This is Shane O’Driscoll’s (ig) abstract take on the distinctively Antrim-coast foods dulse (a seaweed) and yellowman (a honeycomb confection) on Castle Street, Ballycastle.
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Copyright © 2023 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Australian artist Fintan Magee (ig) in Ebrington Square, Londonderry, showing a young girl – a symbol of the next generation – (Bel Tel) behind obscure glass. To the right is a dove; the orca in the bottom right is Dopey Dick, who swam up the Foyle in 1977 (Fb).
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Copyright © 2023 Andy McDonagh/Eclipso Pictures (ig | Fb)
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A ceremony to mark the forty-second anniversary of the deaths of IRA volunteers George McBrearty and Charles “Pop” Maguire – shot by the SAS on May 28th, 1981 – was held last Sunday (May 28th) in the garden of remembrance in Linsfort Drive, Creggan (Derry Now). On patrol in Creggan with two other IRA men, McBrearty and Maguire pursued and a car whose driver they suspected of being an SAS soldier and eventually stopped it at the bottom of Couch Road/Southway at the edge of the Brandywell. The driver shot McBrearty as he approached the car and Maguire was shot by the driver and/or by other undercover soldiers from 14th Intelligence who emerged from two other cars. A third volunteer was injured. (Lost Lives 2330)
The “Crann Na Poblachta”/”Tree Of The Republic” – a silver birch – was originally planted in front of the previous mural to George McBrearty mural in Rathkeele Way (see Freedom Fighter For The Republic) (Derry Journal). Both that mural and this one were painted by ‘Bogside Artist‘ Kevin Hasson.
There is a plaque to McBrearty & Maguire near the spot where they were killed on Coach Road/Southway (see M01544).
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Copyright © 2023 Andy McDonagh/Eclipso Pictures (ig | Fb)
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The inspiration for this new street art by emic (ig | web) – perhaps in both pose and pallette – was Seamus Heaney’s poem ‘Blackberry Picking’ (Derry Journal). A young person appears to be searching intently: “You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet/Like thickened wine: summer’s blood was in it/Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust for/Picking.” (Full poem)
The official title is “Younger Days”; in Creggan, Derry, for Gasyard Féıle; with support from the Communities In Transition programme.
Replaces Creggan 75; there is still republican graffiti on the adjacent wall (final image): “Stop normalisation of RUC/PSNI”.
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Copyright © 2023 Andy McDonagh/Eclipso Pictures (ig | Fb)
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Long-time Palestinian activist and former spokesperson for Islamic Jihad Khader Adnan died on May 2nd, at the age of 45, after 87 days on hunger strike in Ramla prison, in central Israel (Al Jazeera).
This was Adnan’s fifth time on hunger strike. In 2017, he spent 58 days on hunger strike and in 2015, 56 days. The strike in 2011-2012 lasted 66 days, during which time a mural was painted just to left of the mural shown here, featuring Adnan and Hanna Shalabi; they, along with many other prisoners, were on hunger strike to protest the “administrative detention” (imprisonment without trial) of more than 300 Palestinians – see Administrative Detention. Earlier, shorter, strikes took place in 2002 and in 2000, when he was imprisoned by the Palestinian National Authority for directing a protest against Lionel Jospin, then French Prime Minister (Gulf News).
According to Amnesty International, there are currently more than 1,000 Palestinians being held on ‘administrative detention’ (Amnesty).
As can be seen from the in-progress shots below, Rısteard Ó Murchú painted Latuff’s cartoon, with Latuff looking on.
Cartoons by Latuff himself, in Belfast: Pacifying The Six Counties and in Derry: Killing With Impunity.
Latuff-based murals: The Butcher’s Apron | Do Not Disturb | Hands Across The Yard. Poster: End Impunity
This mural takes the place of the No To PII mural on the “International Wall”, Divis Street – see the Visual History page for the wall.
Also included is a “March for Palestine – 75 Years Of Nakba” poster on the Saber Al-Ashkar mural.
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Copyright © 2023 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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This is the second mural in Derry to Sister Clare Crockett – the first was in her Brandywell home (see All Or Northing!) while this one is in Shantallow.
Crockett became a nun in 2001 and died in 2016 at the age of 33 in an earthquake in Ecuador – the mass for the seventh anniversary of her death was held last month (youtube).
A documentary film about Crockett’s life is available on youtube.
(Update, Jan 2025: Crockett is to be beatified – Irish Times)
Painted by Razer (ig) in Racecourse Road, Shantallow, Derry.
The info board reads:
“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.”
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Copyright © 2023 Andy McDonagh/Eclipso Pictures (ig | Fb)
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“Ireland – Palestine – one struggle!” Carlos Latuff’s Belfast piece with Rısteard Ó Murchú about Palestinian hunger-striker Khader Adnan was featured in They Hungered For Justice And Freedom.
Here is the piece Latuff did on Free Derry Corner with local artist Razer (Fb), showing Irish and Palestinian hands together throwing a Molotov cocktail.
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Copyright © 2023 Andy McDonagh/Eclipso Pictures (ig | Fb)
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Work by emic (ig) in Castle Lane, Belfast, perhaps picking up a theme from Friz’s Under The Cherry Blossoms in Castle Arcade which focused on the castle and grounds in the era of Arthur Chichester. Chichester’s castle burned down in 1708 and by 1800 the castle and its grounds were vanishing under buildings akin to the nearby corn market and Belfast entries (WP).
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Copyright © 2023 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Art by Danny Rumbl (ig), HMConstance (ig), KMG (ig), Zippy (ig), Codo (ig), and various writers on the Cupar Way “peace” line, on top of pieces from last year by Bust, Lobster, and others – New Levels, Same Devils.
For a history of the wall, see State Art Vs Graffiti On The West Belfast “Peace” Line.
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Seosamh Mac Coille Collection 