These are part of two pieces of youth art in the top car park of Springhill Park, Strabane.
Above, on the north wall, “[Don’t tar us] all with the same [brush]”, and below, on the east wall, “Good vibes” by local you youth with UVArts (web), from 2018 (youtube).
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2025 Paddy Duffy
T06227 T06228 T06229 T06230
In a classic image from the period, a blanketman/hunger striker looks down over the towers of Long Kesh. The image has appeared in a number of murals, going back at least to the mid-1980s in Ardoyne (Belfast); see also New Lodge (Belfast) in 1993 | Letterkenny in 1996 | Derry in 1998 | Springfield (Belfast) in 2004 | Divis St (Belfast) in 2006 | a portable board in Bellaghy in 2010 | this same spot in 2012.
Melvin Road, Strabane, close to the giant Proclamation.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2025 Paddy Duffy
T06231
On April 24th, 1916, Patrick Pearse stood on the steps of Dublin’s General Post Office and read out a proclamation declaring an Irish republic; the proclamation had been prepared by the military council of the Irish Republican Brotherhood – Thomas Clarke, Seán Mac Dıarmada, Patrick Pearse, James Connolly, Thomas MacDonagh, Eamonn Ceannt, Joseph Plunkett – and their (printed) signatures were included at its end.
Copies of the proclamation were handed out on O’Connell Street and perhaps as many as 2,500 were printed in total (NMI) but now only about fifty copies remain (Irish Central). This giant copy of the proclamation was mounted in Melvin Road, Strabane, for the centenary of the Rising, reproducing (as the note at the bottom says) “a reproduction of the poster”. (For a discussion of attempts to recreate the Proclamation, as well as images of originals, see Type Foundry.)
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2025 Paddy Duffy
T06232
This colourful fish replaces graffiti reading “Don’t Listen 2 SF Traiters” (in the Peter Moloney collection) in Fountain Street, Strabane.
The cause or sponsoring group is unknown – please comment/get in touch if you have any information.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2025 Paddy Duffy
T06216
“West Tyrone Brigade, Óglaıgh Na hÉıreann. Vol. Charles Breslin, Vol, David Devine, Vol. Michael Devine”. The three were killed on February 23rd, 1985, in a hail of 100-200 SAS bullets, as they returned arms for an aborted mission to a dump near the Fountain area of Strabane; their families were later (2002) awarded compensation. (An Phoblacht | WP | UTv)
The board shown above is in the Fountain Street memorial garden, which centrally features a stone-wall enclosure to the trio. Individual stones have also been added to the garden, to Danny McCauley (TPQ | An Phoblacht), Tobias Molloy (An Phoblacht), and Eugene Devlin (An Phoblacht) (shown below). The local SF cumann is named after Molloy/Devlin/McCauley (Fb).
For the gravestones of many of the volunteers, see Strabane’s Republican Graves.
Fountain Street, Strabane
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2025 Paddy Duffy
T06217 T06219 T06220 T06218
Anocht a théam sa Bhearna Bhaoıl
Bobby Sands and Ernesto “Che” Guevara, together in Fountain Street, Strabane. The image of Che is Jim Fitzpatrick’s iconic interpretation of Alberto Korda’s “Guerrillero Heroico” photograph of Che – see the Visual History page on The Influence Of Jim Fitzpatrick.
This mural has been in place since (at least) 2008 – see Bobby & Che in the Peter Moloney Collection.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2025 Paddy Duffy
T06215
“Free Gaza” in the Ballycolman estate, Strabane. This piece is not from the current conflict (that started with the Hamas attack in October 2023) but from the 2014 war, in which roughly 2,300 Palestinians and 73 Israelis were killed (WP) – numbers that now seem small in comparison.
In Belfast: Stad An Slad/Stop The Slaughter
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2025 Paddy Duffy
T06233
“How to cope” is a podcast from the Springhill Park Area Residents And Youth Association (SPARYA) (ig | Strabane Weekly News) which is (probably) responsible for this new piece in Springhill Park.
It has been added alongside the COVID-era “Stay strong – together” piece by UVArts (web) which has been repaired after some vandalism to the two faces in the middle.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2025 Paddy Duffy
T06223 T06224 T06225 T06226
This is a 2014 mural in Strabane that is still is decent shape and still/again relevant, as there are now more than 62,000 deaths in Gaza (Al Jazeera) and aid into the territory has once again been blocked and electricity cut off by Israel (AP | Standard). The mural reproduces a Carlos Latuff (ig) image of an Israeli Apache helicopter firing a “hellfire” missile at a Palestinian child. It was painted by John Carlin and friends (Highland Radio). (It was also reproduced in Springhill, west Belfast, by Mo Chara Kelly.)
See the Peter Moloney Collection for the mural shortly after its launch.
Springhill Park, Strabane
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2025 Paddy Duffy
T06222 T06221
Paddy Duffy Collection 