Like “You’re never too old to set another goal or dream another dream” in east Belfast, “We are what we believe we are” appears to be another of those inspirational quotes attributed to – but not actually by – CS Lewis. The quote appears alongside Belfast landmarks the Titanic centre, Aslan, the Big Fish/Salmon of Knowledge, an unidentified cupola. Part of a piece by Faigy (ig) in Wilson’s Entry, Belfast.
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Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
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They have on their Halloween costumes, but can you name all of the politicians (some local, some from Britain) that are partying in courtyard of the Dark Horse, Belfast?
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Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
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Easter marks the unofficial start of the PUL marching season, with many marches today by various Apprentice Boys bands. The season runs until the end of August, with a high point around July 12th (Parades Commission | CAIN calendar). The painting above (by Ciaran Gallagher (ig) in the Dark Horse courtyard for a nine-part series called The Friend At Hand) packs in many familiar tropes: King Billy on a banner, kerb-stones painted red-white-and-blue, the Israeli flag flying from a lamp-post, and a bottle of Buckfast lying in the gutter. Decorating the skin, however, is rare, and the use of Irish – “an cara ıdır lamha [lámha]” [“in aıce láımhe” or “ag an láımh”] – on a Lambeg drum is unknown.
The other panels in the group of three show a boxer being attended to in his corner at the King’s Hall and a masked man leaving the EU and heading for Mexico off with an ATM in the bucket of an excavator.
Six more are included together, below: a fisherman is rescued from drowning; a medic attended to an injured player; the Samaritans helpline; a firefighter carries two people from a burning building; a surgeon operates; a chaplain reads to troops.
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Copyright © 2022/2023/2024 Paddy Duffy
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T03188 T03189 T03190 T03191 T03192 T03193 T03194
T04270
Here is a gallery of many of the pieces in the courtyard of the Dark Horse bar in Belfast city centre, presented in clockwise order from the entrance on Commercial Court.
Above and immediately below: the scene in the Klondyke Bar. Links to additional pieces can be found at their appropriate places in the “rotation”, below.
Martin McGuinness and Ian Paisley in the clouds
Belfast Stripped Bare – a view into people’s houses by Ciaran Gallagher (web); many of the painted pieces in the yard are by Gallagher.
[The Friend At Hand x7]
Middle/Back Wall
The Hill Street Bar Band by Glen Molloy (Fb) and various famous faces in upstairs windows by Gallagher
Broo Queue
Middle Wall, lowest level
Titanic
The Rapparees
George Best
Right wall
Stephen Nolan
A variety of vintage advertisements from the late 1800s and early 1900s: Lloyd & Yorath’s stout (Newport, Wales), Hall’s paints (Hull), Guinness, Gold Flake tobacco (in both English and Irish: Sásuíonn sıad!), Batey’s ginger beer (London), Gilbey’s wines, Mew’s brewery (Isle of Wight).
“Ourma says if you stick t’herown diet of land-an-dairy prod you’ll be firmanna an’trim down” – a saying in which the names of all six Northern Irish counties are (phonetically) included.
[The Friend At Hand x3]
Entrance Wall:
Poets And Authors
Warehouses
Poems:
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Copyright © 2022/2023 Paddy Duffy
Left: T01687 T01686 T03185 T01680 T01679 T01678 [T03196] T01677 T01676 [T01685]
Middle: T01671 T04271 T01673 T01672 T01670 T01674 T01669 T01667 T01668
Right: T01697 T01666 T01690 T01689 [T01696]
Poets: T01693 T01694 T01695
Warehouses: T01681
Poems: T01698 T01664
Street art by Kitsune (ig) in Queen St (official title When You Weren’t Looking), for Hit The North 2022.
Queen Street, Belfast city centre
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Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
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Dublin artist Aches (ig) was in town for HTN 2020 working on a large wall in Kent Street car park, above the North Street bingo hall. The model is Stephen Considine from BipolarBear Wear (web | ig) which sells gear to raise money for mental health charities.
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Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
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“Lost in the shadows of Belfast gone/Abandoned to descend/Its soul wilts, swept away/No one speaks this shame.”
Work by Faigy on the same North Street shutters as his previous The Darker Half Of The Year. These shop-fronts are still standing while many next to them have been torn down. Also still standing is Glen Molloy’s tribute to the Aboriginal poet Alice Eather (WP), shown below. The wall on the side of the buildings bears a large piece by Asbestos commenting on the intrusiveness of social media.
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Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
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MTO (Fb) was in Belfast for Culture Night 2014 and painted a large piece entitled “Son of Protagoras”. The ancient biographer Diogenes Laertius reports that Protagoras was driven from Athens and his books burned because he wrote that it was impossible to know whether or not the gods existed. On Fb, MTO adds a description of the Northern Irish “peace” lines, perhaps suggesting that religious adherence continues to be an enemy of peace: in his painting, a dove has been pierced by arrows bearing the cross of the Knights of Malta and the Latin cross.
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Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
T01496 [T01497]
“How can quantum gravity help explain the origin of the universe?” asks artist Liam Gillick in Balfour Avenue, lower Ormeau, Belfast.
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Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
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Paddy Duffy Collection 