painted wall

A Word Of Conjure With

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2015-04-14 ConjureWith+

James Connolly was concerned not just with the political independence of Ireland but its economic independence: both political and economic liberty were required in order for the human being to live freely. The quote in the image above comes from Connolly’s 1897 essay “Socialism & Nationalism”. The economic context is clear when we read a little more broadly:

“To the tenant farmer, ground between landlordism on the one hand and American competition on the other, as between the upper and the nether millstone; to the wage-workers in the towns, suffering from the exactions of the slave-driving capitalist to the agricultural labourer, toiling away his life for a wage barely sufficient to keep body and soul together; in fact to every one of the toiling millions upon whose misery the outwardly-splendid fabric of our modern civilisation is reared, the Irish Republic might be made a word to conjure with – a rallying point for the disaffected, a haven for the oppressed, a point of departure for the Socialist, enthusiastic in the cause of human freedom.” (marxists.org)

Takes the place of Padraig Pearse’s “The fools, the fools …“

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02581 5th june 1868 – 12th may 1916

The Ulster Cycle

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2015-04-13 GlenbawnCuchulainn+

“Ar aghaıdh linn [Onward]” Silhouetted figures, one carrying a hurley, take inspiration from a dying Cú Chulaınn and gaze across a body of water, perhaps Carlingford Lough towards the mountains of Mourne – Cú Chulaınn’s traditional place of death is in County Louth, outside Dundalk. Tuan the hawk historian, who has seen all of the conquests of Ireland, flies overhead.

Cú Chulaınn has his own Visual History page.

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X02580 mo chara gerard kelly

The Hunting Heart

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2015-03-29 StillWatersLeft+

Seamus Heaney was born on this date in 1939 on a farm in County London-/Derry. His first (full) collection was Death Of A Naturalist in 1966 and it included the poem Twice Shy, the concluding lines of which are painted on Stranmillis embankment: Still waters running deep along the embankment walk.

Painted by UUSU students (see also Animals Two By Two).

Belfast City Council report.

2015-03-29 StillWatersRight+

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You Were Born To Stand Out

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2015-03-28 StJohnVianney+

The St. John Vianney youth club board in Cooke Street has been replaced with a mural. The elements are the same – the ‘success’ key still unlocks the world in the palm of a hand and the message is “Why are you trying so hard to fit in when you were born to stand out?” – but the colour-scheme is now various pinks.

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X02571 support education opportunities friendship

Animals Two By Two

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2015-03-28 BotPrimWolves

Children from Botanic Primary school and art students from University of Ulster Student Union painted a series of animal pairs (created by Vikki Lutton) and geometric panels on the wall of the Stranmillis embankment. Above we have wolves, below there are elephants, and in the wide shot, sea lions. ‘In progress’ images from UUSU | P4 schoolchildren.

UUSU was also responsible for the Seamus Heaney mural (The Hunting Heart).

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2015-03-28 BotPrimWide+

2015-03-28 BotPrimInfo+

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X02570 X02567 X02569 X02568 uusu christine campbell colm mcparland jessica snoddy vikki lutton claire mcloughlin esther twieg jose varandas terri ogle pbni pact

St Malachy’s GAC

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St Malachy’s (tw | Fb) is a junior (i.e. 2nd division/B-tier) GAA club established 1936 in the Markets area of south Belfast. It is not known who the six portraits are of (there were originally only the four at the corners – see M08137) or who the four players are. Get in touch if you have any information.

With sponsorship from Pulse, Belfast City Council, New Belfast Community Arts Initiative, the Housing Executive, and ?Brighten Belfast?

Shaftesbury Avenue, south Belfast

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X05332c

Scottish Invasion

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After a fraught experience with a colony of gold-digging Englishmen, native American princess Pocahontas keeps a wary on eye on the Scot Merida (from Disney’s Brave), who is armed with a bow and arrows.

For more Disney princesses: Look Behind You! | Magic Mountain | If The Shoe Fits | Bound & Determined

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