The People’s Monument

In August (2022), Saoradh Doıre (web) and the Derry IRPWA (web) unveiled a new memorial to the Derry Brigade IRA/Brıogáıd Dhoıre Óglaıgh Na hÉıreann on the green at the Fahan Street turn which it is calling “the people’s monument” (Derry Now) perhaps in parallel with the series of murals by the Bogside Artists called “the people’s gallery” (Visual History page).

In the centre is a Derry Brigade roll of honour with 42 names; on the left is a role of remembrance of naturally-deceased óglaıgh and activists, including Geordie McGilloway who worked on the nearby hunger strike memorial (An Phoblacht); on the right is a list of the deceased twentieth century hunger strikers, beginning with Thomas Ashe.

“This monument is dedicated to the people of Derry City who have resisted & still resist the occupation of our country by Britain. We acknowledge with pride the sacrifices they made throughout every decade. Their names would be too numerous to mention & their deeds of bravery & resistance unequaled in the history of our struggle. The republican movement of Derry City salute you and your families. Your reward will only be a united Ireland.”

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Jesus, I Trust In You

Jesus, I Trust In You, also known as the Divine Mercy, is associated with Sr. Maria Faustina Kowalska – see previously What We Knead | This Image Is Blessed). This mural was painted in 1991 (or before) – see M00990 for a photo from that year – and was repainted in 2018 (Derry Journal).

It is one of only two straightforwardly religious murals currently extant – the other is the Medjugorje mural in Ardoyne, Belfast, which was originally painted in 1986/1987 along with a dozen other religious murals.

(There were murals in 1981 with religious themes but aimed at supporting the hunger strikers – see the Visual History page on Sheppard’s Cú Chulaınn.) And Padre Pio was painted in Ballymurphy; a Sacred Heart statue is used to memorialise people in the Bone (and Jesus was tagged in east Belfast).

Moss Park, Galliagh, Derry

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Engage In Ur Community

For a second time during the summer artists from Peaball (ig) (and local youths) took to the long Lecky Road wall in the Brandywell. The July work (“Brandywell” in red and white lettering) can be seen in Believe In Your Dreams. Today’s post shows the word-cloud done in August.

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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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We’re Different Up Here

“Here” is Top Of The Hill, and “up here” refers to the elevated position of the community, 75 metres above the Foyle (topo map). You can get to TOTH by road or by sailing in a boat under a patchwork balloon. Art by Gorbals in Trench Road, Derry.

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T02041 T02042 gobnascale is reportedly from the Irish ‘gob na sgeal’ which is perhaps a variation on ‘gob na scealg’ = ‘crest of the crags’

Equanimity

“Queen Elizabeth II 1926-2022.” This memorial board in Stevenson Park, Londonderry, shows Queen Elizabeth around the time of her 1952 accession, perhaps by Dorothy Wilding (left and right) and (in the centre) a 2004 version of the 3-D portrait by Chris Levine and Rob Munday dubbed “Equanimity” (Sotheby’s).

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