Belfast west

Thumbs Up

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2014-01-22 HighfieldLest+

Here are two of the three painted side of a large electrical box in the Highfield estate, adjacent to a new memorial garden. Above is a board commemorating British army service personnel from WWI to the recent/current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. On the other side of the box, and pictured below, the ‘thumbs up’ soldier is painted. For background on the ‘thumbs up’ image below, see the entry Help For Heroes.

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2014-01-22 ThumbsUp+

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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X01637 [X01588] X01591 X01640 [X01592] [X01593] in support of help for heroes aa veterans army benevolent fund the best royal british legion thiepval tower cenotaph

Mac Brádaıgh

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2014-01-15 MacBradaigh+

The board above commemorates Caoımhín Mac Brádaıgh (Kevin Brady) who was one of three people killed in Milltown cemetery by Michael Stone in his attack at the burial of the ‘Gibraltar 3’. This board is in the South Link (originally it was on the Andersonstown Road), a short distance from where Corporals Wood and Howes were killed during Mac Brádaıgh’s own funeral, three days later (1998-03-19).

For information about the photograph on which the image is based, see 25 Years – In Progress.

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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X01631 milltown march 88 óglach a fuaır bás agus é ag cosaınt a phobaıl

Who Can Endure The Most

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2014-01-01 HughesFaces+

“It is not those who can inflict the most but those who can endure the most who will conquer.” 1981 hunger-striker Francis Hughes is flanked by blanketmen Hugh Rooney and Freddie Toal and surrounded by a host of other republican faces in this 2011 mural commemorating the 30th anniversary of the strikes. Painted by Seany McVeigh.

Top 1. Wolfe Tone 2. Mairead Farrell 3. Thomas Ashe 4. Kevin Lynch 5. Michael Gaughan 6. Padraig Pearse, [FH] 7. Thomas McElwee  8. Constance Markievicz 9. Joe McDonnell 10. Terence MacSwiney 11. Frank Stagg 12. fuiseog

Middle 1. Hugh Rooney, 2. Kevin Barry 3. Patsy O’Hara 4. Máire Drumm 5. James Connolly, [FH]  6. Denis Barry 7. James O’Donovan Rossa 8. Bobby Sands 9. Mickey Devine 10. ? 11. Freddie Toal

Bottom 1. Roger Casement 2. Kieran Doherty 3. Michael Fitzgerald 4. Seán McNeela 5. Tony D’Arcy 6. Ray McCreesh, [FH] 7. Joseph Murphy 8. Andrew Sullivan 9. Seán McCaughey 10. Martin Hurson 11. Anne Devlin

2011-06-02 HughesFacesProgress+

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Copyright © 2014/2011 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X01609 X00384 [X00469] X00470 1981-2011 30 H-block

Reserved

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2013-12-28 Reserved+

The final large spot on (republican) Northumberland Street wall has been claimed, we know not by whom. A small, bookmark-shaped, span of wall also remains further down the road. See the Visual History page for Northumberland Street for details.

“Watch this space”, as they say. Or, as in the piece (below) on the Cliftonville Road (first seen last year), “new mural loading”.

The piece in the centre-left is one to O’Neill & Beattie.

12 09 11 NewMuralLoading+

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Copyright © 2012 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Liberating Minds

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Here is the completed Frederick Douglass mural in Northumberland Street. With quotes from …

  • Douglass himself (“It is easier build strong children than to repair broken adults.”)
  • Abraham Lincoln (“As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy.”)
  • Angela Davis (“We have to talk about liberating minds as well as liberating society.”)
  • Muhammad Ali (“Why should I drop bombs on brown people in Vietnam while so-called negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs …”)
  • Steven Biko (“The most potent weapon of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.”)
  • MLK (“I have a dream … black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last, free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last.””)
  • Bob Marley (“Until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race.”)
  • Nelson Mandela (“For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”)
  • Paul Robeson “The artist must elect to fight for freedom or for slavery. I made made [sic] my choice. I had no alternative”,
    and
  • (without attribution) James Connolly (“The worker is the slave capitalist society, the woman [female worker] is the slave of that slave.”)

Northern Visions TV documentary on the production and launch of the mural.

See also: in-progress shots, in Frederick Douglass.

Update: John Lewis was added in 2014; see As I Would Not Be A Slave.

Update: Aung San Suu Kyi X’ed out in 2017; see The Freedom Of Others.

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Copyright © 2013/2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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thank you sister Rosa Parks Harriet Tubman Barack Obama Betty Sinclair Mary Ann McCracken Aung San Suu Kyi, Haitian Revolution, Chief Joseph, El Salvador, CoMadres

The Dark

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2013-12-23 TheDark+

“I don’t mind being called a dissenter, I’ve been a dissenter all my life”. Mural to, and quote from, Brendan Hughes, IRA volunteer and leader of the 1980 (first) Maze hunger strike (WP).

Painted by Rebel Rebel of Gael Force Art in October, 2013. Previously at this location: End Internment.

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Copyright © 2013 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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We Too Are Strong

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“We too are strong. We too are a threat to the oppressive enemy. We are revolutionaries. We are the other half of our revolutionary men. We are their equal halves.” Earth is contained within the symbol for woman. The IRA’s Maıréad Farrell is in the top left.

Next to Mac Brádaıgh in South Link, Andersonstown, west Belfast

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Copyright © 2013 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Na hÉıreannaıgh Aontaıthe

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“Liberté, égalité, fraternité”. The United Irishmen of 1798 had been inspired by the revolutions in both the United States and France, and France attempted without success to send troops to Ireland in 1796 and 1798 (Irish History). “It is new strung and shall be heard” – this style of harp is called a Maid Of Erin harp.

Painted by Andrea Redmond in South Link, Andersonstown, Belfast, for the 200th anniversary of the rebellion. Also new for the 200th anniversary is the stone below in the nearby memorial garden outside the PD. “Who fears to speak of 98? This plaque was erected to the memory of the United Irishmen who gave their lives for Irish freedom; also all those who died as a result of the Great Hunger. ‘These are the times that try men’s souls’ [Thomas Paine] ‘The rich always betray the poor’ – Henry Joy McCracken.”

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Copyright © 2013 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Black & White

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2013-12-15 Mandela+

Four shots of the “Go safe Mandela – RIP” lettering by Gael Force Art on Slıabh Dubh/Black Mountain two weeks ago, commemorating the death of Nelson Mandela on December 5th, 2013.

The one above is on the Springfield Road with ‘The Usual Suspects’ in the foreground. (Previously from the same location: G8 War Criminals.)

The second, below, is from the Whiterock Road and involves the ‘IRA Final Salute’ mural.

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2013-12-30 MandelaSands+

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Copyright © 2013 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X01481 X01589 X01525 X01590 dorothy maguire corner ira vol. bobby sands mp fermanagh south tyrone