Belfast

Loyalist Tiger’s Bay

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The large gable at the junction of the Limestone Road and North Queen Street in north Belfast – most recently the site of a celebration of Rangers’ 55th title – see We Are The People – is being repainted, beginning with the low wall in front, as shown above. The side wall on the right of the wide shot below dates back to 2017 (see Your Kingdom Will Endure Forever) and the scriptural references on it also appear in the new installation in Mervue Street – see I Will Plant Them, That They May Dwell In A Place Of Their Own. It’s possible that a King Charles installation is in progress here, too.

The final image is of another Tiger’s Bay territorial marker in Upper Canning Street.

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Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
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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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Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
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Crying, Sighing, Breathlessly

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“Ruby Murray (March 29, 1935 – December 17, 1996) was a popular singer born in Moltke Street and brought up in the village. Her characteristic hoarse voice was a result of an operation on her throat in early childhood. She toured as a child singer, and first appeared on television at the age of 12. Her first single was ‘Heartbeat’ [youtube], which reached the UK top 5 in 1954. The next, ‘Softly, Softly’ [youtube], reached number 1 in 1955, a year in which Murray achieved the rare feat of having five singles in the top twenty at the same time. Ruby still holds the record for the most hit records in the Top Twenty at the same time; beating Madonna and the Beatles.” “Our thanks to Donegall Road Primary School & especially all the pupils, whose images comprise this Photo-Mosaic.”

This is a copy of the board (or perhaps even the very board) that used to be in Maldon Street. It is (now) in the Village green, which cuts Moltke Street in two.

Other Murray boards: The Village Songbird | Top Of The Pops

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Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
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Sweet Rockall

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Nigel Farage yesterday had a banana milkshake from McDonald’s thrown over him by a protester in Clacton (Guardian) as Farage launched his own and the Reform Party’s campaign for the Westminster election on July 4th. It was not Farage’s first milkshake – he was doused by a banana-and-caramel shake from Five Guys in Newcastle in 2019 (BBC).

He is shown here (above) in a Ciaran Gallagher painting in the courtyard of the Dark Horse bar in Belfast city centre (at the end of the Ship Of Fools saga), with pint and cigarette in hand, looming over the UK’s most recent (and perhaps final) territorial expansion: the annexation of Rockall in 1955 and with it a claim of a 12-mile exclusion zone of sea and airspace; it is also claimed by Ireland, Iceland, and Denmark (WP).

Included below are other ethno-nationalists on display in the courtyard, portrayed as the four horsemen of the apocalypse, Donald Trump (famine), Vladimir Putin (death), Kim Jong Un (pestilence), and Ruhollah Khomeini (war).

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Copyright © 2023/2022 Paddy Duffy
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Love Will Keep Us Alive

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“Love transforms”. In Chinese (Daoist) mythology, Lan Caihe, one of the Eight Immortals, is a sexually ambiguous character who carries a basket of herbs and flowers (depicted on the right of the image above) that symbolise or promote longevity (WP).

Electrical box by Ellymakes (web) in Carmel Street, Holylands, south Belfast.

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Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
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Women Carry The People

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Palestinian artist Taqi Spateen’s (web | ig) second piece in Belfast is in Palestine Street in the Holylands of south Belfast, where he worked with Artists Against Genocide (ig) to produce a piece showing the strength of Palestinian women, carrying the land from which Palestinians have been evicted in the Nakba of 1948.

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

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Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
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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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Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
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Fidei Defensor

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“His majesty King Charles III D.G.Rex.F.D. [Dei gratia rex; fidei defensor – King by the grace of God; defender of the faith]” successor and son of Queen Elizabeth II (1926-2022) and father to William, the current Prince Of Wales and Baron Carrickfergus (no “of”).

Each of the corners of the board shows a quarter of the royal standard, including, in the bottom left, a ‘maid of Erin’ flag representing the kingdom of Ireland, which has been present in the standard (of England, of Great Britain, of the United Kingdom) since 1603. Shortly after partition (1922) it was used as the banner of arms of the Irish Free State and later adopted as the arms of Ireland and of the President but it continues to be used in the UK royal standard. (For a history of the royal standard, see Prothero, Faul, & Grieve one | two.)

Thalia Street, south Belfast

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