City/Town

This Is Not My Beautiful Art

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The Clements coffee shops in Belfast city centre closed in October, leaving only the two at Queen’s and UUJ (BelTel).

The abandonment of the Rosemary Street shop provides a space for art (see Visual History 11 on the rise of street art); replacing the Clements signage there is a “temp sign”: “And you may ask yourself, “Where is my beautiful signage[?]””.

Is this a plea for the return of Clements – a local chain – or investment in the city centre and a new business? Or perhaps it is meant ironically, as a protest against capitalism – the line is a modification of a lyric from the Talking Heads song ‘Once In A Lifetime’ (Stop Making Sense | Remain In Light), which describes a moment of awakening for the middle-aged and middle-classed: “How did I get here?”

On the permanently-closed shutters is a different kind of beautiful signage, a MOSCO throw-up.

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Boycott Israeli Genocide

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The UN Security Council last night passed resolution 2712 (UN), calling for extended humanitarian pauses in Israel’s assult on Gaza. The resolution was proposed by Malta, who wrote the resolution to focus on the plight of children. Today’s images show a selection of the teddy bears and other soft toys that have been placed on fences and lamp-posts in CNR west Belfast in memory of the children who have been killed in Gaza. It is estimated that a child dies in Gaza every 10 minutes (Reuters) and that 4,600 children have died so far (UN).

For more on the bears, see Belfast Media.

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The Scots In Ulster

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The name “Ulster-Scots” refers to the emigrants to North America from Ulster that had previously come from Scotland and the English borders, and most of the Ulster-Scots murals in the 2000s focused on emigration to America and on US Presidents with Scotch-Irish heritage (see the Visual History page of Ulster-Scots murals).

In 2017, a series of boards along York Street focused on industrialists in Northern Ireland with Scottish backgrounds: 13 panels in five posts: one | two | three | four | five. And this new collection of “Ulster-Scots” luminaries (which is 100 paces away) likewise presents figures who are associated with Northern Ireland rather than America. Modern folk such as those portrayed in these new boards presumably have Scottish heritage rather than Scotch-Irish. (The title of this entry – The Scots In Ulster – comes from a Discover Ulster Scots poster about the Scots who came to Ulster in the 1600s, regardless of whether or not they or their descendants later moved to America.)

From left to right, the people shown are as follows. (Links are to previous entries in the Extramural collection.)

Mountcollyer: motorcyclist Rex McCandless, author CS Lewis, physicist John Stewart Bell, song-writer Jimmy Kennedy, medical inventor Frank Pantridge

York Rd: snooker player Alex Higgins, singer Ruby Murray, soldier Blair Mayne, agricultural inventor Harry Ferguson, missionary Amy Carmichael

For the political tarp on the gable in the background, see Choose One Or The Other!

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Dorn San Aer

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“Dorn san aer do na Gaeıl [a fist in the air for the Irish] Rónán Mac Aodha Bhuí 1970-2023”.

Mac Aodha Bhuí joined Ráıdió Na Gaeltachta in the 1990s but was best known for his Rónán Beo@3 programme (which is inscribed on the ring on the first), which began in 2006. He was a passionate advocate for the Irish language. He died this past September after a four-year battle with cancer. (RTÉ | Irish Times | Donegal Daily)

The official launch of the mural will be at 2 p.m. on Friday (December 1st).

Fallswater Street, west Belfast

Update: by the time of the launch a photograph of Mac Aodha Bhuí was added.

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Saoırse Don Phalaıstín

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The “put/give it back, thief” imagery that we saw used for the Lough Neagh protest (and much earlier in republican murals) is used on an “Israel, get out of Palestine” sticker on the bollard now outside Cultúrlann McAdam-O’Fiaich that originally came from McAdam’s Soho foundry in Townsend Street. (A sticker in worse condition was also seen in Israel Get Out Of Palestine.)

“Caıth bomaıte ar son na Palaıstíne. Seol ríomhphost chuıg gach ceannaıre polaıtiúıl sa tír. – Caırde Palestine.” [Spend a moment on Palestine’s behalf. Send an e-mail to every political leader in the land. – Friends of Palestine]

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It Could Be You

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Here is another gallery of teddy-bears and soft-toys wearing “Boycott Israeli genocide” stickers in support of the children of Gaza, this time from the fencing in front of the Royal Victoria Hospital.

See also the soft-toys from the Milltown roundabout junction, former site of the Andersonstown RUC Barracks.

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Maximum Penalty

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A fine of 500 pounds and eternal damnation. Belfast City Council first made various Belfast street “alcohol-free” areas in 2007. A full list of streets can be found in this 2012 pdf. The placard shown in the image above is on the Falls Road, outside the Royal. The grounds of the hospital are also included in the list of areas. About 50 people a year receive a summons (2016 minutes). How many of us, annually, are refused entry at the pearly gates is unknown.

In a similar style, from 2014: Ye Must Be Born Again.

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