“It’s no lie – drugs will make your mama cry!” Sisters Bridget and Geraldine McKay died within three weeks of each other, one from heroin and the other from prescription dugs (iTV | BelfastLive | BelTel). Between them, they leave nine children behind. The graffiti above is at the Colin transport hub, not far from Geraldine’s Suffolk Road home; Bridget lived in the New Lodge flats.
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Copyright © 2019 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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After suffering a lot of damage in a fairly short time, the PSNI land-rover-cum-ice-cream-van by Leo Boyd (web) and Laura Nelson (ig) – see Freshly Made For You! – has been stripped off and replaced with this clockwork version.
The PSNI land-rover is a familiar Boyd subject – see Off The Ledge for a list.
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Copyright © 2019 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Show Some Love is a campaign by non-profit Another World Belfast (web | Fb | ig) to collect toiletries and underwear for ‘Love Packs’. The organisation takes its name and inspiration from the last line of Arundhati Roy’s Confronting Empire (which was subsequently expanded into An Ordinary Person’s Guide To Empire (p. 86)): “Another world is not only possible, she’s on the way and, on a quiet day, if you listen very carefully you can hear her breathe.” (The last line actually appears to be “On a quiet day, you can hear her breathing.”)
Behind their stencil on the electrical box is the spring 2019 Hit The North piece by artist Emmanlene Blake (web), portraying author and journalist Lyra McKee, who was shot in the head in Creggan (by a gunman from the New IRA) on April 18th while observing a riot from behind police lines. She was taken to Altnagelvin hospital but later died. At her funeral in Belfast, Father Martin Magill was inspired to ask why her death was required in order to make politicians work together. He received a standing ovation (BBC-NI).
Later in the painting process the electrical box was painted over in keeping with the piece (“Here’s to saying goodbye to bombs and bullets”) and a quotation added to the main piece: “It won’t always be like this. It’s going to get better – Lyra McKee.” See the final two images, below.
Kent Street, Belfast city centre
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Copyright © 2019 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Ronnie’s hardware shop in east Belfast, vacant for many years and the site of Our Brave Defenders, was finally torn down last year and a pocket park created with murals commemorating east Belfast volunteers who died in the Great War and the UVF Regimental Band (tw), this year celebrating its 50 anniversary (video of the launch).
See previously: 40th anniversary banner at the same spot (next to the Belvoir Bar at the old Newcastle Street in east Belfast).
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Copyright © 2019 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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The East Belfast UVF memorial parade primarily commemorates hitman Robert ‘Squeak’ Seymour, who killed the IRA’s James Burns in his own home in 1981. He was killed by the IRA in 1988. Here is video from the 2019 parade. Seymour’s portrait is included in Ballymacarrett (see Standing Guard) and in London Road (Ulster’s Brave).
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Copyright © 2019 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X06578 on the belvoir bar, Newtownards Rd
After the Nationalist coup in 1936, the UK and US continued to recognise Spain’s Republican government but did not intervene militarily. Individuals from these counties thus participated in the conflict by joining the British and Lincoln battalions of the XV International Brigade, fighting alongside Balkans, Belgians, and Cubans at Jarama, Brunete, and the Ebro river, among other battles. For background on Belfast socialism of the period see this article by Stevie Downes.
“International Brigades – Spanish Civil War 1936 – 39. Commemorating all those who served and died with the XV International Brigade in the fight against fascism including the following Brigadistas from the Shankill area: William Beattie … Bill Henry … William Laughran … Henry McGrath … James Isaac Hillen … Joseph Lowery … Andrew Molyneaux. No pasarán. Unveiled by Tommy and Freddie McGrath, nephews of Henry McGrath, and Baroness May Blood, trade union & community activist. International Brigade Commemoration Committee. Saturday 1st February 2014.”
Previously: Plaque to (Protestant) Beattie and (Catholic) O’Neill | Belfast Socialists marching at Bodenstown (though possibly those from the Shankill were excluded) | Derry Brigadistas | a bust to the International Brigade in Writers Square, Belfast. Also: Guernica | Derry Guernica.
The plaque is in the Shankill Road Library.
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Copyright © 2019 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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The first Dáıl Éıreann met in 1919 in the wake of a Sınn Féın sweep of the elections of 1918. Current leader Mary Lou McDonald addressed her deputies at a centenary commemoration, recounting the rise of the party: “They banished us, imprisoned us and bereaved us. But still the people spoke.” The mural above presents a montage of historical images, from the women of Wicklow (Barton) and Dublin (Mulcahy) being urged to exercise their new right to vote (also Arthur Griffith in East Cavan), to Bobby Sands and Owen Carron, to Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness. (Cormac’s Fight Back was turned into a mural on the Springfield Road.)
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Copyright © 2019 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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The UK – including Northern Ireland – will leave the European Union on October 31st of this year (2019), perhaps resulting in the return of a border between Northern Ireland and Éire. The departure has support from Unionists, including this graffitist in Oakdale Street, east Belfast.
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Copyright © 2019 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X06565 brexit
“Ag síneadh amach lámh chuıdıthe” [stretching out a helping hand] – this is a new Cogús [conscience] (Fb) republican prisoners office on Ardoyne Avenue.
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Copyright © 2019 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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An outline, presumably by Leo Boyd (ig), from one of his tech heads pieces, which in this colour-scheme particularly reminds us of the Handmaid’s Tale tech head: She Is My Spy As I Am Hers.
Replaces the posters for Hit The East 2017 in the alley off Bloomfield Avenue.
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Seosamh Mac Coille Collection 