painted wall

Red Star Army

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2013-12-20 DevineStar+

INLA member Mickey Devine was the tenth and final hunger-striker to die in 1981, on August 20th. The mural above, in the familiar style of the IRSP/INLA (see Patsy O’Hara), is in Chemical Street, in the Short Strand, across from the set of five murals on Mountpottinger Road (Visual History) – see the wide shot below.

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Copyright © 2013 Seosamh Mac Coılle
[X01506] X01507 X01508 irish national liberation republican socialist sands hughes mccreesh mcdonnell hurson lynch doherty mcelwee

No More

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2013-12-20 EdgarNoMore+

A boy — Dylan Wilson from east Belfast, grandson of loyalist community worker Jim Wilson —shakes hands with a girl – Dearbhla Ward, granddaughter of Short Strand Sınn Féın councillor Joe O’Donnell (sources: Al Jazeera | NewsLetter | The Scotsman). The centre was left for locals to make their mark on.

A gable-wall version of this image — without the word “síocháın” (peace), with the girl in green, and with Wilson’s poem ‘No More’ — can be found about half a mile away in Wolfe Close, just across the Newtownards Road. See No More, Again. This mural was part of the re-imaging effort of 2010.

No more bombing, no more murder
No more killing of our sons
No more standing at the grave side
Having to bury our loved ones

No more waking up every hour
Hoping our children, they come home
No more maimed or wounded people
Who have suffered all alone

No more minutes to leave a building
No more fear of just parked cars
No more looking over our shoulders
No more killing in our bars

No more hatred from our children
No more. No more. No more!

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Copyright © 2013 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Standing Guard

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2013-12-20 EastBelfBattDetail+

Here are four shots of a late 2011 UVF mural, with memorial wall, on Ballymacarrett Road in east Belfast. The four members named are Robert Seymour, shot dead by the PIRA; James Cordner and Joseph Long, who were killed in a premature explosion, and Robert Bennett, killed by the British Army during a riot. These same four are commemorated in the controversial 2013 mural featured in Years Of Sacrifice.

The nearby memorial (through the railings of which the third image, below, was taken) was constructed in 2003.

2013 saw the 25th anniversary of Seymour’s death; the final image, below, is of a flyer announcing a commemorative parade.

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Copyright © 2013 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X01509 X01512 X01510 X01511 X01397 murdered 15th june 1988 joseph long killed in action 27th feb 1977 james cordner robert bennett 7th 1973 in proud memory of fallen comrades ulster volunteer flute band east belfast memorial parade in memory of volunteer squeak 25th anniversary saturday 15th june 2013 leaving parkview bar at 6.00 pm finishing at mural on island street lest we forget

Make Art Not Bombs

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2013-12-19 MakeArt+

London-based Greek street artist ‘The Krah’ is in Belfast at the moment and has just (December 15th and 16th) produced these two new pieces in Garfield Street. Above is ‘Make art not bombs’ and below is a yellow head. ‘Make art not bombs’ was perhaps inspired by witnessing a bomb scare in the city centre this week (Fb | Web).

Replaces Not criminals. Just … Thugz

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The first piece replaces this “Be excellent to each other/tynee bear” piece, below.

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Copyright © 2013 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Gas Masked

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2013-12-19 GasMasked+

This piece – a small figure in white made grotesque by a gas mask, with the This Means Nothing hand in the background – is in North Street, originally next to Praise’s ‘Dot‘ (and the ‘Get Paid’ crosses, which are still on the electrical box) from Culture Night 2012, and now between DMC’s Long Runs The Fox and Visual Waste’s ‘bird snatching boy’ (Carried Away).

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Copyright © 2013 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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The Union Jack

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The text has now faded from this Westwinds mural in Newtownards (which can be seen in this 2007 image). “The Union Jack – its construction and how to use it. ” The text describes the composition of the Union Flag from the St George’s Cross, St Andrew’s Saltire, and St Patrick’s Cross, and how to fly it properly: “In flying the flag, the broad white stripe of the cross of St Andrew should be next to the mast.” Also shown are Britannia astride the globe, a king and queen, a lion, naval boats and a sub, the flowers of the “home nations”, Titanic, and Belfast city hall with a H&W crane in the background.

Blenheim Drive, Westwinds, Newtownards

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Copyright © 2013 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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At The Going Down Of The Sun

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2013-12-17 NArdsSommeWide+

Mural in Newtownards to the Ulster Volunteer Force and Young Citizen Volunteers of the first world war shows two soldiers bent in reflection against an orange and red background, suggesting sunrise/sunset. “At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.”

Close-ups of the wall to the left (featuring lines from Binyon’s For The Fallen) and the plaque in the middle can be found below.

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Copyright © 2013 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X01496 X01495 X01494 [X01603] north down brigade, somme ypres arras thiepval st. quentin fricourt grandcourt messines william hannagan, william lightbody, stephen campbell, stuart allan, keith mckinstry, eddie moreland, michael mckeague, thomas o’brien, jim moore, david stirling lest we forget for god and ulster

Armed & Ready

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2013-12-17 NArdsRed&BlackDetail+

Above is a detail (wide shot below) of a new (June, 2013) mural in Newtonards’s Westwinds estate presenting a familiar UVF theme, that the Ulster Volunteers are an independent body, armed and ready to fight against whatever enemy is present, whether it be London’s decision to grant Home Rule (see Carson in the apex of the building and the figures in militia-style clothing) or the Germans in WWI (as represented by the uniformed figures and Thiepval tower) or any threat to Northern Ireland as a political entity (the Northern Irish flag flies in the top right).

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Copyright © 2013 Seosamh Mac Coılle X01492 X01493 X01487
image of gates T02194 courtesy of Paddy Duffy 2023