Time For Peace, Time To Go

A Cormac cartoon is reproduced as a mural by Mo Chara Kelly: the ceasefire means that doves (“Time for peace”) can/should be carrying British soldiers (who themselves recognise it is “Time to go”) from Ireland (tricoloured, with dolmen) to Britain (with Union flag) over the Isle of Man.

Whiterock Road, west Belfast

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Copyright © 1995 Paddy Duffy
T00099

An Gorta Mór

“Nature sent the potato blight, government & landlords created the famine.” 1845-1849 saw one million Irish people die and a million more emigrate. During the period, the full range of other foodstuffs was produced and shipped to England, being too expensive for the native population.

This is one of about nine murals painted in 1995 on the Great Hunger (Visual History).

Lenadoon Avenue, west Belfast

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Copyright © 1995 Paddy Duffy
T00158

The Blind Piper

The Blind Piper is a painting (original) by Joseph Haverty (WP), here placed in the context of North Belfast’s Cave Hill.

Sponsored by North Belfast Cultural Society (both along the bottom and in the apex).

The signatures in the corners read “Seán Doran ’94” “Paul McCullough”

Brompton Park, Ardoyne, north Belfast

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Copyright © 1994 Paddy Duffy (undated image)
T00164 [T00177]

Alosa/Fuıseog

“Lark” in Catalan is “alosa” and in Irish “fuıseog”. This appears to be the earliest Catalan mural in the extant collections and it appears from the sponsorship in the lower corner – “Catalan comite [committee] in support of Ireland” – to be an expression of Catalonian solidarity with Ireland, rather than the other way around.

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Copyright © 1994 Paddy Duffy (undated image)
T00112

George Seawright

“Murdered by the enemies of Ulster Nov 1987. “Be thou faithful unto death and I will give you a crown of life” – Revelation 2 V.10″

Controversial DUP and later independent politician and preacher George Seawright served as city councillor and NI Assembly member from 1981 to 1986, when he was jailed for his role in physically attacking NI Secretary of State Tom King. The “enemies of Ulster” in this case are the IPLO. 

Side-wall: “In remembrance of all those who have given their lives and their freedom in the struggle to keep Ulster Protestant.”

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Copyright © 1994 Paddy Duffy (undated image; possibly 1993)
T00228

Your Ship Awaits

This mural calling for British troops to leave uses the same slogan as in other murals — “Slán abhaıle” — but different imagery, of soldiers boarding the Belfast-Heysham (Lancashire, England) ferry.

This is possibly a cover of An Phoblacht but no source has yet come to light. The image below appeared in the edition of August 11th.

At the front of Rossnareen, Shaw’s Road, west Belfast

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Copyright © 1994 Paddy Duffy (undated image)
T00111

Foundation Stones

“Equality, freedom, fraternity – peace, unity, saoırse, freedom, equality, justice for all, meas, courage, respect, amnesty for political prisoners, cearta Gael, truth, dialogue, trust, democracy – the foundation stones for lasting peace.”

Amnesty for political prisoners and Irish-language rights are the concrete goals among many vague concepts being sought in the peace process – represented by the dove carrying a tricoloured ribbon on the chimney. Fág Ár Sraıdeanna adds collusion, RUC disbandment, and ending the Unionist veto.

Falls Road at the top of Fallswater Street.

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Copyright © 1994 Paddy Duffy (undated image)
T00110

25 Years Of Resistance

“Falls/Clonard 25 years of resistance”. The mural combines an image of British troops deployed to Belfast in 1969 (similar to this Stan Meagher photo) with Stephen Bradley’s photo of women banging bin-lids on the ground to alert the community to the presence of soldiers, against a background of burnt-out buildings (reminiscent of Bombay Street).

The writing on the lower wall – “25 years – time for peace, time to go. Demilitarise now!” – was produced by a stencil – see the Peter Moloney Collection for in-progress images.

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Copyright © 1994 Paddy Duffy (undated image)
T00201 [T00163]

Slán Abhaıle

British soldiers trooping back towards London, being painted on the back of Free Derry Corner, on Lecky Road, Derry. The piece is by Robert Ballagh, taking a famous photograph of British forces in the Falklands marching (“yomping”) towards Port Stanley and placing it in a circle (to suggest a closing eye, perhaps) below tricoloured party balloons.

The image was also produced as a mural in the Short Strand (east Belfast) and on a board above the Sınn Féın offices/Sıopa Na hEalaíne in west Belfast and as a mural on Free Derry Corner and on a board in Shantallow, Derry and on a board in Letterkenny.

Ardoyne Avenue, north Belfast

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Copyright © 1994 Paddy Duffy (undated image)
T00107 [T00205]

The Irish Holocaust

“The Irish holocaust, 1845, 1,397,740 deaths”. A family of four sits with their meagre possessions, perhaps having been evicted from their home or waiting to board a ship to America. The source of the (hyper-precise) number of deaths is unknown; deaths are roughly put at a million and emigrants at two million for the period from 1845 to 1852. The period is commonly known as “the famine” but the term is rejected by many, given the continued production and exportation of other foodstuffs, contrary to the policy enacted for the famine of 1782-1783 (History Ireland | Great Hunger Museum | NJ Schools’ Commission pdf). Hence the use of “holocaust”

This is the earliest mural depicting the Great Hunger; in 1995, for the 150th anniversary, at least nine pieces were painted on the topic in Belfast – see the Visual History page. Many of those pieces reproduced drawings from the Illustrated London News; the source of this image is unknown.

Malcolmson Street/Springfield Road, west Belfast

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Copyright © 1993 Paddy Duffy
T00170