Working On A Building

Belfast is getting two new pieces of streetart as part of the East Belfast Arts Festival, one by Friz and one by Hicks54. Both are a-political artists from outside Northern Ireland. Friz is now based in Belfast. Hicks is/was a member of the 54 collective, in Southampton, England.

Above is Friz completing her mural in Constance Street, Sept. 8th.

The muraling during the Festival is “in conjunction with the Lower Castlereagh Community Group, East Belfast Partnership, and kindly funded by the Lloyds TSB Foundation”.

Below is (Ed) Hicks54 in front of his project, on the Newtownards Rd … (across from McDonalds) and a wide shot of the whole scaffold …

There’s an even earlier development shot at his flickr account.

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Moving Forward

Wild-style writing is combined with images of local street signs and portraits of east Belfast luminaries such as George Best, Van Morrison, and CS Lewis.

“Created as part of Belfast City Council’s Creative Legacies programme by the young people of ‘The Klub’ at Dee Street Community Centre and artist Daniela Balmaverde. With PEACE III funding.

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Lower Oldpark Community Action Group

These are the murals on either side of the Lower Oldpark Community Action Group in Alloa Street. The office might already have been vacated, as the building will be demolished this summer (the office moved to Avoca St).

Above, children play marbles in the street; below, the Oldpark Carnegie Library (Fb) stand beneath Cave Hill and a signpost points the way to old streets in the area that were named after rivers of Ireland: Lee St, Shannon St, Foyle St, Bann St, Suir St, Liffey St.

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Plastic Death

“Since 1970 seventeen people killed [by rubber and plastic bullets] – including 8 children.” Central is Norah McCabe, along with Julie Livingstone, Brian Stewart, and Carol Ann Kelly; on the left are John Downes and Keith White, a Protestant killed in Portadown in 1986.

Islandbawn Street, west Belfast

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The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe

Here are three close-ups from the mural CS Lewis’s book The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe in Convention Court, east Belfast. (For the whole, see M02946.)

This mural replaced the mural putting the Red Branch Knights and the Red Hand Commando in parallel – see the Visual History page on Cú Chulaınn.

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Mol An Óıge Agus Tıocfaıdh Sí

“[Youth responds to praise] – the laughter of our children – the joy of our hearts.” A young Bobby Sands is shown in the front right, part of the Stella Maris soccer squad for 1967; he would later “respond” by becoming an IRA volunteer and hunger striker.

The plaque to the hunger strikers was originally on the left of the previous ‘1798’ mural, and the plaque to the deceased from the “greater Newington area” was embedded in it – see M03672.

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