We Built This

Extramural Activity2 Comments

Here is a gallery of completed pieces produced for International Women’s Day 2023 in College Court. The new street art is part of a larger revitalisation project (Belfast City Council).

The works shown are (from Castle Street to College Street) by Claire Prouvost, Holly Pereira, Katriona, Kerri Hanna, Danni Simpson, Alana McDowell, ESTR; Laura Nelson, Novice Jess, Friz, (guest artist Hicks who was in town to repair and extend his piece in College Street Mews (see Cool) – it was damaged by a dumpster fire) and, on the other side of the street, HM Constance [Update: 2023-04 a purple cow was painted on one of the HMC shutters – see the image in the Paddy Duffy collection].

For in-progress shots, see Women’s Work.

“My piece relates to the history of college court and the coming together of committee in 1807 to raise public subscriptions in co-educational, non denominational education.” (tw)

“This piece took inspiration about the history of College Court, which used to be called Water Street, as it was the first place running water pipes were installed in Belfast.” (ig)

[typist]

[Women’s Work – see Women’s Work]

[PRINT / WORKS – see the image in the Paddy Duffy collection]

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Copyright © 2023 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Operation Pagoda

Extramural Activity1 Comment

“CR Gas & The Burning Of Long Kesh, 15th-16th October, 1974 in Long Kesh. Operation Pagoda – the British government authorised and sanctioned the use of a chemical weapon against Irish Republican prisoners. Members of the 22nd S.A.S. carried out the attack from a helicopter.”

Operation Pagoda was the name of the SAS’s counter-terrorism programme (WP). Its role in the ‘Battle Of Long Kesh’ in October 1974 and its alleged use of CR (dibenzoxazepine) powder – the successor to CS powder (and before that, CN or “tear” gas) (New Scientist) – remains a classified matter. CR had been authorised for use in 1973 (Guardian).

The original photograph of the central scene (IWM HU 7025, included in this article from An Phoblacht) was in black-and-white and was reproduced as such in the three previous versions of this mural 2021 Chemical Warfare In Ireland, 2018 The Battle Of Long Kesh, 2014 The Maze Ablaze. This new version adds burning reds and oranges. It replaces the No Profit On Pandemic mural.

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Copyright © 2023 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Women’s Work

Extramural Activity2 Comments

Here is a gallery of “in-progress” images of the street art being painted by female artists for International Women’s Day, all along College Court. (Most of) The completed pieces can be seen in We Built This.

The jam is organised by @DaisyChainInc. The artists at work are @artist.zippy | @dannisimpsonart | @holly.pereira | @thisisfriz | @kerriehanna | @katrionadesigns | @suzusignco | @claire.prouvost | @alanamcdowell | @novicejess | @moirafowley | @HMConstance | @emmaleneblake

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Old Carrick Hill

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There is now a board in Stanhope Street of “Carrick Hill in the old days”, of two women talking in the street, to complement the four printed boards.

Below are two of the fifteen boards around the corner in Regent Street, showing the Carrick Castle public house and the old Unity flats.

Other boards in the collection (not shown) show street games, street parties, and Alton United football club, a team founded in 1921 that played in the Falls League and won the 1923 Free State Cup Final (Bohs Sporting Life).

(All of the fifteen boards in Regent Street can be seen in the Paddy Duffy collection.)

Stanhope Street and Regent Street, Carrick Hill, west Belfast.

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Derry Remembers

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“Why did you do it? Have you not the guts to say?” The question is for David Holden, who in 1988 was an 18-year-old Grenadier Guardsman, manning a checkpoint in Aughnacloy, Co. Tyrone. On February 21st, Holden shot Aidan McAnespie as he was walking to the nearby GAA club. Holden was convicted of manslaughter by gross negligence (BBC | Belfast Live) and was sentenced in February to three years, suspended for three years. The family expressed disappointment, saying that Holden did give a clear account of what happened nor express remorse (Sky News | Journal). Holden has now decided to appeal his conviction (BBC | RTÉ).

The lark in barbed wire is used here not as a symbol of political prisoners but of the struggle for justice in the UK system. (See the Visual History page on the lark and the dove.)

Also visible is the recently-added Braille translation of “You are now entering Free Derry”.

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Copyright © 2023 Andy McDonagh/Eclipso Pictures (ig | Fb)
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Sráıd Clifton

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It is a year since the new policy on bilingual street signs was made public; by September there had been 500 applications (Belfast Media) but by January of this year no new signs had been erected and 600 applications were awaiting decision (Belfast Live | Irish News from Feb). One new sign – shown here – was erected in February on Clifton Street (Belfast Media).

From 2016: Céıde Bhaıle Uí Mhurchú

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What Answer From The North?

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These are the boards at the chip shop (formerly a Spar and before that a Mace) in the centre of the Mourneview estate, Lurgan.

Above, in Mourne Road, a gallery of photographs of the Craigavon Protestant Boys (Fb) past and present, with a plaque in memory of Victor Stewart. “Our only crime is loyalty.”

Below are the images from the front of the shop, in Pollock Drive:

First/right: “When injustice becomes law resistance becomes duty.” The same panel was seen in Ballyclare, though for the 1st East Antrim battalion rather than the Mid Ulster brigade.

Next: A company, 1st battalion, Mid Ulster brigade UVF – Lurgan as well as Broxburn (outside Edinburgh) and Thornliebank (near Glasgow).

Next: A tribute to the Ulster Volunteers from the area: the 9th battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers joined the 108th brigade in the 36th (Ulster) Division; the 5th battalion joined the 31st brigade and the 10th (Irish) Division. This board goes back to (at least) 2011.

Next: “Believe, we dare not boast,/Believe, we do not fear/We stand to pay the cost,/In all that men hold dear.//What answer from the North?/One Law, one Land, one Throne/If England drive us forth,/We shall not fall alone!” Kipling’s poem Ulster.

The first stanza also appears in a Belfast RHC mural, and other lines from the poem have been used elsewhere: We Perish If We Yield | The Terror, Threats, And Dread.

All of the preceding pieces are UVF/PAF, but the last, high up on the left, is a UDU board in the top left of the wall, to 1 company, D battalion, South Belfast.

With thanks to Jackie Findon for today’s images.

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Copyright © 2023 Jackie Findon
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Defender Of Europe

Extramural Activity1 Comment

As the Visual History page on the role of Cú Chulaınn makes clear, in PUL muraling and iconography, Cú Chulainn serves as the “ancient defender of Ulster”, and the B Specials, UDR, and loyalist paramilitaries – primarily the UDA but also the UVF – then fit into that tradition. Using Cú Chulaınn as a precursor for service in the Ulster Division of WWI is unique to the panels on Highfield green, five of which are devoted to the hero Cú Chulaınn and four – two on each end – refer to the Great War.

The five Cú Chulaınn panels are (from left to right) Boy Warrior, Hound Of Ulster, Sheppard’s statue, Hero Warrior, and Defender Of Ulster – all shown individually in this post.

On the far left, there are two panels showing Messines tower and a few lines from a Ronald Lewis Carton poem Réveillé (though given a more ‘victorious’ ending) and on the far right, a few lines from Duncan Campbell Scott’s To A Canadian Lad Killed In The War and Thiepval tower. The words to I Vow To Thee My Country (lyrics) are along the bottom (see the wide shot, final image below).

The biographical panels focus on Cú Chulaınn’s age – the sixth panel emphasises that Cú Chulaınn was only 17 when he held off Maeve’s forces – which is perhaps a similarity with those who joined the 36th Division, but how the “defender of Ulster” is connected to the defense of Europe is obscure.

In the background of the wide shot the Cú Chulaınn mural can be glimpsed.

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