The Conlan Revolution

Michael Conlan (tw | ig) won his first title and tenth professional bout on Saturday night (December 22nd), in Manchester, by defeating Englishman Jason Cunningham (BBC). He features here in one of the new murals on the Fáılte Feırste Thıar offices alongside the traditional Gaelic games of hurling, camogie, football, and handball.

Previously: Conlan’s 2012 Olympics mural. Also: Soccer, boxing, and football in Glen Bawn.

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Another Brick In The Wall

The IRPWA/Saoradh/éıstıgí office on the Antrim Road is courting controversy (Irish News | BelTel) with its the holiday images in its front windows. On the right, a Grinch in PSNI uniform (in front of a bleeding poppy with swastika) harasses the child of a Soaradh member. (“Hey, peelers! Leave our kids alone” is a play on the Pink Floyd song ‘Another Brick In The Wall‘). On the left, Santa takes aim with a home-made RPG (modelled on the image included in Resistance).

The Derry IRPWA office also received a Grinch cartoon in which he is battering down a door.

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Future Belfast

Planning permission has been granted for a 16-storey residential building at the junction of Academy Street and Exchange Street, currently the site of street art by Dan Kitchener (The Dream), Friz (Thy Fearful Symmetry), Visual Waste (Harley Quinn), and Marca Mix (Keyboard Wizard). Work begins in “early 2019”.

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You’ve Got The Key Of The Street

Plans to redevelop Castle Arcade were published in July (NewsLetter). The arcade runs between Castle Lane and Castle Place. The castle of Belfast originally stood at the top of High Street, built by the Normans in the late 12th century and then rebuilt by Arthur Chichester in 1611 but destroyed by fire in 1708 after which the area became commercialised (Belfast Entries | Belfast Castle). If you know the art’s creator, please comment or get in touch.

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Join Saoradh

This space on Ardoyne Avenue was used for “cultural” murals from 1997 to 2015, when Staır Na Gaeılge was replaced by Resistance. In its latest incarnation, Saoradh (web – the organisation’s Facebook page is currently blocked) have made a small addition to the side-wall in the centre of the image above.

For the larger pieces, see Homes!!! and Lidl On Equality.

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In The Footsteps Of Heroes

The 8th battalion of the RIR was drawn from east Belfast’s Ulster Volunteers in 1914. The board shown above, on the practice hall of Rising Sons Flute Band (Fb), shows the Thiepval Memorial to the missing of the Somme – the heroes that in whose footsteps the band claim to march.

The board replaces the tarp saying “Loyalists welcome“.

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Weeds Shall Overcome

According to the All-Ireland Bumble Bee Monitoring Scheme, data collected by 80 citizen scientists shows that a third of the bee species in Ireland is threatened with extinction (Irish Times). The mural above from UV Arts in Rossville Street aims to bring attention to bees and to promote the growth of wild flowers.

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X06396 X06397 “This mural was designed and created by participants from Zero Waste North West in collaboration with UV Arts CIC and Grow Wild. The project set out to celebrate our native wildflowers and weeds which bees rely on so heavily. There are many different types of weeds, even the most intrusive gives something back, they green over the dereliction we have created, they grow in the most hostile environments – a bombed city, a crack in a wall – meaning that they insinuate the idea of wild nature into places otherwise shorn of it, but most of all they provide a vital food source for our declining bee population. We want to promote and celebrate the role of the humble weed in our society by encouraging people to grow wild, connect with nature, celebrate diversity, and protect the eco-systems that protect our planet.”

Comrades In Arms

John Meeke signed the Ulster Covenant in Dervock Orange Hall in 1912 and went to war with the Ulster Volunteers. Willie Redmond, brother of John Redmond, had been jailed three times and was a nationalist MP at Westminster when, at age 53, he signed up for service.

Major Redmond went over the top with the 16th (Irish) Division at Messines Ridge and was hit by machine-gun fire. Private Meeke, a stretcher-bearer with the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in the 36th (Ulster) Division, found and stayed with Redmond under heavy fire, taking two bullets himself.

Redmond would die that night. He was awarded the Legion Of Honour by the French. His East Clare seat was taken by Éamon de Valera. Meeke survived after several surgeries. He was awarded the Military Medal by the British. After the World War, he joined the Specials and LOL 1001 in Benvarden before dying of TB in 1923 (NALIL | Irish Times | WP | BelTel).

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