“Civilisation has its roots in the soil & without soil there will be no future life – Tá an duıne fréamhaıthe san ıthır, gan í ní hann dó” by Ed Reynolds (web | tw) and Tancredi Caruso. Together they put on an exhibition and painted a mural for the Belowground Visions Of Life project (Soil Security Programme). The mural is outside Bunscoıl Mhıc Reachtaın (hence the Irish translation) in the old ‘Little Italy’ area of Belfast. Sand or soil has been added to the mural to give it texture.
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.
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.
This east Belfast mural showing hands of many colours holding up a heart-shaped earth was produced last year in tandem with a diversity night in memory of the Pakistani-born owner of the Spar on whose side it is painted (Belfast Media).
“90% of young people in this area say (based on consultation with 250 young people) it’s easy to access drugs/alcohol. Are you surprised?” For more on this campaign by Greater Shankill Youth Connects (Fb) promoting their “Shankill Talks” forums, see Belfast Live.
A message from BUILD Shankill (web): “Did you know? The Shankill has over 80 waste sites the size of 62 football pitches with the space to build 3300 homes. #BuildShankill.” Members of the team, as well as representatives from the Housing Executive and the NI Executive, took a bus tour of the sites in June (Alternatives youtube channel).
Four of the 700 NHS staff in the UK to die of Covid during the pandemic have come Northern Ireland, the most recent being dementia specialist Alan Henry in Antrim hospital (Express | BelTel | iTV). In the south, Defence Forces have been deployed to three nursing homes while 6,400 health workers are off sick (Irish Times). The mural above shows a masked nurse and doctor among a field of poppies. It has been added below the three painted boards commemorating Titanic, the Somme, and the WWII Blitz.
On the exterior of the Connswater Community Centre, east Belfast
The phrase “There are many things that can only be seen through eyes that have cried” is attributed to Óscar Romero, a Catholic priest in El Salvador. He was a critic of the military government and was assasinated in March 1980 while saying mass. He was made a saint in 2015. (WP)
Sister Janet Mead had a surprise hit in 1973 with a pop-rock rendition of the Lord’s Prayer (youtube).
This mural will be ten years old this (2023) summer, as will the Eileen Hickey Republican Museum mural that it is next to — see Eileen Hickey.
Here is a gallery of the smaller piece on the building below Divis tower (except for the Welcome mural – see Gateway To West Belfast). From right to left (top to bottom in this post) we see a 32 County Sovereignty Movement mural, with the island of Ireland in green, white, and orange, and (representing prisoners) barbed wire and a candle; “Black lives matter” from People Before Profit; 32CSM tarp opposing “British political policing”; IRPWA board declaring the PSNI/MI5/British Army unwelcome; a 32CSM tarp against joy-riding; a Lasair Dhearg poster marking 100 years of … “pogroms, sectarianism, job discrimination, police brutality, imprisonment, collusion, housing discrimination, Orange supremacy, torture, internment, special powers, state sponsored death squads, language discrimination, gerrymandering, women’s rights denied, colonialism.”
Domestic abuse reports to PSNI in the second quarter of 2020 (during the first Covid lockdown) increased 4% to 8,302 (BelTel). Women’s Aid NI (web | tw) provides refuge and support to victims of domestic violence. The stencil by Laura Nelson & Leo Boyd from VaultNI is on Carrick Hill. The title of today’s post comes from Women’s Aid CEO Sarah Mason (tw).
“Cogús supports the republican prisoners”. Cogús (Fb) is (was?) the prisoners’ welfare arm of the RNU. The board above — using a vintage illustration going back to 1981’s I’ll Wear No Convict’s Uniform — replaced More Blacks, More Gays, More Irish on Pantridge Road, Dunmurry, joining the “Join RNU” and mental health boards shown below.
Paddy Duffy Collection 