Downshire Bridge over “The Cut” through the centre of Banbridge town (created in 1834; here is a NLI image from the 1900s), is locally known as “Jingler’s Bridge” on account of one or more of the sellers on the bridge jingling their coins (Geograph), perhaps among them this apple-seller, painted by Friz (ig) on the northern side of The Cut/Bridge Street.
Downshire Bridge is perhaps named for the 3rd (Arthur Hill) or 4th (Arthur Wills Hill) Marquess Of Downshire (Lord Belmont).
For the launch of the murals painted in the Painting For Palestine project (Fb) a red ribbon with the words from Palestinian writer Refaat Alareer’s poem “If I Must Die” was added to the ten consecutive panels below the ‘republican museum’ panel.
If I must die, you must live to tell my story to sell my things to buy a piece of cloth and some strings, (make it white with a long tail) so that a child, somewhere in Gaza while looking heaven in the eye awaiting his dad who left in a blaze —
and bade no one farewell not even to his flesh not even to himself — sees the kite, my kite you made, flying up above and thinks for a moment an angel is there bringing back love If I must die let it bring hope let it be a tale
Here are two paste-ups by Leo Boyd (web) in Belfast city centre. The PSNI land-rover is a familiar subject – see Off The Ledge in the Seosamh Mac Coılle collection for a list.
“North Belfast is in a crisis. RNU [Republican Network For Unity (Fb | ig)] calls for better mental health provision. Hold on, pain ends. Hope.”
Northern Ireland has the highest suicide rate in the UK, at 14.3 per 100,000 (2021), and Belfast has a suicide rate of 24.9 people (2022), and north Belfast the highest in Belfast, at a rate of 31 per 100,000 (2013-2018) (Assembly Research Matters | Zero Suicide Alliance). Here is a Bel Tel article (£) about the lack of GPs and mental health services in north Belfast, from 2021.
Here are two pieces of animal-themed art on the shutters of businesses on the Newtownards Road: above, an elephant at Tete Wyn (African store); below, a stag at Pixie Dust (holistic store) by HMC (web).
Two days of public hearings were held on January 11th and 12th and the ruling on the 26th directed Israel to take “all measures” to prevent any acts that could be considered genocidal, though it did not order a halt to Israel’s attack on Gaza (Al Jazeera | WP).
Sınn Féın moved in the Dáıl that Ireland join South Africa as a plaintiff in the full case, but the motion was defeated (Irish Times).
The image above shows, on the left, three children from Ireland, Palestine, and South Africa holding hands, and, on the right, dead Palestinian children flying to heaven over stripped and kneeling Palestinian prisoners. The flying children are based on an image by Taqdees Fatima (ig) and the kneeling prisoners on an image by Saïd Hassan (ig). The source for the three children is unknown.
The murals are on the International Wall, west Belfast, and part of the Painting For Palestine project (Fb).
This mural is based on an original by Ahmad Shaweesh (ig) which shows a group of people, perhaps a family, in distress. The piece, both original and reproduction, is deliberately left unfinished, presumably to represent the unfinished lives of the Gaza dead.
The saying “You’re never too old to set another goal or dream another dream” is attributed to east Belfast-bred C.S. Lewis — shown here on the right — though we are unable to find any record of him saying or writing these words; instead it might be be a motivational speaker called Les Brown. In the rest of the poster, young people play in the grounds of Queen’s University and Belfast City Hall.
Paddy Duffy Collection 