Here are all five panels from Lesley Cherry’s Village Life piece at the rear of the Windsor Women’s Centre in south Belfast (along with the Salmon Of Knowledge piece featured previously). In the first two, wrapped up in the ribbons streaming from a horse in the central panel (shown above) are a drum (against a backdrop of Belfast city, including a Harland & Wolff crane), a bathtub, teapot and teacup, and pot and pan. The fourth shows the spire of a church and the fifth the smokestack from a factory.
A woman standing in the sea befriends a giant salmon in this mural by Lesley Cherry (web | Fb) behind the Windsor Women’s Centre (Fb) on Broadway in south Belfast. “Trust – Knowledge – Grow – Teach – Play – Love”. Close-up of the left-hand side below.
Here is the final board in the new “St Patrick” set on Tates Avenue (and a wide shot of them all, below). This one explains the composition of the Union flag as a combination of the saltire of Saint Andrew of Scotland, the cross of Saint George of England, and the saltire of Saint Patrick of Ireland. As the text notes, the saltire is much later than the saint: “The association with Saint Patrick dates from the 1780s, when the Order of Saint Patrick adopted it as an emblem. This was a chivalric order established in 1783 by George III. It is often suggested that it derives from the arms of the powerful FitzGerald dynasty [which dates to the 12th century].”
The text ends oddly: “The saltire has occasionally served unofficially to represent Northern Ireland and [has] been considered less contentious than other flags flown there.” Similar language is used on the symbols.com page for the Saltire.
Featured today are two (more) of the boards in a set on Tates Avenue. The central board, shown above, shows a young Patrick (without the clerical garb in which he is often portrayed) against the backdrop of Slemish mountain, where Patrick is thought to have tended sheep as a young slave to a local chieftain, c. 401 AD and developed his Christian faith.
The second image is of colourings of the Saint Patrick profile by children from the nearby Donegall Road Primary School.
The boards were unveiled on March 10th, 2016 by first minister Arlene Foster who remarked that the saint had become “very Gaelicised” and this — and the presence of Irish tricolours at parades — deterred unionists from celebrating “the patron saint of everybody in Northern Ireland” (Belfast Telegraph; also contains video of the launch). Anglicanism venerates saints but Presbyterianism does not, generally taking the “communion of saints” to refer to all members of the church.
Here is one of the new boards on Tates Avenue (the others will be featured over the next two days). It shows a ship racing towards shore, superimposed over a 1659 map of Ulster by Blaeu.
“The Red Hand Of Ulster: According to legend Ulster had at one time no rightful heir. It was agree that a boat race should take place and that whoever’s hand first touched the shore would become king. One contended, upon seeing that he was losing the race, cut off his hand and threw it ashore to win. O’Neill is said to have been the chieftain who cut his hand off to become the King of Ulster. The Red Hand is a key emblem of Ulster’s identity, an ancient and powerful symbol that is traditionally shown as a blood red hand.”
The Irish News last week reported the concerns of west Belfast parents whose children sometimes play under-10 football at Inverary Community Centre, in front of the UVF mural shown above, with the flags of Scotland and the United Kingdom in the background. East Belfast FC, which is based at Inverary, responded that the complaints are “contrived” and that all children are welcome at the ground.
We’re at a complete loss at who or what “Amanda Jayne” is and what this piece of street art (in Corporation Street) is about. Get in touch if you can enlighten us!
Graffiti artist Jason Williams (REVOK) is paid homage by Psychonautes in Corporation Street. In 2018, H&M would sue Williams for use of a Brooklyn, NY piece by him (WaPo) before capitulating to a public outcry on-line.
Below is a wide shot of the street art in Corporation Street prior to being covered by Glenn Molloy’s gallery of famous faces. From left to right:
Bacchus by JMK [writing] [skull] Crow by Faigy [pig] Jason Williams by Psychonautes [and before that, a floating head] Three Missed Calls by DMC [writing, three panels, one by Filth?] [waitress] [bowling ball face] Amanda Jayne
“Welcome to Ardoyne.” Updated images of a 2014 series of panels in Ardoyne Avenue, celebrating the neighbourhood and reproducing some well-known images from the area. The years have not been kind, with the top layer of brick coming off in many places, including the eyes of boxer Eamonn Magee (?).
Seosamh Mac Coille Collection 