painted wall

Village UVF

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The UVF flag contains the flag of England (St. George’s Cross) in one corner and in the other an orange star; “1912” – the year the Ulster Volunteers were founded – in this example is in the top right. The colour-scheme is the reverse of the Orange Order’s: its flag has the purple star of the Williamites on an orange field.

Broadway, Village, south Belfast

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Copyright © 2010 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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A Rare Bird

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This mural of an eagle is particularly striking because it is a piece of street art (by TMN members Raser and Akin/Aken) in Andersonstown (specifically Glen Parade, opposite the Kennedy Centre). Its presence so close to sectarian murals is perhaps explained by the fact that it is on the side of a business – Vogue hair stylists.

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Copyright © 2010 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X00349

Stop At Nothing

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“Our rulers will stop at nothing to attain their ends. They will continue to rule and rob until confronted by men who will stop at nothing to overthrow them.” The quote is from James Connolly on Conscription in 1915. Local volunteer Joe McDonnell is portrayed between the names of the ten deceased 1981 hunger strikers. Lenadoon Avenue, Belfast.

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Copyright © 2010 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Léana An Dúın – Unbowed Unbroken

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The main Lenadoon mural is refreshed and more portraits and a plaque added (on the right). The dying Cú Chulaınn (as portrayed in bronze by Oliver Sheppard, in a statue installed in the GPO in 1935) is used as a symbol for the locals from Lenadoon (including IRA volunteers) who fought for freedom (“saoırse”). They are listed on the scrolls to each side and in the portraits in the apex: Tony Henderson, John Finucane, Brendan O’Callaghan, Joe McDonnell, Laura Crawford, Maıréad Farrell, Patricia Black, Bridie Quinn (previously listed as Bridie O’Neill).

For the previous version (though without the three faces it initially had, of O’Callaghan, McDonnell, and Farrell) see M01934.

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Copyright © 2010 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Ní Thıg Leat

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“Ballymurphy unbowed, unbroken” with images of Ballymurphy including the mural of McCrudden-O’Rawe–Jordan and memorial garden on Divismore Way (left) and Springhill (right). The male figures in the foreground are unnamed but the four in jackets are presumably Stone, McWilliams, McCracken, and Dougal after their mural in Springhill Drive was blanked; the female activists on the left of Cú Chulaınn are Mary Austin, Kathleen Clarke, Annie McWilliams. “This mural was unveiled by Gerry Adams MP 2nd May 2010.”

“Ní thıg leat Éıre a chloígh, ní thıg leat fonn saoırse mhuıntır na hÉıreann a mhúc[h]adh.” [“You cannot subdue Ireland; you cannot extinguish the desire for the freedom of the Irish people.”]

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Copyright © 2010 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X00348

Free The POWs

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This 1997 mural is a collage of images from the previous 30 years, including banging binlids on the ground, Maıréad Farrell in Armagh prison, men on the blanket, the cages of Long Kesh, marches in support of the hunger strikers, and reproductions of various posters, against Margaret Thatcher, plastic bullets, internment, and censorship. There’s a quote from Bob Dylan in the middle, “How many times can a man turn his head and pretend that he just doesn’t see – the answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind, the answer is blowing in the wind.”

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Copyright © 2010 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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