Cousins Francis Hughes (Ó hÁodha) and Thomas McElwee (Mac Gıolla Bhuídhe) were the second and ninth of the 1981 hunger strikers to die. They share a grave in St. Mary’s churchyard in their hometown of Bellaghy, Co. London-/Derry. The image above shows their gravestone “erected by the people of Co. Derry and Co. Antrim”.
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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03932 ı measc laochra na nGael go raıbh a nanamacha óglaıgh na héıreann IRA
32 County Sovereignty Movement (web) graffiti on the Alliance Avenue “peace” line.
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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Travel site In Your Pocket recently solicited a good term for people from Belfast. In 1963, JFK went to West Berlin and expressed solidarity with the encircled residents by saying “Ich bin ein Berliner” (inviting the misunderstanding that he was a Berliner Krapfen or jelly doughnut”, but the spirit of the message was clear). (WP has more info and video.) The stencil above puts Kennedy in Belfast: Ich bin ein Belfaster.
Thanks to Brendan McGarry for this image.
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Copyright © 2016 Brendan McGarry
X03927 Lisburn Road
The bus turnaround at the entrance to Taughmonagh estate has been turned into a Somme Garden (see the third image, below). The “Welcome to Taughmonagh” sign at entrance has been covered over with a Union flag board with “Taughmonagh remembers” and the three figures in the sculpture in the middle have each been given a union jack cap.
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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03922 X03920 X03921 Taughmonagh heritage and culture society the bulbs for this somme garden were bought with donations by from the estate planted by the children to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the battle of the somme and in the morning we will remember them
Here are two more images related to The Muddlers’ Club (see previously God Approves Our Undertakings), featuring an ouroboros (snake eating its own tail) in the shape of the symbol for infinity, on an eight-pointed star/compass, by VisualWaste.
“Members of the Muddler’s Club included leading United Irishmen such as Thomas Russell, Thomas Neilson & Henry Joy McCracken. Secret meetings held at Peggy Barclay’s inn would allow the Belfast United Irishmen to welcome messengers & visitors to coordinate the wider conspiracy.” For more information on the history of the location, see this BBC-NI article on the (canvas) paintings in Warehouse Lane.
In the second image: an unknown (FGB?) piece of tangled arms and legs, and, Lost Duppy by TLO.
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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Two pieces by TLO. Above, “Have you seen Duppy?” Ian Paisley Jnr gets a strange mouse make-over, with a pink nose and Irish harp ears. Below, a sprung skull.
Previously by TLO: Demonizing Paisley, Three Studies Of Ian Paisley, and Ian Jong-un, Wee Angel, Taking The Hump, Derryrhoea.
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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03875 X03683 a malevolent spirit or ghost west african origin
The four banners shown above are on the front of the Rebels’ Rest in west Belfast: “Cothaıgh meon na saoırse/Nurture the spirit of freedom”, “Decolonise your mind”, “Welcome to west Belfast, poverty capital of the six counties”, and (visible below) “PSNI/MI5/British Army not welcome in this area” (one of several of these boards placed in various republican areas – the one at the end of the International Wall is included below). For previous stencils from 2014, see The Rebel’s Rest.
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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03824 X03823 X03497 falls rd divis st
The experts’ best guess is that the gentleman on the white horse (on the right of the painting) is James Scott, Duke of Monmouth, at the siege of Maastricht in 1673. Scott was commander of the English forces fighting with the French during the Franco-Dutch war. It’s not clear, thus, what the connection is to the Antiville area of Larne or the wars fought in Ireland over the English crown. It was painted by Jan Wyck, who also did a painting of the Battle of the Boyne. On either side (as shown below) are a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II and the English version of the Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom.
This trio of boards has been added to a wall behind the Antiville community centre, softening (somewhat) a very aggressive set of six UDA boards (seen in UDA Flag Bearer and Secret Army Silhouettes.)
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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Minuscule humans work in the land of the giants: a lily in Derry and Larne’s crowning glory.
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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03775 X03760 Rossville St Circular Rd Roundabout
Carrickfergus United Loyalists portray Peter Robinson, Mike Nesbitt, and Theresa Villiers as the three monkeys who “hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil”. The evil that they fail to recognize is the oppression of Orange culture in the form of the blocked 2013 parade at the Ardoyne shops. The march was completed and the protest camp dismantled on October 1st. (NewsLetter) The phrase “graduated response” comes from the Unionist response to the collapse of 2014 talks. (Irish News)
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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Seosamh Mac Coille Collection 