Another World Belfast (web | Fb) collects toiletries and underwear for distribution – via local charities and community groups – in “Love Packs”. This ‘heart of hearts’ mural in support of the project is in the grounds of the Vault Artists (Fb) in East Belfast.
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Copyright © 2020 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Artists from the arts collective Vault (web | tw) painted new pieces on the Tower Street side of the building in advance of the Summer Market on August 16th. Above is a Conor McClure painting of an artist puking up his creative guts. The piece in the middle is probably Leo Boyd. At the bottom is work by Dragoș Mușat.
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Copyright © 2020 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Keeping an eye on the courtyard of Vault HQ (web | ig) in Tower Street, a majestic tiger by Friz (web | ig). The tiger is in the third spot. FGB’s raspberry man is in the first spot. Cherries by unknown artist in the fourth; the fifth spot is “25 Tower Street” by Ed Reynolds. The wide shot shows the five panels plus Show Some Love and FGB’s Build Communities. “Yes Big Lad” and the flower tribute to Ash are on the other side of the carpark, near the road.
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Clare Crockett gave up her acting career (IMDb) to become a Servant Sister. She is pictured in the info board along with the five postulants who died with her during a 2016 earthquake in Playa Prieta, Ecuador. A web site has been established in her memory and a movie made about her life; there have been calls to make her a saint (Irish News). (Update, Jan 2025: Crockett is to be beatified – Irish Times)
Painted by UV Arts (tw) in Derry’s Brandywell, where she originally came from (BelTel).
“Sr Clare Crockett was born in Derry 14th November 1982. The daughter of Gerard and Margaret Crockett. During a Holy Week Retreat in Spain in the year 2000 she experienced the intensity of the Lord’s Death and Resurrection that led to a deep conversion of her life. Sr Clare entered the Servant Sisters of the House of the Mother 11th August 2001. She went to found a new community in Jacksonville, Florida in October 2006. Sr Clare took Perpetual vows 8th September 2010. In 2014, Sr Clare undertook the mission in Ecuador. She died in an Earthquake, protecting her pupils 16th April 2016. She was buried in Derry 2nd May 2016.”
“Sister Clare’s Prayer: Heavenly Father, for your Glory, that or [of] your beloved Son, that of the Holy Spirit and that of the Mother Of God, we ask that grant us the grace (mention your request in the silence of your heart) … as a sign that the life of our Sister Clare Theresa Crockett has been pleasing to you on this earth and that she is now rejoicing with you in Heaven. We ask this through your Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.”
Update, 2026: the mural has been repainted.
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Copyright © 2020 Andy McDonagh/Eclipso Pictures (ig | Fb)
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When you come home from work one afternoon to find that your back window has been blinded by a giant poster of three fashionable ladies, each with one eye covered, images from i-D magazine which turns its name sideways to form a winking face, the only appropriate recourse would be to take a large knife and cut yourself a peeper. The pigeons by KVLR and Apache Tribe have yet to peck their way free of the flower-headed man to uncover the window on the Gresham Street side.
The images were part of the 2019 Belfast Photo Festival. Covered over is NOTA’s 2013 Belfast Butcher
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Copyright © 2020 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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“You were given this life because you are strong enough to live it.” This Shankill Road poster actually dates back to the anti-suicide #MessagesOfHope campaign undertaken at the end of 2018 (see You Are Enough) but continues to be relevant as the Covid-19 epidemic continues.
The tree is alongside the Shankill Memorial Garden: Who Went To War And Never Returned | Among The Fallen | XXXVI | The Sacrifice Remains The Same.
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Copyright © 2020 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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“A Wee City For Everyone”. The old BHS store in Corn Market, Belfast, is (still) being redeveloped. In the meantime, an accordion player joins David McMillan’s (web | ig) marching band on the hoarding around the site. Originally for Culture Night Belfast in 2019-09.
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Copyright © 2020 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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JJB Sports went into receivership in 2012 and the Royal Avenue shop was (is?) to become a Wetherspoons (Future Belfast). In the meantime, the hoarding is used by Leo Boyd (web | ig | Fb). Welcome to the simulation!
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Copyright © 2020 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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“Summer” continues today with showers and a high temperature of 18. Danni Simpson (web | ig) helps us keep perspective on the Norn Iron weather: “no rain, no flowers”. She has also painted the scaffold at the North Street end of Garfield Street – see the final image, preceded by a 2019 shot from when the scaffolding was raised.
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Copyright © 2019/2020 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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William Swanston, with partner Thomas Bones, commissioned a new building for their linen collar and cuff concern, to be raised in 1890 at the corner of Queen and College streets. Arthur Chichester, flanked by the coats of arms of Belfast and Ulster, looks down over the now-unused doorway. (For more, see the excellent page at History Hub Ulster.) Swanston House is known to many in Belfast as the home of the Athletic Stores and the Educational Company; the facade was retained for its current incarnation ‘The Roost’, a student dormitory.
“‘Soul is deep, essence is beauty, the journey is freedom & the gateway is love’ – Beatrix.”
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Copyright © 2020 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Seosamh Mac Coille Collection 