“Our future, our voice”, “We are the future. Stronger together”. These messages of “equality, belonging, respect, friendship, inclusion” are aimed at youth in the New Lodge, north Belfast.
In the background (of the image below) is a mental health mural also aimed at young people – see Space To Breathe, which also shows the INLA graffiti this mural replaces.
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“Re-route Garvaghy Road. Marching back to the 19th century. No going back/Níl dul siar ann!”
NI Secretary Chris Bryant decided (on October 9th) to ban the Orange Order from marching past the Garvaghy estate (Guardian | Irish Times | Independent), though a legal challenge is being lodged by the Orange Order against it and a rally in support of the Portadown lodge is planned for the 24th (Belfast Live).
An application has been made for a November march on another contentious route, the lower Ormeau Road. Residents are monitoring the application (Belfast Media), and perhaps this mural on the International Wall (Visual History) will be re-purposed.
This mural is based on one painted during the 1997 dispute – see entry 101 in the catalogue of Mo Chara Kelly. See also: graffiti and posters about the (Garvaghy) dispute, and the Trade-Off, Stand-Off mural in lower Ormeau.
To the immediate right is the mural of Soso And Omar Ashour, and to the right of that is the mural for the Journacide documentary.
October 13th:
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These mental health messages – “It’s OK not to be OK”, “It’s OK to talk … speak up” – and the number for Lifeline (web) were painted by young people participating in a Springboard Opportunities project called Gener8 (web), which in 2019 brought together 24 youths between 18 and 24 from across the city (Belfast Live).
On the wall behind the New Lodge playground
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‘The greatest Belfast story never told!” ‘The McGurk’s Bar Tragedy’ is a new play by Martin Lynch (WP), being put on in the Waterfront in November by his production company Green Shoots, which is dedicated to telling working-class stories and involving actors from the community, including The Man Who Swallowed A Dictionary.
On the left of the banner, the quotation, “Everybody else had a daddy growing up; I didn’t.” is a paraphrase of Mary Kane, whose father Eddie died in the attack.
For the upper tarp, and background about the 1971 bombing of McGurk’s Bar, see Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied.
North Queen Street, New Lodge, north Belfast
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Since the Hamas attacks of October 7th, 2023, IDF forces have killed roughly 260 media workers in Gaza and 28 in Lebanon. The International Federation Of Journalists in 2025 declared Gaza to be the deadliest place for journalists (Al Jazeera); the Guardian calls it “journalism’s graveyard”.
Seán Murray’s documentary “Journacide: The War On Truth” premiered in Belfast in June as part of Docs Ireland (pdf). It profiles four journalists killed this year (2026) in Lebanon: Amal Khalil (killed in al-Tayri on April 22nd (RSF)), and Ali Shoeib, Fatima Ftouni, and her brother Mohamed Ftouni (killed in Jezzine on March 28, 2026 (PBS))
International Wall, Divis Street, west Belfast, replacing the boy and phoenix from Painting For Palestine. For the poem on the ribbon, see Tell My Story.
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“Seamus Heaney 1929-2013.” Seamus Heaney was raised in Bellaghy and is buried in Bellaghy. Between these bookends, he attended boarding school in Derry and Queen’s in Belfast, and held academic positions in Belfast, California, Dublin, and Massachusetts. His poetry won him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995 and made him a household name. Although he largely pre-dates the social-media era, this new mural in Derry suggests that he is – or could be – an influencer.
“Beneath Irish Skies (Inspired by Seamus Heaney) The grass is green when I step outside the door. The air is fresh like mint. The sun shines off the water like your eyes. The wind whistling like a flute. – by Jude Shiels, aged 12″
“Féile brought together young people from Bishop Street and Newbuildings youth clubs to work creatively alongside one another as part of a cross-community project. The young people worked with artists from Peaball [web] street art collective, helping to shape and influence the design of this mural. Through creative workshops and discussions the group explored the life of Seamus Heaney and how the landscape and the people within it influenced his work. What role in society does the modern influencer play … This project has been sponsored by PeacePlus, a programme managed by the Special EU Programmes body.”
Westland Street, Bogside, Derry
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“I ndíl [sic] chuımhne ar Eamon McGrotty 1911-1927, republican, socialist, anti-fascist. Killed fighting fascism in the Jarama Valley. Eamon attended the Brow Of The Hill school. ¡No Pasarán!” Derry man Eamon McGrotty was honoured with a plaque and a tree-planting during this year’s (2026) féıle (Derry Journal). McGrotty was one of about 320 Irishmen who fought with the International Brigades – specifically the Connolly Column of the XV brigade (DIB) – against Franco during the Spanish Civil War; there were also about 700 Irishmen fighting on Franco’s side during the war, in a brigade led by Eoin O’Duffy.
The new plaque is next to the memorials to “An Chéad Chathlán/1st Battalion Óglaıgh Na hÉıreann – Bogside, Brandywell, Bishop Street”.
Lecky Road, Brandywell, Derry
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The gas-works in Derry moved to the Bogside in 1865 (CAIN) and the site operated for more than a decade, burning coal to generate gas, and producing the smell and pollution that led Ewan McColl to write ‘Dirty Old Town’ (about the Salford gas-works), later covered by The Dubliners and The Pogues (among many others). There are images of the Derry gas-works on community Fb pages: black & white | colour | black & white. The refurbished site is now home to the Gasyard Development Trust (web) (and the Baby Jake mural).
This new street-art was painted by Peaball (web) just a little way further down Lecky Road, at the junction with St Columb’s Walk.
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This entry updates An Attitude Of Revolt from 2022, which showed the same four plaques as in the image below – to Tommy Roberts, Stevie Mellon, Veronica Taylor, Ruaırí (Roddy) Carlin – but a different board featuring Roberts and Mellon and an oak leaf with crossed rifles. In addition to the generic IRPWA board, the entire wall was been painted grey and a knotwork surround added, with the Saoradh (web) sunburst in the corners.
Westland Street, Derry
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