Belgian artist Kitsune (ig) added monarch butterflies to the Dunbar Street/Link side of Common Market food hall (web) in August.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
T03170 T03069
personal
Tupac & Busta
Two by Chop Suey (ig): above, 2Pac in Library Street in the city centre; below, Busta Rhymes on the Cupar Way “peace” line, lower Shankill, west Belfast.
For Chop Suey’s Ol’ Dirty Bastard piece in Bangor, see Around Every Corner.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
T03050 T03024
This Way To Love
Here are three altered street signs from Alfred Street in Belfast city centre. Above, the UK shows the door … to Europeans, presumably; below, a giraffe is too tall for the sign; bottom, ‘this way’ to love. Comment/Get in touch if you know the artist(s).
Click to enlarge
Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
T03041 T03042 T03043
Full Spectrum
Here are five pieces of street art by Glen Molloy (ig) at Clarawood flats. The first three are new; the pair following is from earlier this year (Jan and Feb). The artist of the sixth piece is unknown. The seventh piece is by “The Spermer” (web) from 2020 and already in some disrepair – it was painted at the same time as Glen’s spitfire, shown last.
Demolition of the two blocks of flats was approved by the Housing Executive in May 2021 (Belfast Live) and by the Department Of Communities in September 2021 (Belfast Live). Demolition of Kilbroney is scheduled for the autumn and Clarawood (the tower block) for 2024 (Irish News).
(See also the Housing Executive’s ‘Action Plan’ for all tower blocks (pdf).)
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
T02988 [T02987] T02989 [T02990] T02991
T02984 T02986 T02992 [T02993]
T02985 T02983
I’m One, At Least
The Who, the parka, the scooter with multiple mirrors … Mod life in Belfast.
Please get in touch if you can explain “113”.
Tamar Street, east Belfast
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
T02999 [T03000]
Glen Knox
Glen Molloy’s (ig) tribute to friend Mark Knox, who died in 2021 (Funeral Times).
Woodstock Place, Belfast
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
T02973
Bright Eyes
The movie that made child-actress Shirley Temple a star was the December 1934 film Bright Eyes, in which she played an orphan, Shirley Blake, living with a wealthy and mean-spirited family but befriended by her godfather and pilot Loop Merritt (played by James Dunn in their third movie together that year, after Stand Up And Cheer! and Baby Take A Bow) (WP Bright Eyes | WP James Dunn). She was awarded a special Oscar for her performance the following year (WP).
The Strand Cinema in east Belfast opened a year later, on December 7th, 1935, and Bright Eyes was the first movie shown. The venue for a time operated exclusively as a concert hall (from 1984-1988); in 2013 it became the charity ‘Strand Arts Centre’, supporting a variety of arts in addition to a now-independent four-screen cinema operation (StrandArtsCentre History).
The 3-D mural by emic (ig) on the Pim’s Avenue side of the theatre reproduces a publicity photo from 1935.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
T02926
A Walk In The Park
Under The Bridge Downtown
The troll under the East Bridge in Enniskillen is friendly, offering a flower to the sprites doing “The Dance” (the official name of the piece) to the music of a satyr. Mural by Kevin McHugh (ig).
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
T02899 T02900 T02901 T02898
Cooking With Gas
AC-12 is based in the West Midlands of England but headed by former RUC-man Ted Hastings, who is famous for his Northern Irishisms, including “Now we’re suckin’ diesel”. (For “I didn’t float up the Lagan in a bubble”, see Mother Of God.) The Line Of Duty character is played by local Enniskillen actor Adrian Dunbar.
By Karl Fenton and Danni Simpson in Church Lane, Enniskillen.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
T02904 T02903
Paddy Duffy Collection 