Belfast

No More

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A boy — Dylan Wilson from east Belfast, grandson of loyalist community worker Jim Wilson —shakes hands with a girl – Dearbhla Ward, granddaughter of Short Strand Sinn Fein councillor Joe O’Donnell (sources: Al Jazeera | NewsLetter | The Scotsman). The centre was left for locals to make their mark on.

A gable-wall version of this image — without the word “síocháin” (peace), with the girl in green, and with Wilson’s poem ‘No More’ — can be found about half a mile away in Wolfe Close/Kenilworth Place, just across the Newtownards Road. See No More. This mural was part of the re-imaging effort of 2010.

No more bombing, no more murder
No more killing of our sons
No more standing at the grave side
Having to bury our loved onesNo more waking up every hour
Hoping our children, they come home
No more maimed or wounded people
Who have suffered all aloneNo more minutes to leave a building
No more fear of just parked cars
No more looking over our shoulders
No more killing in our barsNo more hatred from our children
No more. No more. No more!

By Dee Craig in Edgar Street, Belfast

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Copyright © 2011 Peter Moloney

… And Short Strand Too!

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This is a two-part electoral mural from Sinn Féin: on the left, the mural is for the specific candidacy of local man Niall Ó Donghaille – he was successfully elected to Belfast City Council and served as Lord Mayor; on the right, for Sinn Féin generally, using words from (the song) On The One Road (here’s a Wolfe Tones rendition): “Dublin, Belfast, Cork and Donegal” … and Short Strand too!

Mountpottinger Road, Belfast, which has its own Visual History page.

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Copyright © 2011 Peter Moloney

The Very System That Drove Us To Our Deaths

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“Years from now they will ask you where you were when your comrades were dying on hunger strike. Shall you say that you were with us, or shall you say that you were conforming to very system that drove us to our deaths.” The mural is to Mickey Devine, with a smaller (and much older) plaque to Patsy O’Hara (the plaque was previously information about Devine). Both were INLA volunteers and both died in the 1981 hunger strike, along with Kevin Lynch; Liam McCloskey was taken off the strike by his family after 55 days.

Chemical Street, Belfast.

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Copyright © 2011 Peter Moloney

Our Brave Defenders

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This is the completed version of the mural earlier shown in-progress. The four main panels show the men of the 36th (Ulster) Division going over the top on the first day of the Somme (1st July 1916), the “angel of Mons” (WP), Ulster Tower (“This tower was dedicated to the glory of God. In grateful memory of the officers, non commissioned officers and men of the 36th (Ulster) Division, and of the sons of Ulster in other forces who laid down their lives in the great war, and of all their comrades in arms who, by divine grace, were spared to testify to their glorious deeds. ‘Throughout the long years of struggle …. the men of Ulster have proved how nobly they fight and die’ – 16th November 1918 King George V”), and Thiepval Memorial (“Dear men and brothers, going out/to fight for Ulster’s need/we hail you with a mighty shout/brave friends, and true in deed.//Your country holds you in renown/your names will never be dead/and some sweet angel has a crown/for each dear, manly head.”)

St Leonard’s Crescent (the old Newcastle Street).

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Copyright © 2011 Peter Moloney

The Elementary Right

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“We seek nothing but the elementary right implanted in every man: the right if you are attacked, to defend yourself.” The mural shows two East Belfast UVF volunteers on manoeuvres.

Together with the We Are The Pilgrims mural that was painted at the same time across the street (both by Dee Craig), this mural can be taken as a good marker of the beginning of re-re-imaging, (that is, of new PUL ‘hooded gunmen’ murals) – see Visual History 11. In particular, this mural, unlike its counterpart, replaced a non-paramilitary mural – the Glentoran Community Trust mural.

At the old Bright Street on the Newtownards Road, Belfast.

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Copyright © 2011 Peter Moloney

We Are The Pilgrims, Master

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“We are the pilgrims, master; we shall go always a little further.” Three hooded gunmen from East Belfast UVF . The line comes from a 1913 poem by James Flecker. This mural was painted at the same time as the ‘self-defense’ mural across the street, and together they can be taken as a good marker of the beginning of re-re-imaging, (that is, of new PUL ‘hooded gunmen’ murals) – see Visual History 11. The design is a popular one: it was used for murals in Mersey Street, in Tamar Street and on the Newtownards Road prior to re-imaging. Painted by Dee Craig.

Newtownards Road, Belfast

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Copyright © 2011 Peter Moloney

In The East Of The City

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An owner, with Ireland’s Saturday Night (which ceased publication in 2008) tucked in his coat pocket, shows off his greyhound.

The words of the poem – author unknown – read “In the east of the city, isolated alone, is a dear little place we like to call home. / Old strengthened by new, the homes and the streets, looking out for each other, a broad smile when they meet / The once terraced streets, some narrow, some wide, behind so many faces a story there lies / In the east of the city by the lagan’s fair side, looking back at its history our hearts fill with pride.”

Edgar Street, Belfast

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Copyright © 2011 Peter Moloney

Local Homes For Local Families

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“Local homes for local families – BNP – We support Ann Cooper.” Where “local” is not about geography but ethnicity. Ann Cooper stood (unsuccessfully) in Castlereagh East (in east Belfast) for the British National Party (BBC); the graffiti shown is in Fortuna Street, south Belfast. For another piece of the graffitist’s handiwork, see Slugger.

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Copyright © 2011 Peter Moloney