A Cormac cartoon is reproduced as a mural by Mo Chara Kelly: the ceasefire means that doves (“Time for peace”) can/should be carrying British soldiers (who themselves recognise it is “Time to go”) from Ireland (tricoloured, with dolmen) to Britain (with Union flag) over the Isle of Man.
Whiterock Road, west Belfast
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 1995 Paddy Duffy
T00099
“Murdered by the enemies of Ulster Nov 1987. “Be thou faithful unto death and I will give you a crown of life” – Revelation 2 V.10″
Controversial DUP and later independent politician and preacher George Seawright served as city councillor and NI Assembly member from 1981 to 1986, when he was jailed for his role in physically attacking NI Secretary of State Tom King. The “enemies of Ulster” in this case are the IPLO.
Side-wall: “In remembrance of all those who have given their lives and their freedom in the struggle to keep Ulster Protestant.”
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 1994 Paddy Duffy (undated image; possibly 1993)
T00228
Pride Of Windsor was formed from members of the Donegall Road Protestant Boys (Belfast Forum). It’s not clear how long the band lasted after being formed in 1989 and this mural in 1990. The mural features Carrickfergus castle between St Andrew’s Saltire and Union Flag. “Audaces fortuna juvat” [fortune favours the bold] is the motto of Linfield FC.
Lisburn Road, south Belfast
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 1990 Paddy Duffy
T00129
South Belfast MP Robert Bradford was assassinated by the Provisional IRA in Finaghy at a meeting with constituents; the caretaker of the community centre, Ken Campbell, was also killed by the fleeing attackers. In late 1981, with the hunger strikes having ended only a month before, the killing was noted around the world and raised fears of broad civil unrest (BBC | NYTimes).
“Vita, veritas, Victoria” [life, truth, victory] is the motto of Londonderry. Here we have “vita, veritas, victa” [life, truth, conquered; perhaps the intended meaning was “conquering” rather than the passive]. The crest is also not quite the crest of the Apprentice Boys, with a ship in the bottom right rather than a skeleton. Get in touch if you can resolve either discrepancy.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 1990 Paddy Duffy
T00122
The mural at the corner of Roden Street and Donegall Road was repainted annually in 1989, 1990, and 1991. The first (see the image from 1988) lacked the McMichael memorial seen here and the white background only went half-way up the wall; the second completed the background, added LPA and UDF emblems and “In memory of John McMichael” in text (see C00525). This third iteration places the McMichael memorial and the attendant graveside mourners on a bed of grass.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 1990 Paddy Duffy
T00120
A revolutionary soldier raises the Irish Tricolour while trampling on a Union Flag on a broken mast that was perhaps attached to the poorly drawn GPO in the background. The card on which the image is based can be seen below.
On the right hand side are the Easter lily and halberds/pikes and an assault rifle, indicating the historical roots and present-day inheritors of the 1916 revolt.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 1990 Paddy Duffy
T00094
A Cormac cartoon protesting British censorship of Sınn Féın is rendered as a mural by Mo Chara Kelly. The broadcasting Ban was put in place in 1988, disallowing Sınn Féın representatives from speaking in their own voice on television and radio. But if the gag of British censorship were removed, the talk is of peace (in the form of a dove) – suggesting that there is some for negotiation on the violent removal of British forces and administration.
Out of frame to the left are written “Oppose censorship” and (in red) “Vote Richard May”. Richard May ran (unsuccessfully) for election to Belfast City Council in 1989.
Springhill Avenue, west Belfast
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 1990 Paddy Duffy
T00083
Here is an instance of the ‘masked skull’ design produced by prisoners in Long Kesh (according to Mo Chara Kelly), seen also in Britains Death Squads. This version is simpler: it does not have any writing and there is no UDR emblem on the UDA-style hat.
The small boards above the mural declaring west Belfast an “apartheid-free zone”/”ceantar saor ó apartheıd” were mounted in 1986 along with the ANC mural.
Beechmount Avenue, west Belfast – this wall has its own Visual History page as it is the most-often painted wall in Belfast.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 1990 Paddy Duffy
T00040
UVF volunteers in balaclavas take aim other across a free-floating Northern Ireland with an Uzi and an assault rifle. The emblem supported by flags on the right is unusual for its inclusion of a ?large daisy? and pink ribbon.
The location of this wall is unknown, which suggests the site of the Community Centre – please get in touch if you know where it was.
Tiger’s Bay, north Belfast
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 1988 Paddy Duffy
T00226 T00125
These two pieces are both by cartoonist “Cormac” (Brian Moore), as reproduced on the wall of Corry’s Timber at the top of Springhill Avenue, west Belfast, by Mo Chara Kelly.
Cormac produced cartoons for Resistance Comics, Republican News (and then An Phoblacht/Republican News), Socialist Challenge (and then Socialist Action), and Fortnight. His “Notes (For A History Of Ireland)” appeared in RN and AP/RN for about 30 years.
The mural on the left reproduces a cartoon from February 1979, combining hatred of the “Britz” and RUC with criticism of a left-leaning London bookshop that no longer stocks the paper because “violence is only acceptable if it doesn’t happen here”.
The other is an eleven-panel version of the nine-panel image that appeared on the cover of the 1982 collection Cormac Strikes Back, showing the Union Flag crumbling and the Starry Plough rising from its ashes.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 1988 Paddy Duffy
T00070
Paddy Duffy Collection 