Belfast city centre

Talk To The Hand

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02793 2015-08-20 Kincora+

The work above by TLO (featured previously in Demonizing Paisley, Ian Jong-un, and Wee Angel) comments on the long-running inquiry (or inquiries) into abuse at the Kincora boys home. Despite the conviction of several workers as a result of a 1980 RUC inquiry, the matter continues to resurface, with involvement alleged against British lords and notables, MI5, and loyalist paramilitaries. In the latest development, an appeal by campaigners to have Kincora included in the UK-wide sexual abuse inquiry was rejected (BBC-NI). In the poster above, a bloody red hand takes the place of the head above Mountbatten’s regimental uniform.

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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My Old Toy Box

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02765 2015-08-16 SmithfieldToyBox+

Smithfield Market houses a wide variety of shops (BelfastCity) including Filipino groceries, dressmaking, hairdressing, jewelry, a nail bar, computers, carpets, bicycles, e-cigarettes and also – shown above – My Old Toy Box (Fb), sellers of model toys. Cash only!

Previously: Smithfield Market

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02765 X02764 their only colour was khaki winetavern street

We Are Sailing

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2015-06-21 TallShips+

The tall ships will be in Belfast July 2nd to 5th for the start of a race that will take them to Norway and then to Denmark. The first of about 80 ships have already arrived. The mural above is on the quay-side of the Rotterdam bar. The design, by 16 year-old Daniel Hamilton, is the winner of a Belfast Telegraph competition.

2015-06-21 TallShipsFull+

2015-06-21 TallShipsWide+

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02661 X02662 X02663 sailortown barrow square belfast harbour

Circus Fools

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2015-06-17 FoolsFestival2015Detail+

This Saturday and Sunday (June 20th and 21st), Belfast Community Circus celebrates its 30th birthday with two days of events and performances in the Cathedral Quarter, including a world record-breaking (hopefully) pie fight. Kev Largey (KVLR) last month placed two “foolish” figures among the acrobats on the front wall of the organization’s Gordon Street headquarters, a lobster having a drink of weasels wearing hats and a rambler with a patched bed-roll and basket of spray-cans. (Also seen in paste-up form outside the Sunflower – see Costume Party.)

2015-06-17 FoolsFestival2015+

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X02659 X02658 festival of fools #foolsfestival 2015

Gitmo Beach & Spa

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2015-06-15 GitmoPhotos1+

13 years after the military prison opened, Guantanamo Bay Naval Base is home to various detainees from around the Middle East as well as US service-men and women who (unlike the prisoners) can avail themselves of the fine beaches and the McDonalds, Taco Bell, Subway and other fast-food restaurants. Their living conditions are documented by Debi Cornwall in an exhibition at the Belfast Photo Festival; the images are housed in a shipping container in front of St. Anne’s cathedral. A piece from Alma Haser‘s Cosmic Surgery series can be seen in the centre of the wide shot, below.

2015-06-15 GitmoPhotos2+

2015-06-15 GitmoPhotos3+

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02655 X02656 X02657 alleged enemy combatants war on terror held without charge trial conviction counting every normal american convenience is now available to personnel “best-kept secret in the military” images already emblazoned on our collective consciousness the orange jumpsuits the barbed wire and explores the fun amidst the tedium in the residential and leisure spaces of prisoners and guards

Giving The City A Human Face

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2015-06-15 BuoysPaste2+

June brings the Belfast Photo Festival (4th-30th), including the work of Mentalgassi, a German trio that wraps street poles and other urban objects with black-and-white images of humans. In Belfast, they have covered the three buoys in the park beside the Art College. For shots of the buoys being covered, see the group’s Fb page.

2015-06-15 BuoysPaste+

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Costume Party

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2015-06-08 UnionStPasteup1+

Union Street paste-ups, opposite the Sunflower, showing (in costume) a lobster with wine-glass, a hiker with a bed-roll, a cow (Moomin?) in admiral’s hat, and an old-west character scanning the horizon with a spyglass.

For another version of the child-with-rose, see Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary.

2015-06-08 UnionStPasteup2+

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X02651 X02652 festival of fools 2015 belfast

Through The Looking Glass

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2015-05-12 Twaddelldee+

Lewis Carroll’s Tweedledee and Tweedledum (as imagined by Tim Burton for Disney) have been turned into Twaddelldee and Twaddelldum, Twaddelldee using an Orange collarette as braces and Twaddelldum with face-mask, concealed brick, and “KAT” tattoo. The protest at Twaddell Avenue continues, after more than 600 days. For background, see previously: Protest Camp | Civil Rights Camp | Supporters Club | No Surrender

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02610 alice in wonderland kill all taigs TLO ornamentalhermit.com

Standing Stone

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2015-03-14 TeleBlitz+

“The scars on this stone were caused in the German air raids of the second world war. Despite severe damage to the building, the Belfast Telegraph was published without interruption.” The masonry above forms part of what was the old front door of the offices, at the corner of Royal Avenue and Library Street.

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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