Caitlin McLaughlin died suddenly on June 24th, 2023. She collapsed from a heart attack as she walked to the bus station in Belfast to return home from a music festival at which she had taken ecstasy (BBC). A requiem mass was held in Galliagh on the 28th (BelTel) and the mural shown here was launched in Brookdale Park on October 27th, 2023, which would have been Caitlin’s 17 birthday (Belfast Live).
“I saw you all, my family & friends/the day God took me home,/I smiled, I cried, I felt so proud/You didn’t let me go alone//To all my friends, please listen now/To what I have to say,/Please don’t leave your loved ones/the way I did that day//I’m with the angels in heaven now/and with our we[e] Kyle too,/But often I look down and sigh/For I’d rather be there with you//Forget me not/XO”
This board with portraits of Marian Price and Martin Corey goes back to 2013 (and perhaps earlier than that). It remains on display in the Obins Street area of Portadown, even though Price was released in 2013 and Corey in January 2014.
Many of the Palestine Action hunger strikers have called off their strikes, most recently Heba Muraisi, who resumed eating on the 14th (of January) after 72 days (BBC).
Umer Khalid stopped taking solids on January 9th (Al Jazeera) reduced has now begun refusing water. His life-expectancy is measured in days, if he does not reverse course (Guardian | Amnesty).
This washed-out banner is on the Antrim Road, north Belfast, on the railings of the Waterworks.
Dunloy Cuchullains (Fb) is a “GA & CC” [Gaelic athletic & camogie club] in Dunloy [Dún Lathaí], County Antrim. The club was founded in 1908 by Andy Dooey, Bob Black, Dan Boyle and Paddy McCamphill (NI Archive | GAA oral history). Home games are played at Páırc Mhıc Phıaraıs on Bridge Road. The club was Antrim senior football champions in 2025 (RTÉ).
The mural was painted for the club’s centenary in 2008 on the gable of Lilac Terrace in Tullaghans Road in the centre of the village. The central figure is inspired by Jim Fitzpatrick ‘Hurling Match’ (Visual History).
“Macha – máthaır, bandıa, banríon, gaıs[c]íoch/mother, goddess, queen, warrior.” Armagh is named after Macha, who is shown here pregnant against knot-work of three interwoven horses. In one story about Macha, she wins a race against the horses of Connor, the king of Ulster, even though she is pregnant. The race caused her to give birth and she cursed the men of the Red Branch for nine generations, which would leave them all – except for Cú Chulaınn – unable to fight to the forces of Medb (Visual History).
This is a mural of King Niall (Nıall Caılle, Niall of the Callan) and Queen Macha. Niall was high king of Ireland (in competition with Fedelmıd of Munster WP) who held off the Vikings in the late 800s (WP) and died in 846 by drowning in the Callan river. Macha is a much earlier and mythological queen, and gives her name to the town: Ard Mhacha.
The central figures reproduce paintings by Jim Fitzpatrick (Visual History). The Niall figure comes from Nemed The Great but the Macha figure comes from a label Fitzpatrick produced in 1988 for Rosc “mead”, even though Macha (one of them, at least) was the wife of Nemed and there is a female figure in Nemed The Great.
Below the planets and stars, St Patrick’s (Catholic) Cathedral is on the left (WP) and St Patrick’s (CofI) Cathedral is on the right (WP).
In the border, clockwise from left to right, we see: the Tandragee Idol (WP), Naomh Bríd/St Brigid’s, St Patrick preaching the trinity, Irish dancing, Gaelic football, Armagh Harps, “Ard Mhacha”, the Armagh county crest in colour in the apex (Club & County), “Armagh”, Na Pıarsaıgh Óga, hurling/camogie, Cú Chulaınn’s, mummers (perhaps specifically the Armagh Rhymers), Jonathan Swift, a steam locomotive (perhaps representing the Armagh rail disaster of 1889, in which 80 people died WP); a vintage image of Callan Street is depicted along the bottom (History Armagh).
The side-wall features the word “welcome” in many languages, and Celtic knot-work surrounding an image of the Celtic Cross below St Patrick’s, perhaps inspired by this 1903 photograph (Flickr).
Painted by a crew of Belfast artists – Danny D and Mark Ervine, along with Lucas Quigley, Marty Lyons, Micky Doherty – and organised by the Callan Street Residents’ Association, with funding from the European Union’s Peace III initiative.
The photograph on the right is real: it shows British troops collaring a civilian in Coalisland in December 1971 – photographer unknown. The image on the left – a Celtic cross draped with a Tricolour – is AI slop. The first (or at least, an early and prominent) use of AI to produce images was Stop The Slaughter In Gaza from November 2023, and it is becoming more frequent in printed boards and wall-painting.
“”And still only our rivers run free” [youtube] – Independent Republicans Armagh [Fb]”
This mural in the lower Falls celebrates the 30th anniversary of the Frank Gillen Centre (Fb) and the 70th anniversary of Immaculata FC (Fb). The figure on the right is Cliftonville player Liam Boyce who grew up in the area and played for Immaculata as a youth. The team’s logo appears to the right of Boyce’s outstretched hand. (If you know the local player on the left, please leave a comment or send an e-mail.)
The piece was painted by Mickey Doherty and Lucas Quigley.
Gort Na Móna CLG was founded in 1974, developing out of the old Gort Na Móna secondary (before it became part of Corpus Christi). NVTv produced a programme to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary (youtube). These painted junction boxes are on Monagh Road and the Springfield Road.
This is a painted tribute to Jim McKee, who was known as “Mr Immaculata” for his long-time support of Immaculata FC (Fb). McKee died in August when he was hit by a car near the Grosvenor community centre (BBC).
See also: Come On, The Mac, which is a stone’s throw further down Albert Street.
Paddy Duffy Collection 