Bangor/Holywood

The Pride O’ Oor Land Lie Cauld In The Clay

2024-11-012024-12-17Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“In proud memory of Ryan McCosh [and] Chris Hamilton, North Down battalion, Bangor”. The memorial board was officially dedicated on November 10th but was in place a month previously (Fb).

To the right of the wide shot, writing on side-walls can be seen that reads “Bangor Protestant Boys F[lute] B[and]” and “Did they beat the drum slowly? Did they play the fife lowly?”. The latter lines are from Eric Bogle’s song “No Man’s Land” which is about a young man (“Willie McBride”) dying on “the green fields of France” in WWI. (Here (youtube) is the recording by Tommy Makem and Liam Clancy.) McCosh and Hamilton appear to have been members of the flute band, rather than members of the Ulster Volunteers or the Troubles-era UVF.

Ardgheean Gardens, Kilcooley, Bangor

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Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
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Mystery Man

2024-11-012025-01-08Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Bangor artist Jossie Pops (web) painted Bangor photographer Gerry Coe’s portrait (ig) of Bangor author Colin Batemen. Ten of Bateman’s books are stacked to the left, from 1995’s Divorcing Jack to 2022’s Thunder And Lightning.

Mill Row, Bangor, opposite irony’s ‘crab attack’ street art.

Zoom!

2024-11-012025-01-08Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Here is a gallery of new street art on the ever-changing wall in the ‘Project 24’ space off Queen’s Parade, Bangor. Above is a tribute by Glen Molloy (Fb) to fellow sprayer JOHNDEN1; below is the piercing gaze of an eagle by Keyto (ig).

Here are some pieces on the same wall from July (Bangor Is Buzzing), April (How About This For Art?), November 2023 (Stop Ruining Art), March 2023 (This Is Not The Same As Other Days).

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Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
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La Calavera Catrina

2024-11-012025-04-09Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Painting one’s face to resemble a skull, and wearing flowers (particularly marigolds) in one’s hair is a modern tradition that stems from the sugar skulls that are part of the offerings that the living provide for the dead who – for the brief period around the ‘Day Of The Dead’ – are able to return from the underworld (Mexico Historico | Bachman)

This calavera catrina (“dapper skull”) was painted by Visual Waste (web) on the upper wall of Bebe Adrianos Mexicanos (Fb), a burrito bar in Bangor.

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Take Back The City

2024-11-012024-11-02Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The city in question here is Bangor, Co. Down (rather than London, which features in the video (youtube) for the song of the same name). The band Snow Patrol (and in particular, guitarist and Bangor native Gary Lightbody) have organised a music festival in the town’s Ward Park in 2007, 2010, and 2019 (Soul Surmise). There are no public plans for a ‘Ward Park 4’ (Chord Blossom) but there is some speculation on-line (Fb) of a concert in 2025, which artist Jossie Pops (web) is trying to drum up support for with this painting of Lightbody on the side of Harrison-Morris-Waugh chartered account’s office, in Southwell Street, Bangor.

Also in Bangor: The cover of Snow Patrol’s ‘Wildness’ album was painted for Ward Park 3 – see This Is Not The Same As Other Days.

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Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
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Handsome Dave

2024-11-012024-11-29Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“In loving memory of Davy Wilsdon” – Wilsdon appears to have been a member of the Somme Memorial flute band (Fb) in Bangor. He died in January, 2022 (funeral service on youtube). The band sponsored a memorial bench in Wilsdon’s honour in the village of Mesnil-Martinsart, France (Fb | Street View | see also Ulster Tower). In addition, his portrait has been painted by London artist Olivier Roubieu (web) in Beatrice Avenue/High Street, Bangor, replacing the painting of Terry Bradley’s Don’t Look Back.

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Bangor Is Buzzing

2024-07-142024-09-01Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Here is a gallery of the street art in the Project24 space along Queen’s Parade (which continues on from the art on the main road – see Remember To Daydream), updating the gallery in How About This For Art? The buzzard, toad, and turtle are all by Keyto (ig) and the partial face is by Kate Whiteman (web); the artist of the final piece is perhaps COZ (ig).

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Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
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Remember To Daydream

2024-07-142024-09-01Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Here is a gallery of street art from a repainting at the end of June of the boarded up shop-fronts along Queen’s Parade, Bangor. The images from top to bottom in this post follow the art east from the Project24 space towards Main Street:

Side-Eye Birds by Strangford (ig)
Sup
Moon And Sun
Save The Tiger Shark by Keyto (ig)
Squid by Fox & Bear
Swan by Kate Whiteman (ig)
Hold Me In This Wild Wild World by Sweat, Tears, And The Sea (ig)
Remember To Daydream by Lost Lines (ig)
Stars by Cha Cha (ig) (organiser of the jam and tour guide for the Bangor Street Art tour)
Koi Pond by Anie Poole (ig)
Flowers by Alexandra (ig)

No Go

2024-06-302024-12-02Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The scaffolding has been down from this obviously incomplete mural in Kilcooley, Bangor, and work on it seems to have ceased. The reasons for its abandonment are unclear.

A black street sign out of shot to the right (which can be seen in the third image, as well as a UDA emblem at the top) reads “Humber Street” – Humber Street was in east Belfast, at the top of Dee Street. We have not been able to locate this or other photographs of barricades in Humber Street. The period is presumably c. 1972, when the UDA set up no-go areas in Belfast (Pathé video; AP videos: one | two | three).

(Other photos of the UDA of the period are reproduced on a Glen estate (Newtownards) tarp | in a south Belfast mural | in the 2022 repainting of “Freedom Corner” in east Belfast.)

The other mural, on the left of the wide shots, is to East Belfast UDA brigadier Tommy Herron. As can be seen in the earliest in-progress image, below, the mural replaces the North Down Defenders mural.