There is a memorial “garden” and mural in Clós Ard An Lao, in Ardoyne, in remembrance of 38 local people (“from the greater Bone, Ballybone, Rosapenna area”) who died during the troubles.
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Copyright © 2010 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Michael Gaughan’s final message included the line “Let there be no bitterness on my behalf, but a determination to achieve the new Ireland for which I gladly die” which is loosely quoted in this hunger strikers Ardilea Close (in the Bone) mural. He is buried with Frank Stagg in Leigue Cemetery, Ballina (WP). The mural has been added behind the plaque to the hunger strikers in the middle-right: “Erected by the Olpark 1981 Committee. In proud and loving memories fo ten young Republicans who gave their lives during the 1981 hunger-strike in the H.Blocks of Long Kesh. No greater love than a man lay down his life for his friends.”
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Copyright © 2010 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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“The Young Gun’s” – Ulster Young Militants fist between two columns of hearts in Fane Street, below Tates Avenue, south Belfast.
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Copyright © 2010 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Highlights from Northern Ireland’s (football team) history on the footbridge from Windsor Avenue to Windsor Park (stadium). “N. Ireland v England 1947″,”Michael Hughes v Germany 1992”, and “George Best v Gordon Banks”. By Blaze FX.
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Copyright © 2010 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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The summer of 1969 is generally taken to be the beginning of the Troubles in Belfast and the most famous symbol of the August riots is the burning of Bombay Street. The street was (and is) just below the old Cupar Street, where many streets drop down from the Shankill (you can see the distribution of PUL and CNR houses in the Visual History page on the west Belfast “peace” line). This event is commemorated in nationalist murals (see e.g. No Mission) but for a statement from the PUL perspective, see Can It Change?
The mural is based on a Frankie Quinn photograph “Belfast 1984”.
Hopewell Avenue, lower Shankill, west Belfast.
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Copyright © 2009/2023 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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“Providing a community transport system for over 40 years.” The West Belfast Taxi Association (WBTA) have had a mural on the International Wall since at least 2006, offering tours of west Belfast and the murals in particular.
Martin Meehan was originally OIRA but switched to the Provisionals after the split. He was the first person convicted of membership of the PIRA and spent 18 years in prison during the Troubles (WP). “Codaıl samh a chomradaí.”
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Copyright © 2009 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Banksy’s “Slave Labour” was sold on Sunday night for about three-quarter of a million pounds sterling, to an as-yet anonymous buyer. It was sold by the owners of the Poundland store on whose exterior wall it was originally stencilled. This BBC video shows the piece, both removed and in situ. In other Banksy news this weekend, his giant rat piece in Liverpool is to be removed and preserved.
The image above is a 2009 piece on Northumberland Street (Visual History page) imitating one of Banksy’s pieces in the West Bank. In the Bethlehem piece, the hole in the wall reveals a tropical paradise; here, it reveals the hills around Belfast. There is a shot of the artists painting the piece at the beginning of the documentary about them, “Paint For Peace“. This piece as later replaced by the Latuff “solidarity” mural.
See also: Bundoran Banksy | Sweep It Under The Carpet
2008 Channel 4 video about Banksy in the West Bank.
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Copyright © 2009 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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IRSP mural on Northumberland Street, with the Starry Plough shining over the walls of Long Kesh.
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“Artist Daniela Balmaverde has worked with older members of the local community to reminisce and to appreciate those from North Belfast who have made an impact on our broader society. A multiplicity of initiatives has altered the face and conditions of life in this community with Re-Imaging making a positive contribution to a long-term process. The project was launched by the Lord Mayor on August 2009 This project was funded through the Re-Imaging Communities programme of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and delivered by Belfast City Council with the support of Lower Ormeau Road Resident’s Action Group. This project is supported by the Shared Communities Consortium.”
The figures in the mural include Buck Alec Robinson, Rinty Monaghan, Sam McAughtry, Sir James Galway, Dame Mary Peters, Norman Whiteside, and Wayne McCullough. The mural replaced is the one equating the American Confederates with the Ulster Volunteers in Alliance Crescent.
Update: 2022 shot of the blanked wall
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This mural is on the International Wall, Divis Street, celebrating Frederick Douglass 1818-1895 (WP).
“Inspired by two Irishmen to escape from slavery, Frederick Douglass came to Ireland during the famine. Henceforth he championed the abolition of slavery, women’s rights and Irish freedom.”
“Perhaps no class has carried prejudice against colour to a point more dangerous than have the Irish and yet no people have been more relentlessly oppressed on account of race and religion.
(Also by Douglass, and which would have made an apt quote for the mural: “I prayed for twenty years but received no answer until I prayed with my legs.”)
Divis Street, Belfast. There would later be a larger Douglass mural on Northumberland St (Visual History).
To the left of the Guernica mural.
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Copyright © 2009 Cathal Woods
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Seosamh Mac Coille Collection 