Belfast west

Life Finds A Way

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Palestinian artist Taqi Spateen’s (web | ig) third piece in Belfast is in Crocus Street, in Beechmount, west Belfast, in conjunction with the Beechmount Residents’ Collective, which has images of the launch on June 23rd (ig). It replaces the vandalised-and-repaired lower part of the pro-immigrant mural seen in In Search Of A Better Life. In the mural, both an olive tree and slender Easter lilies emerge from the rubble. On these a new society can be built.

For Spateen’s first piece, in Kent Street in the city centre, see Anatomy Of Oppression.

For the second piece, in Palestine Street, see Women Carry The People.

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The Tea Bar

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The entry Old Carrick Hill shows the mural of ‘Carrick Hill in yesteryear’ from Stanhope Street. Around the corner in Regent Street there are the fifteen printed boards shown here. From left to right (top to bottom in this entry) they depict … Park Street; Rafferty’s Bar; The Tea Bar, Carrick House; Unity Flats; Alton Utd, FC (founded in 1921, played in the Falls League, won the 1923 Free State Cup Final – Bohs Sporting Life); All in a day’s outing; Playing marbles; Night-time camping; 1976 Mandiville dart team; Mary McCusker & Kitty Spotwoods; Burns family, Wall Street; Maggie Jane Largey & Mary Ann Largey; Carrick Castle public house; Richard & Alan Crean; The Old & The New.

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You Have The Power

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“You have the power to say “No!” to drugs.”

Carla Hodgson (ig) and kids from the Carrick Hill community centre (with support from the University Of Ulster) painted this mural at the junction of Trinity Street/Sráıd Na Tríonóıde and Regent Street/Sráıd An Leasrí, in Carrick Hill, a spot which is reportedly used by dealers to sell drugs (Belfast Media | 2018 BelTel | 2018 Belfast Live).

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Times Change

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Despite the quote “Times change; we need to change as well” (attributed to Nelson Mandela, though perhaps only from Francois Pienaar in the film Invictus) the riot going on in black-and-white is not from the past (as in this east Belfast mural) but the present, and in particular from the 2021 riots on Lanark Way (BelTel) which is the site of this new mural. Similarly, the mural depicted in the background of the riot scene is not from the past – it was refreshed in 2022 and continues to loom over Mount Vernon and the off-ramp from the motorway – see Prepared For Peace, Ready For War.

The mural thus asks young people to decide between two visions of present-day life: the grey world of violence and the colourful world of programmes from R-City – Communities Integrated Through Youth (www.rcitybelfast.com), including “one-one mentoring”, “leadership for life” (QUB), and “SHE” [Supporting Her Empowerment].

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Cupar Way 2024

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Here is a selection of art from the Cupar Way section of the west Belfast “peace” line. Some of the artists came into town for Hit The North 2024 (Lidia Cao, Lours, Elno). We also see work by DEUX, SNAK, NOYS, BAISE?, NOTA, Keyto, and Kilian (Road Rage Ruth).

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Frank McKelvey

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Francis “Frank” McKelvey grew up at 56 Woodvale Road (based on Lennon Wylie and the blue plaque on the wall at this address – Street View). That would put him a stone’s throw from Woodvale Park, which provides the backdrop for this new mural at the end of Woodvale Street. The photograph reproduced, of “Woodvale park pond”, can be seen on the Old Shankill Fb page. The pond was filled in after the second World War (City Council). McKelvey’s ‘A Summer’s Day‘ is perhaps of Woodvale Park pond. He died in 1974 (Ulster History Circle).

By Holly Hooks (ig) in Woodvale Street, west Belfast.

March 24th

February 14th

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In Loco Parentis

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In the myth of ‘The Pied Piper Of Hamelin’, the piper leads the children away from the village of Hamelin after the mayor there refuses to pay him for charming away their rat infestation. The piper takes his revenge and only the lame child, the deaf child, and the blind child survive to tell the tale. (Here is Browning’s poetic version, along with 30 other references.)

This piper at Holy Trinity primary school (web) and St Martin’s nursery (web) in Turf Lodge might be thought to be leading them away from their parents and into school, but as the final image makes clear, they are on their way to a cavern underground.

The source for the mural is perhaps the painting at The Palace Hotel, in San Francisco (WP).

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