painted wall

Though Absent You Are Ever Near

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“Talents have been robbed by addiction, suicide, mental illness” – the shoes of the dead form part of an installation on Stewart Street, around the perimeter of the Markets. The RNU banner off to the right contains the numbers for Pieta House, PIPS, Samaritans, Teen Line, Lifeline, and Breathing Space.

“I am here – a son, daughter, father, mother, brother, sister, husband, wife, partner, lover, cousin, friend, grandfather, family. Why, why, why??? Are you okay? Our love[d] ones. Every day in some small way memories of you come our way. Through [sic] absent you are ever near, still missed, still loved, and ever dear.”

“The families[‘] pain continues!! They continue to struggle in silence: each loss has had a ripple effect throughout our community! Through the travel of time the pain remains the same!!!”

“It’s OK not to be OK – mental health illness is an invisible illness – breathing space – open up when you’re feeling down”

Below the shoes: “Dream big – smile – be thoughtful – respect – caring – love – be you – support – family”

The final image is from the nearby Friendly Street: Believe in yourself – Be kind – Something inside so strong – Positive mental well-being

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Celebrate Identities

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Ballynafeigh is the neighborhood just across Ormeau bridge, containing Annadale flats and surrounding streets – home to Ormeau Road UDA/UFF and Ballynafeigh Apprentice Boys flute band (Fb). The mural shown above was painted by Daniela Balmaverde (web) with help from local volunteers and presents imagery from non-Western cultures along with slogans on tree-trunks: “Cultural dialogue”, “Celebrate identities”, Shared neighbourhood”, “Community development”, “Tolerance”, and “Respect cultural diversity”. Welcome to Ballynafeigh.

The mural is at the southern Ormeau Road entrance to Ormeau park opposite Candahar Street. The Brigada Ramona Para mural was previously in this spot.

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In The Paint

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‘Peace Players’ is an organisation that runs cross-community sporting events, including the basketball “interface league” that Noah Donohoe took part in – he is pictured here wearing his Peace Players shirt. It renamed one of its annual awards as the ‘Noah Donohoe Spirit Award’ (tw). He also played U-14 basketball at Belfast Phoenix (Fb) and the club created a scholarship in his name (Belfast Media).

The mural is at the Shaftesbury rec centre in lower Ormeau.

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‘The Glory Continues’ Continues

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Martin O’Neill took Celtic – and about 80,000 fans (ESPN) – to the UEFA Cup in 2003, losing in extra time to FC Porto of Portugal. This mural off Friendly Street in the Markets – which shows the Champions Cup rather than the UEFA Cup – is still rolling in 2022. Peter Moloney took a picture of it in 2006.

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Saoırse Mhuıntır Na hÉıreann

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A D Company “dogs” (Belfast Brigage IRA) emblem has been added to the Falls Commemoration Committee mural on Divis Street’s “International” wall, below the quote from Bobby Sands, March 17th, 1981. (Compare to the image from August of 2021: The Desire For Freedom.)

“They won’t break me because the desire for freedom of the Irish people is in my heart. The day will dawn when all the people of Ireland will have the desire for freedom to show. It is then that we will see the rising of the moon.” – Bobby Sands. Originally in Irish: “Ní bhrısfıdh sıad mé mar tá an fonn saoırse, agus saoırse mhuıntır na hÉıreann, ı mo chroí. Tıocfaıdh lá éıgın nuaır a bheıdh an fonn saoırse seo le taıspeáınt ag daoıne go léır na hÉıreann. Ansın tchífıdh [chífıdh] muıd éırí na gealaí.”

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Fáılte Roımh Chách

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We have featured this ‘bookmark’-dimensioned mural on the so-called “International Wall” before (in 2018) but today include an image (the third one, below) of the replica cell inside the museum itself; a sharper image (and the source for the painting) can be seen on the home page of the Museum’s web site.

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Bloody Sunday Commemoration

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The Bloody Sunday march each year follows the same route as was taken on January 30th, 1972, from Creggan shops to the Bogside. For the 50th anniversary of the event, two marches took place, the earlier one ending at the NICRA memorial (unveiled in 1974) where Taoiseach Micheál Martin laid a wreath. For images see Derry Journal | Museum Of Free Derry’s Fb; for the speeches, see the MoFD youtube channel.

A later march ended with speeches at Free Derry Corner (Derry Journal | Derry Now). Today’s images show this march at the Bloody Sunday Commemoration mural by the Bogside Artists (originally painted in 1997 without a cross in the centre). The coal lorry in the image above is of a similar vintage to the one that led the march in 1972; the Bedford TK was built from 1960 to 1992 but Springtown Fuels (ig) appears to have one in good condition.

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Copyright © 2021 Andy McDonagh/Eclipso Pictures (ig | Fb)
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