Belfast east

Spinning Memories

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The inspiration for this new piece of street art by KMG (ig) was the Strand Spinning Mill (formerly the Jaffe Spinning Mill) which closed in 1983 and is now the Portview Trade Centre. During WWI the mill made munitions and during WWII viscose rayon. The film Lint And Linen (youtube) covers both pre-industrial and mechanical linen-production (though mostly focused on yarn from line fibres rather than from tow, which was the Strand mill’s claim to fame (Duffy Rafferty)); the painting appears to present a more primitive and imaginary age in which fibres could be spun using the human hand.

For photographs of the old mill on the Trade Centre, see previously the image of A Block in Strand Spinning Mill.

“Spinning memories” is the name of a planned collection of stories for an archive at Portview (Portview Stories).

Townsley Street, east Belfast, next to the White Witch and facing Aslan Is On The Move.

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Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
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Cat And Mouse

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Above is a new piece by printmaker (turned street artist) Strangford (ig) on the metal plate in the facade of School Days uniform store. Immediately below is rampaging bull (artist unknown) a few doors down (roughly 432 and 440 Newtownards Rd). And completing the menagerie is a version of Aslan the lion by David Creative (ig), at the CS Lewis square.

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Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
T04464 T04463 T04502 Jo Pearson David McClelland

Double Vision

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This piece is on the same office-building as the ‘Be Your Best’ piece featured previously (in Auld Cobblers) at the city-side entrance to east Belfast, at the junction of Middlepath Street and Newtownards Road. Both are by Dee Craig/Belfast Mural Arts (Fb) as part of East Belfast Enterprise’s (web | ig) ‘Connecting Communities Through Art’ initiative. The two works were officially launched together on April 20th (pics on EBE’s Instagram). The two in-progress shots (last below) are from April 16th.

According to this Community NI article, the work has been installed using “a jigsaw-like technique using super strength glue to give it a lifespan of up to 25 years before requiring maintenance”.

Interpretations of the new piece are encouraged; feel free to comment or e-mail.

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Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
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Woodstock Wader

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The grey heron is common throughout Ireland (Ulster Wildlife) including the walls of the Cregagh Road (the side of Haus Of Hair, site of Glen Molloy’s tribute to Carrie Fisher).

The work is by Sheffield artist Peachzz (ig), organised by Cregagh-Woodstock Traders (Fb) with support from Belfast City Council (web).

Also in the Woodstock-Cregagh project: Down The Woodstock | Up The Cregagh | Back On The Streets

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Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
T04393 T04394 T04392 Megan Russell

Auld Cobblers

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This new three-storey mural by Dee Craig (Fb) is at the city end of Newtownards Road and so serves as a highly-visible introduction to east Belfast. People arriving in the area are now greeted with a vintage image of a smiling bearded man in a cloth cap, surrounded by occupations from the industrial era: “Cobbler, rag’n’bone man, fish monger, welder, builder, sweep, carpenter, window cleaner, butcher”, capped off by an inspirational “Be your best”, with yellow highlights that match the colour of the shipyard cranes Samson and Goliath.

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Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
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Back On The Streets

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This shelf of cassette tapes is a new mural by Blaze FX (web) at Portallo Street on the Woodstock Road, east Belfast, part of the wave of street art being along the avenue (see previously: Down The Woodstock | Up The Cregagh).

Van Morrison (who was with Them before going solo), Gary Moore, David Holmes, and members of Rudi (Spit) and The Defects (Spit), grew up in east Belfast, as did Thin Lizzy’s guitarist Eric Bell. (Comment/Get in touch if you know of any SLF connection to east Belfast.)

The odd tape out here is the Cut La Roc/David Holmes ‘Stars X2’ live recording from Coventry’s ‘Eclipse’ nightclub, which is from 1999 (Old Skool Anthems) while the rest are from the sixties and seventies.

The “Cregagh-Woodstock Traders” (Fb) pencil (on the right) is presumably for re-spooling the tape after you pull it out and fix the tangle.

See also: Morrison, Moore, Holmes and Bell are all included in the Luminaries And Legends mural at Connswater.

For the Belfast punk scene of the late 1970s and early 80s, see also Belfast Has The Reason.

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Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
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Meet The New Boss

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These UVF posters urge residents of east Belfast who owe money to loan sharks not to sell drugs or find some other way to pay it back, but instead to get in touch with a political representative.

The Sunday World reported that repayments are being withheld after the Shankill UVF ordered the leadership in East Belfast UVF to stand down (in November 2023 – IRN | BBC) and took over the operation. The posters thus come from the old (East Belfast) guard, trying to thwart the new bosses and hoping to resume collection themselves.

SDLP councillor Séamus De Faoıte commented (in the Irish News), “Anyone who has knowledge of criminal activity or exploitation of vulnerable people should report it to the relevant authorities, but people do not need to take any lessons from the UVF when it comes to upholding the law.” (Also: BelTel)

Meanwhile, the endingtheharm.com campaign (part of the Executive/DOJ’s programme designed to tackle “paramilitary activity and organised crime”) continues. See They Control You for a 2019 version.

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Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
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Still Undefeated

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The UVF mural in Carlingford Street, east Belfast, that the one shown here replaces was controversial at the time (2013) because of its proposed inclusion of two hooded gunmen in fatigues firing into the air. In response to the concerns expressed, the final version put both figures in WWI uniforms and had only one firing into the air – the other gazed downward in prayer – and the modern UVF was referenced only in the forms of the towers and cages of Long Kesh and of a roll of honour. (See Years Of Sacrifice for both the draft and final murals.)

The cages are retained in this new board but the depiction of violence is more explicit here than in the proposed mural a decade ago: at the centre of this piece is a hooded gunman carrying an assault rifle.

For the wider context of re-imaging and re-re-imaging (that is, the disappearance and return of PUL hooded gunmen), see Visual History 11.)

Long Kesh’s cages are also included in a Shankill board to Stevie McCrea – A True Soldier Of Ulster.

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Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
T04149c T04148 T05833 X14985 [X14984] courtesy of Seosamh Mac Coılle
Ulster Volunteers 1912 Ulster Covenant In memory of all friends & comrades of the cosy bar east belfast