At The Graveside Of Cú Chulaınn We’ll Kneel Around And Pray

Oliver Sheppard’s statue of Cú Chulaınn dying – see the Cú Chulaınn Visual History page – memorialises nine IRA volunteers from the Lenadoon area, whose names are listed on the scrolls to each side and whose portraits appear in the apex: Tony Henderson, John Finucane, Brendan O’Callaghan, Joe McDonnell, Laura Crawford, Maıréad Farrell, Patricia Black, Bridie Quinn. Below the statue are the shields of the four provinces and the words “Léana An Dúın – unbowed, unbroken” and “saoırse” [freedom].

The mural dates back to 1996 (see T00160) and was repainted in 2009 (see M05134) and c. 2014 (see M11028, which includes a close-up of the plaque added in 2009.) In this version, nothing has changed in the composition of the mural and the photographic portraits and the Easter Rising centenary board have been retained.

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St James’s Community Farm

St James’s Community Farm/Feırm Phobaıl Naomh Séamus (web | Fb) started in 2015 with a dozen hens; it is now home to 38 animals, produces vegetables and eggs, and collects cans for recycling.

Belfast Media recently profiled the farm (in print) and is producing a series of short videos about the farm: one | two | three (on youtube).

Rodney Parade, St James’s, west Belfast, replacing the Garden Of Hope mural, and next to St James’s Youth.

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Maritime Festival

The Belfast Maritime Festival (web) included a paint-jam on a hoarding around one of the construction projects in Titanic Quarter (web), with work by (top to bottom, left to right on the hoarding) Conor McClure (ig), Zippy (web), Danni Simpson (web), Lost Lines (ig), Mo (Imogen Donegan) (ig), FGB (web), HMC (web), Karl Fenz (web), KVLR (web), Ana Fish (web)

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Culture Night Belfast 2025 – North Street

In the first year that Culture Night Belfast included a public-art component (2012) – before “Hit The North” was the official title of the paint-jam – the idea was to paint some of the permanently-closed shutters in North Street. (Hence the name adopted from 2013 onward; “north” for “North Street” rather than “the North/Northern Ireland”.)

The central location for recent iterations of Hit The North has been Union Street and Kent Street around the Sunflower, but thirteen years later, the public-art component of the re-booted Culture Night returned to its ancestral home roots, with the four pieces of streetart (and one junction box) in North Street, where even more shops are shuttered than in 2012.

The works shown here are by Chain Gun Art (ig) (“Cheese, Please!”), Lost Lines (ig), Féoıl (ig), Rob Hilken (web), and Ana Fish (web). The Ana Fish piece is on shutters painted by Verz in 2012 – see North Street Will Rise Again.

Art was also produced on a hoarding in Garfield Street and on junction boxes (and one doorway) in Royal Avenue.

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Culture Night Belfast 2025 – Royal Avenue

Culture Night Belfast returned after a three-year hiatus and included a paint-jam in three locations: on junction boxes (and one doorway) in Royal Avenue (this page), on a hoarding in Garfield Street, and on shutters (and one junction box) in North Street.

The artist of the first box is unknown; the other pieces are by ?Rob Hilken (web)?, Danni Simpson (web), and Karl Fenz (web).

Other new/recent painted boxes in Royal Ave, but perhaps not part of CNB:

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The End Is Nai

Here is a selection of paste-ups on the hoardings around the War Memorial building in Waring Street, inspired by Leo Boyd’s attempt to create an unofficial paste-up wall. (See Paste No Paste-Ups.)

The piece above relies on two homophones, “nai” (“now” in a strong Belfast accent) and “nigh”, and, “sigh” and “scythe”.

In addition to pieces by Boyd (web), there are works by Lazer Eyes (web) (“In the gears, the machine”), Codo (ig) (“Every test is a lesson; every lesson is a blessing”), Szu Szu Sign Co (ig) (“There will never be a border between us”), Dragos (ig) (Imagine Balkans creatures), and RickyDrewAPiccy (Fb) “The End Is Nai” and “Cranes – they’re everywhere. She’s got cranes on her walls … now she’s got cranes in her soul.”

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