Belfast city centre

No Apartheid

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“The Civil Rights 50th Anniversary Committee pay homage to all the courageous people who participated in the Civil Rights campaign” with a commemorative board in the alley of Donegall Street Place, in front of the Jim Larkin statue and ICTU mural. The photograph shows the start of the march from Coalisland to Dungannon on March 24th, 1968. The participants are identified on the CAIN page about NICRA. (See also the remarks from vice-chair Dympna McGlade at Slugger.)

“We shall overcome – the history of the struggle for civil rights in Northern Ireland 1968-1978. During the 1960’s, a diverse group of people and organisations with differing political aims, ideologies, cultural backgrounds, and religious beliefs came together to forge a unity based on a growing awareness of the need for an effective, non-violent vehicle for political and legislative reform. This led to the formation of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA). Original, inventive and radical in a stagnant political system, NICRA avalanched its way through Northern Ireland politics using the following aims: defend the basic freedoms of all citizens; protect the rights of the individual; highlight all possible abuses of power; demand guarantees for freedom of speech, assembly and association; inform the public of their lawful rights. Through activism, marches and peaceful disobedience, the NICRA demands were addressed to varying degrees and paved the way for major legislative, political and social reform in Northern Ireland. These demands included: ‘one man, one vote’; an end to gerrymandering of electoral wards; the prevention of discrimination in the allocation of government jobs and council housing; the removal of the Special Powers Act and the Disbandment of the Ulster Special Constabulary (The B Specials).”

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We Built This

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Here is a gallery of completed pieces produced for International Women’s Day 2023 in College Court. The new street art is part of a larger revitalisation project (Belfast City Council).

The works shown are (from Castle Street to College Street) by Claire Prouvost, Holly Pereira, Katriona, Kerri Hanna, Danni Simpson, Alana McDowell, ESTR; Laura Nelson, Novice Jess, Friz, (guest artist Hicks who was in town to repair and extend his piece in College Street Mews (see Cool) – it was damaged by a dumpster fire) and, on the other side of the street, HM Constance [Update: 2023-04 a purple cow was painted on one of the HMC shutters – see the image in the Paddy Duffy collection].

For in-progress shots, see Women’s Work.

“My piece relates to the history of college court and the coming together of committee in 1807 to raise public subscriptions in co-educational, non denominational education.” (tw)

“This piece took inspiration about the history of College Court, which used to be called Water Street, as it was the first place running water pipes were installed in Belfast.” (ig)

[typist]

[Women’s Work – see Women’s Work]

[PRINT / WORKS – see the image in the Paddy Duffy collection]

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Women’s Work

Extramural Activity2 Comments

Here is a gallery of “in-progress” images of the street art being painted by female artists for International Women’s Day, all along College Court. (Most of) The completed pieces can be seen in We Built This.

The jam is organised by @DaisyChainInc. The artists at work are @artist.zippy | @dannisimpsonart | @holly.pereira | @thisisfriz | @kerriehanna | @katrionadesigns | @suzusignco | @claire.prouvost | @alanamcdowell | @novicejess | @moirafowley | @HMConstance | @emmaleneblake

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The Sporting Wing

Extramural Activity1 Comment

Three Celtic-related stickers from Belfast.

Above, in the city centre, the “Holy Trinity” of …
Glasgow Celtic (see previously The Celtic Football Club | The Bould Bhoys | and many others),
Cliftonville (Belfast) (see previously Let’s All Do The Huddle | The Red Army | and various others),
and St Pauli (Hamburg) (see previously Good Night, White Pride | Gegen Rechts | also Armed With Taste).

Below, second, from the Shankill: “Big Jock Knew”, that is Celtic manager Jock Stein knew of the sexual abuse of Boys Club manager Jim Torbett. Torbett was sacked by Stein in 1974 but returned to the position in the 1980s. Torbett was tried in 1998 for crimes during the earlier time-period and served 30 months, and again in 2018, for various offenses, receiving a sentence of six years (WP). More charges are to be heard in April, 2023 (Daily Record). The phrase is the title of song sung by fans of teams playing against Celtic (WP).

Below, third, from city centre (and also seen on the Falls): “The sporting wing [of the IRA]” is a play on the idea that Sınn Féın was the “political wing” of the IRA and so Celtic FC is the group’s “sporting wing”. Instead of Celtic’s usual four-leaf clover, three hooded gunmen fire a funeral volley.

The GAA has also been given the title (BelTel 2020); Sammy Wilson, as DUP press officer defending UDA attacks on GAA halls in Belfast and Banbridge, in September 1993, described the GAA as “the IRA at play” (WP). (For a history of the two organisations, see Irish Peace Process.) Instead of Celtic’s usual four-leaf clover, three hooded gunmen fire a funeral volley.

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The Rising Place

Extramural Activity2 Comments

The buildings on North Street above the art deco Bank Of Ireland building – including a former home (called The Loft) of the artists’ collective now known as The Vault– were razed in 2017. Since then, the hoarding around the site has been a site for street art and graffiti art, most recently a series of Clash Street Kids pieces (inspired by the ‘Bash Street Kids’) by the TMN krew. The plan for the location is now to produce (for 100 million pounds) a building housing a multi-media presentation of the results of an “unparalleled programme of story collection” (Belfast City Council) that will be attractive to an anticipated 1.8 million annual visitors (Architects’ Journal).

For the street art in the background, see Belfast Deco.

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