Jayden Braniff passed away in August in 2023 (Fb) from neuroblastoma. He was made an honorary member of the Pride Of Ballymacash (Lisburn) flute band (Fb). He is remembered by the Pride Of Ardoyne (Fb) and the Shankill Protestant Boys (Fb) in a tarp in Lawnbrook Avenue (upper Shankill, Belfast), next to the Walter Smith/Rangers tarp (one | two) and near his father’s house (Funeral Times).
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Verz’s (ig) Hindu man on the side of the Hospice Shop in Finaghy was paint-bombed back in December (2023) even before it had been completed (see Tilaka) and after subsequent vandalism was “removed following community engagement”. At a subsequent meeting, Nisha Tandon (CAP profile) of ArtsEkta (web) (whose grant is paying for this and other south Belfast murals) was subject to racist remarks (Belfast City Council’s South Belfast Area Working Group – pdf). At a June 5th meeting (Fb), however, this design by emic (web) – of a bunch flowers being offered from one person to another – was accepted.
The in-progress shot (final image) is from August 7th
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Kieran Doherty died in the 1981 hunger strike after 73 days of fasting; the Andersonstown mural in his memory shows scenes from his funeral cortège on August 4th.
In preparation for this year’s anniversary, the mural has been refreshed and a new, enlarged image of Doherty’s parents, Alfie and Margaret, included. The photograph that provides a source can be seen in the An Phoblacht report on the funeral of Alfie, who died in 2008. Margaret Doherty died in 2019 (Bobby Sands Trust).
See Kieran Doherty for images of the mural when originally launched in 2014. For the memorial stone depicted in the fourth image, see Those Who Endure The Most.
A close-up of the plaque to Roger Casement can be seen in Seas Leıs An Phalaıstín.
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“‘For us there is no valid definition of socialism other than the abolition of the exploitation of one human being by another’ – Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara, Marxist revolutionary, 1928-1967.” The line comes from Che’s address at the Afro-Asian Economic conference in Algeria in 1965.
These Lasaır Dhearg (web) stencils and stickers also propose that it is “time for a socialist republic” (drawing inspiration from James Connolly) and that “the PSNI is not a normal police force” (for background see Just Don’t in the Seosamh Mac Coılle collection).
Stewartstown Road, west Belfast. For the same stencil of Connolly, though providing a better representation of the man, see Time For A Socialist Republic.
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The gates in the “peace” line at Kells Avenue, Stewartstown, are unlocked each morning at seven, allowing people to walk between to walk between Lenadoon and Blacks Road (the Lidl is on the Lenadoon side) until they are locked each evening at seven. The gates were painted by emic (ig) in December 2022, with PEACE IV funding (Belfast City Council).
The Stewartstown/Lenadoon side:
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“Our wee champ.” 21-year-old boxer Liam McGuinness, of Gleann ABC (Fb), died by suicide in October 2010, one of the many people to take their own lives in west Belfast that year among the 313 in all of Northern Ireland (Irish Examiner | Guardian | NI Assembly). A vigil was held in September (in Twinbrook) to commemorate the suicides there (BBC); another was held in the days after McGuinness’s death (BBC); a forum on the topic was held by Sınn Féın. The mural in his memory and in support of suicide awareness is outside the club, off the Glen Road in Hannahstown.
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The source of James Connolly’s quote involving the phrase “from the plough to the stars” is unknown, on-line, at least. As a result, there is no definitive version of it. Here it is given as “The Irish people will only be free when they own everything from the plough to the stars” but more reliable sources – though still without citation – give it as “A free Ireland will control its own destiny from the plough to the stars” (RTÉ | People’s World). Whatever its exact nature, the remark might have been in the context of explaining the use of the plough in the stars, the Starry Plough, Ursa Major, for the flag of the Irish Citizen Army (History Ireland).
The Starry Plough currently serves as a symbol of the IRSP (web). The painting shown above is on an electrical box in St James’s Park (near the new Connolly centre); the other painting, below, which might still be in progress, is outside the IRSP’s Costello House on the Falls Road
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Here are four north Belfast landmarks that are still standing in the shadow of Cavehill, though not all of them are in great shape. From left to right:
Chapel Of The Resurrection (as seen from Innisfayle Park – Street View), originally built in the 1860s as part of the Belfast Castle estate and from 1938 until 1972 a (public) Church Of Ireland chapel (WP), after which it was left derelict until recently being turned into luxury apartments (Property News) as part of “Donegall Park Gardens”;
the Bellevue steps (official title, the “Grand Floral Staircase”) – the currently overgrown steps and a vintage photograph of the steps in happier times can be seen in Everyone Wants To Eat – leading to Floral Hall, which now provides storage space for the zoo – full history at ‘Lord Belmont’ | BelTel;
Belfast Castle;
(perhaps) the former Fortwilliam Park Presbyterian on the Antrim Road (News Letter | BelTel) – once Belfast’s tallest spire (BelTel) – which in 2019 became Immaculate Heart Of Mary/Eaglaıs An Ċroí Ṁuıre Gan Smál (web) saying only the (Catholic) Latin mass.
The art is on the walls of UPS estate agents’ at the top of Cavehill Road, north Belfast, by Danni Simpson (web) and Karl Fenz (web), who also did the swan, the fox, and the squirrel on other local establishments.
In 2003 there was “Shove ur dove” was graffiti-ed on the shutters.
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In May and June, Palestinian artist Taqi Spateen (web | ig) toured various cities in England and Scotland (Leeds, Glasgow, Bristol, Stroud, London) as part of the Bethlehem Cultural Festival, producing a wall-painting at each stop. Thereafter, he came to Belfast, where he painted three pieces, beginning with this small piece on the side of the Sunflower bar in Kent Street, showing a person with a head encased in concrete trying to hammer themselves free.
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“From the river to the sea Palestine will be free.” The South Link, Andersonstown, murals seen recently (at end of March) in Though An Army Besiege Me, My Heart Will Not Fear have already been repainted, switching images of Israeli weapons for the images of death, suffering, and destruction seen here. According to the Al Jazeera tracker, the Palestinian death toll is approaching 40,000, with almost 90,000 injured.
Also in South Link: Humanitarian Intervention. For a mural of body-bags, see Another Martyr In The Earth.
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Paddy Duffy Collection 