Belfast city centre

The Poet & The Guitarists

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In 2003 Seamus Heaney recorded a CD of poems accompanied by the uilleann piping of Liam O’Flynn (Claddagh). He now finds himself (post mortem) in the company of three Irish/Northern Irish guitarists: Bap Kennedy from Belfast (featured previously in Half Bap Bap), Gary Moore also from Belfast, and Rory Gallagher from Ballyshannon and Cork.

“Walk on air against your better judgement” is from the poem ‘The Gravel Walks’ and is inscribed on Heaney’s tombstone. “A friend is someone who walks into a room when everyone else is walking out” is not from any song but attributed to Moore. “Born on the wrong side of time” is a Gallagher-penned Taste song (youtube).

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Copyright © 2018 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Out Of The Ashes Arose The Bank Building

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A covered walkway has been added around the Bank Buildings to join Royal Avenue and Donegall Place while construction goes on after the fire which gutted the building on August 28th, 2018 (BBC-NI).

The artwork above is by Danni Simpson (ig | web) at the Harp Bar; an Instagram story describes the process.

A previous non-militaristic used of the phoenix: Belfast Phoenix by Andy Council in North Street.

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Newen

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From the Twitter feed of Colombian street artist Visual AGP (Anderson García Pérez | (web): “Newen” means “strength” or “energy” …  birds represent the freedom and colors of the Wiphala [the flag of indigenous peoples of the Andes].”

“Graficalia” refers to a street art festival aimed at minimising youth violence in their home town of Cali, Colombia.

Compatriot Sancho was also in Belfast for Hit The North/Culture Night: see Empezando Con La Magia.

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Freshly Made For You!

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Leo Boyd (web | previously) resurrected his ‘PSNI ice-cream wagon’ for Culture Night/Hit The North, along with Laura “Lamb” Nelson (profile), and added a trio of winged police land-rovers like wooden ducks ascending along a living-room wallpaper and vintage ice-cream advertising. The piece drew the response shown in the second image, but this was apparently too direct a comment and was quickly painted out.

Both artists are currently members of Vault Artists (web | Fb | ig) (formerly Belfast Bankers).

Update 2018-11 damage and grafitti

Update 2019-01 further damage

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Update: replaced by a Clockwork Land-Rover

The Art Of Precious Scars

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Kintsugi, according to WP, is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with a metallic lacquer, which means that the repair is visible, and “treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise.”

Conor McClure (web | Fb) writes that “My Hit The North piece is based on the link with this philosophy and mental health in our society. Rather than have to hide round the stigma of mental illness people should be able to display their scars and wear them with pride.” October 10th was World Mental Health Day.

Previously: More Wolf Than Woman | Spring Wings

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Shrouds Of The Somme

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English artist Rob Heard (web | tw) created 3,775 jointed wooden sculptures, wrapped in calico, one for each soldier from the 36th (Ulster) and 10th (Irish) and 16th (Irish) regiments, or from Belfast, whose body was not recovered from the Somme battlefields. They were laid out last month in the Garden Of Remembrance at Belfast City hall (see second image). On Armistice Day this November, the Belfast figures will be included in a larger display commemorating 72,396 Commonwealth soldiers in London (more info).

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Head Examined

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A crude anatomy of the loyalist brain by TLO, with modules dedicated to Buckfast (tonic wine), flying our flag, The Sash, 1690, killing all taigs, and Saving Ulster From Sodomy. DUP councillor called the poster “a hate crime” (Guardian).

Side-by-side with: Ian Paisley Jr as The Crawler.

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