This giant pelican was painted by Nomad Clan (web) from Manchester, England, as part of the first year (2020) of the Belfast Entries Project (Visual History). According to ArtUK, the pelican is a reference to “the Pottinger’s family crest” (Lord Belmont) while the “east Asian flowers” along the bottom and the cogs at the top point “to Belfast’s rich industrial past.
Pottinger’s Entry, Belfast city centre
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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DanLeo’s (web) salmon and ‘At The Mouth’ by ADW (web) (2020) in Crown Entry – one of the Belfast Entries.
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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In 1789, Olaudah Equiano published a memoir to 311 subscribers describing his early life in west Africa, his kidnapping, transport via Barbados to enslavement in Virginia, then in London, England, and then in Montserrat in the Caribbean. He bought his own freedom in 1766 and went back to England and joined the burgeoning abolitionist movement. His memoir detailing the treatment and conditions he had experienced made him famous. He toured Britain and Ireland in support of his book: “I found the people extremely hospitable, particularly in Belfast [in 1791-1792]” (BBC Sounds 17m 58s). He stayed with Samuel Neilson, a founding member of the United Irishmen (Clifton Belfast | WP | see also yesterday’s post on Belle Martin). Ten years after his death in 1797, the trans-Atlantic slave trade was abolished in both the UK and the States.
The mural in Joy’s Entry, by London artist Dreph, is based on a portrait painted by William Denton and engraved for the book by Daniel Orme (Dreph | National Portrait Gallery).
For an overview of the anti-slavery movement in Belfast, including Thomas Russell, Olaudah Equiano, and Frederick Douglass, see this William Orr speech (at Slugger).
See also the Visual History page on The Belfast Entries.
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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Covid-era graffiti on a construction hoarding in College Street/Queen Street, Belfast city centre:
“They can’t even govern themselves! What a shower! Make them give up the emergency powers before it’s too late!“,
“Van Morrison was right! Modern governments are dangerous to free speech!”,
“The new bivalent vaccines – safe for mice, so take their advice?”,
“‘Safe for most people’ – would you take even a fish supper on that basis?”,
“Wuhan flu over the cuckoo’s nest and landed in a street near you!”,
“The first casualty in war is the truth!”,
“Monkeys, bats, and mice — are used to give us sleepless nights! – Worry worry!”,
“The ‘marriage’ between government and big tech/co[r]porations is — fascism!”,
“The truth always gets white-washed”.
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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Like “You’re never too old to set another goal or dream another dream” in east Belfast, “We are what we believe we are” appears to be another of those inspirational quotes attributed to – but not actually by – CS Lewis. The quote appears alongside Belfast landmarks the Titanic centre, Aslan, the Big Fish/Salmon of Knowledge, an unidentified cupola. Part of a piece by Faigy (ig) in Wilson’s Entry, Belfast.
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Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
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They have on their Halloween costumes, but can you name all of the politicians (some local, some from Britain) that are partying in courtyard of the Dark Horse, Belfast?
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Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
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Easter marks the unofficial start of the PUL marching season, with many marches today by various Apprentice Boys bands. The season runs until the end of August, with a high point around July 12th (Parades Commission | CAIN calendar). The painting above (by Ciaran Gallagher (ig) in the Dark Horse courtyard for a nine-part series called The Friend At Hand) packs in many familiar tropes: King Billy on a banner, kerb-stones painted red-white-and-blue, the Israeli flag flying from a lamp-post, and a bottle of Buckfast lying in the gutter. Decorating the skin, however, is rare, and the use of Irish – “an cara ıdır lamha [lámha]” [“in aıce láımhe” or “ag an láımh”] – on a Lambeg drum is unknown.
The other panels in the group of three show a boxer being attended to in his corner at the King’s Hall and a masked man leaving the EU and heading for Mexico off with an ATM in the bucket of an excavator.
Six more are included together, below: a fisherman is rescued from drowning; a medic attended to an injured player; the Samaritans helpline; a firefighter carries two people from a burning building; a surgeon operates; a chaplain reads to troops.
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Copyright © 2022/2023/2024 Paddy Duffy
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Here is a gallery of many of the pieces in the courtyard of the Dark Horse bar in Belfast city centre, presented in clockwise order from the entrance on Commercial Court.
Above and immediately below: the scene in the Klondyke Bar. Links to additional pieces can be found at their appropriate places in the “rotation”, below.
Martin McGuinness and Ian Paisley in the clouds
Belfast Stripped Bare – a view into people’s houses by Ciaran Gallagher (web); many of the painted pieces in the yard are by Gallagher.
[The Friend At Hand x7]
Middle/Back Wall
The Hill Street Bar Band by Glen Molloy (Fb) and various famous faces in upstairs windows by Gallagher
Broo Queue
Middle Wall, lowest level
Titanic
The Rapparees
George Best
Right wall
Stephen Nolan
A variety of vintage advertisements from the late 1800s and early 1900s: Lloyd & Yorath’s stout (Newport, Wales), Hall’s paints (Hull), Guinness, Gold Flake tobacco (in both English and Irish: Sásuíonn sıad!), Batey’s ginger beer (London), Gilbey’s wines, Mew’s brewery (Isle of Wight).
“Ourma says if you stick t’herown diet of land-an-dairy prod you’ll be firmanna an’trim down” – a saying in which the names of all six Northern Irish counties are (phonetically) included.
[The Friend At Hand x3]
Entrance Wall:
Poets And Authors
Warehouses
Poems:
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Copyright © 2022/2023 Paddy Duffy
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Middle: T01671 T04271 T01673 T01672 T01670 T01674 T01669 T01667 T01668
Right: T01697 T01666 T01690 T01689 [T01696]
Poets: T01693 T01694 T01695
Warehouses: T01681
Poems: T01698 T01664
Dublin artist Aches (ig) was in town for HTN 2020 working on a large wall in Kent Street car park, above the North Street bingo hall. The model is Stephen Considine from BipolarBear Wear (web | ig) which sells gear to raise money for mental health charities.
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Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
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Paddy Duffy Collection 