Here are two images related (perhaps indirectly) to the prosecution of members of the Young Conway flute band for playing The Famine Song/The John B. Sails (WP) outside St. Patrick’s church in Donegall Street during the parade season in the summer of 2012. On Tuesday (December 1st), the thirteen band members had their April convictions quashed. (Telegraph) Above is graffiti on Lanark Way — Stop political policing on band’s men — and below a flyer for a fundraiser in support of the legal appeal.
Two pieces by the Booze Houndz — Inkie, RichT, and 45RPM — on the Cupar Way “peace” line, done when they were in town for Culture Night last September.
Here’s a patronising slogan from the Cupar Way “peace” line, complete with peace/anti-nuclear symbol. Also visible: “Be kind; don’t hurt”, “United, all win”, “Praying for peace in Belfast”, “Love one another”, “Trust and compromise” and so on.
Included in the black taxi tours of the murals of west Belfast is a stop along the Cupar Way “peace” line and an invitation to take a black marker and leave one’s mark. A designated name-tag with “Hello my name is …” was even painted for the purpose – see the image below. Many sign their names while others leave an inspiring slogan. In the image above alone you can read “Build legacies, not walls”; “It is easier to take a life than protect a life – decide you for peace!”; “A wish for peace, a hope for understanding, a belief in love”; “Don’t let the darkness consume you”; “Love lives longer than hate”; and so on. Bromides such as these have elicited the commentary in white from a local graffitist.
Two visions of brotherhood: The Lady Boys Of Bangkok compete for poster space with the Irish Republican Brotherhood’s proclamation of an Irish Republic.
Two murals by Mark Bodé (web) and another in his style (and that of his father, Vaughan Bodé). The first is on the Cupar Way “peace” line and shows a disgruntled caveman and the Yellow Hat character; the second is in the Lecky Road underpass in London-/Derry and shows the character Cobalt 60; and the third is a promotional mural in the style of the Bodés in Gresham Street. All three date to this (2015) summer, when Bodé came to Derry for the ‘Release The Pressure’ street art festival. (Bodé’s official piece for the festival, painted with Dave Bonzai, can be seen in Metalmorphosis.)
When John Stewart painted a new Titanic mural in Cuba Walk last November (2014), he painted over a UFF crest-and-flags (for which see M07651). The lower part of the mural, however, was left untouched. It is obscured by a 6′ high wall around the house. As can been seen in these three images, it included Northern Irish and Scottish flags, “Ulster 1690. “Ulster Volunteer Force” is probably a later addition, given that the original mural was for the UFF.
The road to equality is long and winding and goes through Andersonstown’s Derrin Pass. The junction is full of small board depicting Gaelic games, Irish culture, and landscape drawings, as well as exhortations towards equality — see the corresponding entry in the Peter Moloney Collection.