Belfast

East Meets West

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment
2015-01-13 Lenadoon2012Detail+

The Anti-Racism World Cup is a seven-a-side soccer tournament held annually at the grounds of Donegal Celtic in west Belfast. East Belfast artist John Stewart painted a mural of east Belfast imagery in 2012, complete with Titanic museum, H & W cranes, Titanic, firemen, and shipyard workers. Being on the side of Ryan’s Newsagents, the mural also features confectionery, vintage brands in old money: Cadbury’s peppermint creme for 2d, 1.4 lb of Fry’s milk chocolate for 4d, Terry’s milk chocolate 5d, Rolos “delicious toffee” for 2d and KitKat chocolate crisp.

See also: 2014 Anti-racism World Cup banner at Donegal Celtic.

More by John Stewart: A Better Future | On That Journey

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02471 X02470 X02472 [X05331] quarter aero glenparent youth club sport art community west belfast history trail 1930 lifebuoy health soap oxo dairy box half pound brazil nut celtic cross

The Hopewell Gallery

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment
2014-12-26 HopewellGallery+

Here’s a wide shot of the right-hand side of the murals in the lower Shankill estate. These gables have remained in place while the estate has been redeveloped, causing the removal of the Red Hand, Martin Luther and Cuchulainn murals.

For closer views, see Freedom 2000 | Gold Rush | McCullough | Child’s Play

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02453

I Love Petrol

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment
2014-12-25 ILovePetrol+

Spanish artist Marta Revillas (web | Fb) painted the remaining shutter on the Bigg Life Arts centre. Her piece depicts a bikini’ed woman with fox ears and tail astride a motorcycle with an extended fork. Launched 2014-09-26. For the other shutters, see Lost In The Music and Art Lab.

2014-12-25 ILovePetrolWide+

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02450 X02451 chopper emic

Strip Mining

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment
2014-12-25 CopperRemoved+

Vacant houses are targets for thieves stealing copper tanks, pipes, and wiring, which they sell to unscrupulous scrap-metal dealers. In one case, the theft caused a gas leak which resulted in houses being evacuated (BelTel). The Housing Executive now removes the copper from empty residences and replaces it when the resident moves in, at a cost of about £3,000 (BBC-NI).

“Warning: Copper tanks and pipes have been removed from this property. Keep out. This property is being monitored for unlawful activity.”

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02449 PSNI

The Only Tired I Was, Was Tired Of Giving In

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment
2013-12-20 RosaParks+

“She Sat Down So We Could Stand Up”. Rosa Parks was born 101 years ago today, on February 4th, 1913. This board in the New Lodge hails her as as the “mother of the civil rights movement”. It includes images of Parks in old age, a reproduction of a photo of Parks sitting on a bus in Montgomery in 1956, after the Supreme Court ruling which declared segregation on the buses illegal, eleven months after the boycott began, and a Montgomery civil rights march on December 5th, 1955 led by Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King. The title of today’s post is a Parks quote. Someone suggested to her, in an attempt to minimize her actions, that perhaps she had refused to move simply because she was tired, to which she replied, “The only tired I was, was tired of giving in”.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2013 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X01516 1913-2005 CEP unison

100 Years Of Conflict

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment
2014-12-18 BallysillanMilitary+

The three-storey mural above is in Ballysillan and replaced a UVF mural when it was added in 2011. The mural is the work of Jim Russell, shown below at Arts For All where he is artist-in-residence. The information below was provided by Arts For All.

The Great War: The first panel commemorates the Great War that ravaged Europe from 1914 to 1918 and shows troops advancing into battle, the Ulster Tower at Thiepval commemorating the sacrifice at the Somme and an image showing one of the war cemeteries and highlighting the true cost of war.

Second World War: The second panel features some of the devastation visited upon Belfast during a series of Luftwaffe raids during the early years of the Second World War. Belfast suffered greatly with over 1,000 people dying in four nights of bombing in April and May of 1941.

The Troubles: In the third panel highlight the dark history known as the Troubles. It features two events from the years of that time – the murder of the three young off-duty Scottish soldiers in 1971 [the monument depicted was featured in The Highland] and the Bloody Friday bombings of July 1972. In the midst of the horror that accompanied the early years of the Troubles these events still caused many to struggle to understand how people could carry out such atrocities.

Present Day Conflict: Panel four brings us up to the present day. Military service is a tradition for many in Northern Ireland and for many their first overseas trip came on the back of an overseas posting whilst serving in one of the Armed Forces. From times past, through the World Wars, the Korean War, to more recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan soldiers and regiments drawn from Norther Ireland continue to play a role.

2014-12-17 JimRussell+

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02445 X02428 royal highland fusiliers wolfhound high street 4th 5th may blitz lest we forget