“Free Gaza” in the Ballycolman estate, Strabane. This piece is not from the current conflict (that started with the Hamas attack in October 2023) but from the 2014 war, in which roughly 2,300 Palestinians and 73 Israelis were killed (WP) – numbers that now seem small in comparison.
In Belfast: Stad An Slad/Stop The Slaughter
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“How to cope” is a podcast from the Springhill Park Area Residents And Youth Association (SPARYA) (ig | Strabane Weekly News) which is (probably) responsible for this new piece in Springhill Park.
It has been added alongside the COVID-era “Stay strong – together” piece by UVArts (web) which has been repaired after some vandalism to the two faces in the middle.
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In the 1920s, there were 44 shirt-making factories in Derry employing almost 20% of the city’s population (IAR). (Derry Of The Past has a Fb gallery of historical images of factories.) One of those factories was – and the building still stands – in the Rosemount area, a stone’s throw away from this 2021 artwork by Peaball (web), alongside boards with vintage photographs. Supported by iPrint (ig), Glen Development Initiative (Fb), and CRAFT (Cultural Renewal [and] Arts For Tomorrow).
See also: The Factory Girls
Rosemount Gardens, Derry
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This sunflower was painted by Peaball (web) outside the Old Library Trust’s Healthy Living Centre (web) in Creggan, Derry, as part of Derry & Strabane’s ‘District Of Hope’ initiative (NWMF | Derry Now).
The wall was previously used for a COVID-era mural: Someone To Watch Over Me.
Another sunflower in Derry: We Carry On.
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This is a 2014 mural in Strabane that is still is decent shape and still/again relevant, as there are now more than 62,000 deaths in Gaza (Al Jazeera) and aid into the territory has once again been blocked and electricity cut off by Israel (AP | Standard). The mural reproduces a Carlos Latuff (ig) image of an Israeli Apache helicopter firing a “hellfire” missile at a Palestinian child. It was painted by John Carlin and friends (Highland Radio). (It was also reproduced in Springhill, west Belfast, by Mo Chara Kelly.)
See the Peter Moloney Collection for the mural shortly after its launch.
Springhill Park, Strabane
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Since taking office, newly-inaugurated US president Donald Trump has proposed buying Greenland, annexing Canada, and taking over the Panama canal.
His latest geo-political raving was made during a visit by Israeli premier Bibi Netanyahu on February 4th, when he suggested that the US occupy Gaza and turn it into the “riviera of the Middle East”(AP); officials including the new Secretary Of State Marco Rubio talked down the “plan”, which involves forcing Egypt and Jordan to take the two million Gazans (AP), but Trump reiterated the threat on February 12th during a visit from Jordan’s King Abdullah (AP).
World leaders – and residents of Derry’s Bogside – have condemned the proposal (AP). The words “am nuts” are written on the paper puppet of Trump; the poster to the right reads “They kill children like me. [with an image of a child] Stop the war. Free Palestine”.
Free Derry Corner has its own Visual History page.
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“The Spirit Of Freedom RFB remember with great pride our late comrade and friend drum sergeant Michael (Micky) Friel on his 20th anniversary. Always remembered and sorely missed by your family and your comrades in the Spirit Of Freedom RFB.” The band does not appear to have an on-line presence but there are references to the band going back to 1997 (An Phoblacht). Friel died in 2004 at age 24 (FindAGrave).
Central Drive, Creggan, Derry
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“BAPS” is North West Breastfeeding and Perinatal Support (Fb), a support-group formed in response to the low breast-feeding rates in the region (ZeroWaste). In both 2024 and 2023 it participated in ‘world breast-feeding in public day’ with events at the Guildhall (2024 Derry Now | 2023 Derry Journal).
The art shown here was painted by Peaball (web) on an exterior wall of the Pram Centre (web) in Great James Street, Derry and launched on 2024-11-29. (The pixelation is part of the painting. See also the ‘period products’ mural in Belfast – About Bloody Time.)
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The “two nations” are Palestine (flag on the left) and Ireland (flag on the right). Between the two is a balaclava’d face, suggesting violent struggle.
Lisfannon Park, Bogside, Derry
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In 2023 this memorial stone was added at the left-hand side of Free Derry Corner, reading “William (Willie) Hegarty 1929-2021, born and raised near this spot, life-long republican, left this wall standing to commemorate the Bogside spirit and people.”
Howard Hegarty has kindly provided the following information about his father William and the demolition of Lecky Road in 1975: “My father, William Hegarty, was born and raised less than 30 metres from the wall, to the front and right of it, and my mother was born and raised beside the pump in the Wells less than 40 metres away to the back and left of the wall. So, this tiny area had a special meaning to them and an emotional attachment which lasted their whole lives. … My father was the Building And Demolition contractor that left the wall standing. He had the contract to demolish all those houses in the Wells and old Bogside area and the contract stated that he owned every brick, door, slate, window, tile etc. … everything, and it was his responsibility to remove everything in preparation for the new development. He told his men to leave that wall standing.”
For more on the history of Free Derry Corner, including the precarious nature of the wall when the houses were first knocked down, see the Visual History page.
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Paddy Duffy Collection 