This is a second piece of street art by Dan Kitchener (web) in Bank Square, next to his painting of fast cars (Fast Enough So We Can Fly Away?): a painting of Jesus Of Nazareth for Hope/Crown Jesus Ministries (web).
Replaces JMK’s The Whisper And The Wish.
Click image to enlarge
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This is the second “Living Mural” in Wild Belfast’s (web) “Art For Conservation” project. The first was on the side of a stand at Cliftonville FC, where a Daniela Balmaverde painting was dotted with small structures for house-martins (see Bird In The Hand).
The second, shown here, is above the Little Victoria Street car-park in Bruce Street and again includes bird boxes along with the artwork. The sideways-on image, below, gives the best view of the eight “swift bricks” that will provide nesting space for the birds in the summer, as well as the bird-call speakers (above the “S” of “swift” on the side) that will hopefully attract the swifts. Both swifts and house-martins have ‘red’ (“high concern”) conservation status in Ireland (Bird Watch Ireland pdf).
By Rob Hilken (web).
In-progress shots from October 20th:
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
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‘Suggestions For Stargazing’ is a series of information boards and fluorescent questions encouraging people to embrace darkness. The installation was designed by Aisling O’Beirn (web) as part of the Right To The Night (ig) project, which is concerned with light pollution in north Belfast, and was included in the Red Sky At Night festival (Belfast CC). It will remain in place until the end of November, 2024.
Above: “Light pollution is caused by too much artificial outdoor light. When we over-light we risk losing our night time environment with negative effects for the environment, the climate, wildlife, human health and the economy.”
Last below: “There is a global movement to reduce light pollution, everyone can help, even you! Use light only when necessary. Minimise glare and brightness. Angle outdoor lights downwards. Use switch off or dimming sensors. Keep nature dark. Avoid illuminating trees, water, and nesting areas.”
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
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Here is a selection of Shakespearean quotations on the topic of love on the driveway walls of a house on the Ballyclare Road in Glengormley:
“William Shakespeare – 1565-1616 Aged 52 – 38 plays, 154 sonnets”
[Left (image below)]
“Hear my soul speak of the very instant that I saw you, did/My heart fly at your service” [The Tempest 3.1]
“Tell me, for which of my bad parts didst thou first fall in love with me?” [Much Ado About Nothing 5.2]
“Parting is such sweet sorrow” [Romeo & Juliet 2.2]
“I would not wish any companion in the world but you” [The Tempest 3.1]
“So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,/So long lives this, and this gives life to thee” [Sonnet 18]
[Right (image above)]
“Doubt thou the stars are fire/Doubt that the sun doth move/Doubt truth to be a liar/But never doubt I love” [Hamlet Act 2 Scene 2]
“When I saw you/I fell in love./And you smiled/because you knew” [from Arrigo Boito’s libretto to Verdi’s Falstaff. In Italian: “Come ti vidi/M’innamorai./E tu sorridi/Perchè lo sai”]
“See, how she leans her cheek upon her hand/O that I were a glove upon that hand/That I might touch that cheek.” [Romeo & Juliet 2.2]
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
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“Stop the illegal migrants – we need to protect our children – we stand together”. Rathcoole signs reading “Anyone facilitating the settlement of Muslims or illegals in our areas will be held responsible” (in the same style as the Shankill signs seen in Not A Dumping Ground) were removed by police after complaints from community members (Belfast Media). The style of placard referring only to “illegal immigrants” (shown above) remains.
“Protecting children” might be a reference to the knife attack on a dance studio in Southport, England, in late July, in which three children died and eight more were injured; misinformation on social media (falsely) identified the attack as Muslim and an asylum-seeker (Independent); he is a Cardiff-born teenager of Rwandan parentage (WP). Several days of rioting followed the attack, including in Belfast.
See also: Stop The Boats in north Belfast, in connection with the UK’s plan to send migrants to Rwanda | Protect Our Children sticker in east Belfast from February.
(“One big clean up” is the name of a previous campaign against dog fouling; A&N’s current campaign is called “Dog Watch“.)
Green End, Rathcoole, Newtownabbey
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
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“Tackle inequality – create opportunities – inspire change”. The large board shown here is in Cupar Way, near the security gates in North Howard Street, which are locked nightly between 8:30 and 6:30 a.m. (DoJ). These and the nearby Northumberland Street gates separate the lower Falls and the middle Shankill, including the young people from the Active Communities Network (web), a cross-community youth group that lobbied for increased opening hours to allow members to return home quickly after meetings (BBC).
The board was originally on Northumberland Street (Belfast Live) in the Arthur Guinness spot but is now in Cupar Way.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
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“Drugs destroy lives/families & communities – Stand together against drugs – There’s always hope. There’s always help.” According to the Education Authority, one in eight young people and one in five adults have a mental health need (EA). Services are available from PIPS (web), Lifeline (web), Samaritans (web), Extern (web), Addiction NI (Inspire), Debt Helpline (Advice NI), GP William St (web), Frank (web).
Painted by JMK (ig) in Levin Road, Kilwilkie, Lurgan, replacing some anti-internment writing (D02265).
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
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– “Why do they come here, if they can’t speak our language?”
– “We will learn your language! Will you learn to accept us?”
Despite learning the language and opening businesses, immigrants came under attack in early August as part of a wave of anti-immigrant rioting and attacks in a number of UK cities, including Belfast, Bangor, Carrick, Newtownabbey, and Ballyclare. Shops were attacked on Botanic Road and Sandy Row (BBC | RTÉ) and eggs were thrown at a Middle Eastern market on the Falls Road (BBC). In response, anti-racism demonstrators outnumbered an anti-immigration protest five to one (Irish Times | BBC); residents of the middle Falls came out a few days later (Belfast Live).
This anti-racism mural is on Albert Street, Divis, west Belfast. In-progress image (above) from June 23rd; image of completed mural (with additions by kids) below from August 11th
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
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Sugarhouse Entry, running between Waring Street and High Street, and home to the Muddlers’ Club of the United Irishmen, was closed in 1972 as part of the “ring of steel” securing Belfast city centre (DC Tours) and for fifty years served only as a back alley to various businesses between Waring Street and High Street; there was talk in 2022 of reopening it (Irish News) and again in 2023 (BelTel). It has now (August, 2024) been refurbished and reopened (BelTel | UTv includes interview with Sean Napier | Belfast City Council video on youtube).
Peter Strain (web) produced illustrations for a number of entries in 2020 and 2022, including one from 2022 for Sugarhouse Entry. It quotes United Irishman Thomas Russell as saying, “Every time I look at a lump of sugar, I see a drop of African blood”.
The precise source of the quote is unknown (please comment/get in touch if you know it); towards the end of Russell’s 1796 Letter To The People Of Ireland, in which he exhorts Irish people to develop a national spirit and take an interest in politics, he takes as a present-day example refraining from supporting the Crown in the French Revolutionary Wars by serving in the army or by buying taxed goods (such as sugar): “Are the Irish nation aware that this contest involves the question of the slave trade, the one now of the greatest consequence on the face of the earth? Are they willing to employ their treasure and their blood in support of that system, because England has 70 or 7000 millions engaged in it, the only argument that can be adduced in its favour, monstrous as it may appear? Do they know that that horrid traffic spreads its influence over the globe; that it creates and perpetuates barbarism and misery, and prevents the spreading of civilization and religion, in which we profess to believe? Do they know that by it thousands and hundreds of thousands of these miserable Africans are dragged from their innocent families … transported to various places, and there treated with such a system of cruelty, torment, wickedness and infamy, that it is impossible for language adequately to express its horror and guilt, and which would appear rather to be the work of wicked demons than of men. If this trade is wrong, is it right for the Irish nation to endeavour to continue it? And does not every man who contributes to the war contribute to its support?” (archive.org p. 22)
(Other pieces by Strain in the entries can be seen in Handsome, Easy-Going, And Utterly Untrustworthy | The Blots On The Page Are So Black | As You Lived You Must Die | Trust Women.)
See also: the Visual History page on the Belfast Entries Project.
Click image to enlarge
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These bird-boxes and platforms were installed by Wild Belfast (web) – a group aimed at enhancing natural habitats – in order to attract house-martins, who visit Ireland in the summer in order to breed, but whose numbers are in decline because of a loss of nesting sites (under the eaves of houses) and building materials (mud).
The boxes are in front of street art by artist Daniela Balmaverde (web) on the end of one of the stands at Cliftonville FC (BBC) – the shamrock earrings are the club’s emblem.
July 30th
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Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
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Paddy Duffy Collection 