Hit The North returns this weekend with more than fifty street artists painting in the city centre (Seedhead Arts). The main painting session will be on Sunday between 2 and 6 around the Sunflower bar at the junction of Union Street and Kent Street.
As an apéritif many local artists painted on the “Belfast Stories” hoarding along North Street in mid-April. Shown here are the fifteen pieces produced, from left to right/north to south, by …
Conor McClure (ig)
Lost Lines (ig)
Ana Fish (web)
Wee Nuls (web)
Zippy (web)
Kerrie Hanna (web)
HMC (web) who painted Shiela the elephant, who was also the subject of a piece by DanLeo
FGB (web)
Katriona (web)
Illoustrates (ig)
Jacky Sheridan (web)
All The Doodz (ig)
KVLR (web)
Kilian (ig)
Graffic Belfast (ig)
For the previous art on these hoardings, see ‘Bout Ye?
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UNI Europa (web) returned to Belfast in March (2025) for its 6th annual conference with an emphasis on collective bargaining and defending democracy (reports: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3).
This new mural is in the alley next to the ICTU building (and Jim Larkin statue/mural) in Donegall Street Place, replacing the Civil Rights board.
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The Bank Of Ireland building at the junction of North Street and Royal Avenue was purchased by the City Council in 2021 (Business Insider) with the intention of turning it into a visitor attraction called ‘Belfast Stories’ by 2030. The latest step in the process was a period of public consultation (BelTel). In the meantime, Leo Boyd (web) has taken over the boarded-up space that previously housed the ATM with an image of space invaders hovering over the building.
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For Easter 2025, an “Óglaıgh Na hÉıreann roll of honour 1981” board was added to the wall at the top of Bingnian Drive in Andersonstown, with the names of the ten who died in the second hunger strike. “Óglaıgh Na hÉıreann” here obscures the difference between the IRA and the INLA (O’Hara, Lynch, Devine), and between the Provisional IRA and the anti-Agreement IRA factions. It’s not clear to what extent the (2009 onward) ONH is currently operating, after a split in 2024 (BelTel 2024 | BelTel 2025).
For the RNU piece on the left (in the wide shot) see The Rising Of The Moon. Like the piece on the right, it features Kieran Doherty and Joe McDonnell, two of hunger strikers who were local to the area. For background information, see the board formerly on the wall: To Whom Do We Owe Our Allegiance Today?
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For Sunday’s parade (in Belfast) commemorating the Easter Rising of 1916, Sınn Féın lined the route with placards featuring quotations from republican heroes past and present: the first Dáıl, Wolfe Tone, Robert Emmet, James Fintan Lalor, Roger Casement, the Proclamation of 1916, William Allen, the Declaration Of Independence, James Larkin (as Gaeılge), Máıre Drumm, Rita O’Hare, Martin McGuinness, Mary Lou McDonald, Bobby Sands, O’Donovan Rossa, John O’Mahony, Seán Mac Dıarmada, James Connolly, Liam Lynch, Thomas Clarke, Pádraıg Mac Pıaraıs, Maıréad Farrell, the IRB, Michelle O’Neill, Gerry Adams, Constance Markievicz, Winifred Carney, Na Fíníní.
William Allen was one of the “Manchester Martyrs” – for a link to background and the photograph used on the placard see the Peter Moloney Collection.
All of the placards include the emblem of the “Time For Irish Unity/Am Le hAontacht Na hÉıreann” campaign.
The speaker in Belfast was Donegal Sınn Féın TD Pearse Doherty; party leader Mary Lou McDonald spoke in Carrickmore, Co Tyrone; Michelle O’Neill was in Coalisland and Dublin.
See also the new National Graves Association/Cumann Uaıgheann Na Laocradh Gaedheal mural in Beechmount: Cuımhnímıs.
A Saoradh parade takes place in Belfast this afternoon (Easter Monday) in Derry – see Wear Your Easter Lily With Pride.
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An urban naturalist finds a friendly frog in an piece of waste-ground on the Woodstock Road at Nettlefield.
Street art by Keyto (ig) in east Belfast.
More nature on Woodstock/Cregagh: a heron by Peachzz.
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“‘Rubicon’ – the family home of Pte. William F. McFadzean, Victoria Cross, who gave his life to save his comrades at Thiepval Wood on 1st July 1916 immediately prior to the Battle Of The Somme.” – McFadzean died when he threw himself on a fallen box of grenades.
For his heroism, Billy McFadzean (14th RIR) was awarded the VC (WP). The other VC winners pictured alongside McFadzean in the Cappagh Gardens mural (above and immediately below) are G[eoffrey St. George Shillington] Cather, R[obert] Quigg, and E[ric] N[orman] F[rankland] Bell.
The Family home was on Cregagh Road at Cregagh Park – there’s a picture of McFadzean standing outside the house at Royal Irish. The “blue plaque” is the most recent addition to the scene.
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These crying eyes are a piece of Covid-era (2021) street art on the theme of loneliness by Wee Nuls for the NI Mental Health Arts Festival (Fb).
They are on the shutters of Framewerk on the Upper Newtownards Road.
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Thursday, May 8th, marks the eightieth anniversary of VE or “Victory in Europe” day, the end of WWII on the continent. About 380,000 British soldiers died during the war. Commemorative events in Belfast include a walking tour of the city centre (City Council) and a dance on the HMS Belfast (IWM); for events elsewhere in Northern Ireland, see VE-VJDay80. Pubs will be open for an extra two hours (until 1 a.m.) on the day.
This printed flag is in Dee Street, east Belfast, previously home to various WWI commemorations (seen in All together Now | At The Eleventh Hour); for more on the KCIII and QEII boards included in the final image, below, see My God-Given Right To Rule.
See also: VE Day Celebrations | The Shankill Remembers VE Day | From D-Day To VE Day
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Paddy Duffy Collection 