intended order: They want a checkpoint society – We want a free future – stopvaccinepassports.co.uk.
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JJB Sports is still closed (since 2012) and the Weatherspoons never materialised, so Leo Boyd’s (web | ig | Fb) art on the hoarding has expanded into a triptych with pieces on either side of No Signal. In June he added the piece on the right (shown below), and now on the left (shown above, with signature) is one in a series called “Are You Sitting Comfortably?” The Vault’s Christmas market is on this weekend at HQ on the Newtownards Road – tickets can be booked on Fb.
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A tribute to the NHS on a vinyl sticker in the newspapered front window of The Bear & The Doll (formerly Titanic, formerly Frames) – which closed in March last year (2020) in the distinctive style of London artist Nathan Bowen (ig | web store) who has been working on closed-up buildings and construction hoardings during the pandemic.
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The original version of this mural by Dublin artist Wee Nuls (ig | web) was beside Transport House but it was painted over almost immediately (you can see it on Twitter). This new version, at Artcetera (formerly the Red Barn Gallery), is auto-redacted with historical commentary: “You can censor the art … but not the movement”, the movement being for “free period items” in public spaces beyond schools, spearheaded by Homeless Period Belfast. In November, 2020, Scotland became the first country in the world to offer free period products (BBC). In October of this year, Pat Catney (SDLP) in the NI Assembly introduced a ‘period poverty’ bill to expand the availability of menstrual products (BelTel); the ‘Call For Views’ period commenced on Wednesday and ends on December 18th – have your say via NIAssembly.
Wee Nuls also has another piece on this wall: Medusa. The ‘period’ mural is next to Leo Boyd’s ice-cream PSNI land-rover – which started life as Freshly Made For You! (see also Winding Up The Peelers).
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“We always knew who was ‘essential’ and who keeps our society going … the working class. Thank you to all our members – keeping the country up and running.” Transport House, built in 1959 and once home of the TGWU, has been vacant and there have been plans to renovate it since at least 2019, without any apparent movement, perhaps due to the expense involved (tw). The modern union, Unite (tw), is supposed to move into it upon completion (tw).
The entrance to the building has been boarded up since 2012. For the previous art on the hoarding, see Unite The Union (one | two). The new (computer-generated and -printed) mural shows a graffitist surreptitiously painting a pro-union message.
Brendan Harkin has a gallery of images of the interior on Twitter.
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Seosamh Mac Coille Collection 