social

Life Finds A Way

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Palestinian artist Taqi Spateen’s (web | ig) third piece in Belfast is in Crocus Street, in Beechmount, west Belfast, in conjunction with the Beechmount Residents’ Collective, which has images of the launch on June 23rd (ig). It replaces the vandalised-and-repaired lower part of the pro-immigrant mural seen in In Search Of A Better Life. In the mural, both an olive tree and slender Easter lilies emerge from the rubble. On these a new society can be built.

For Spateen’s first piece, in Kent Street in the city centre, see Anatomy Of Oppression.

For the second piece, in Palestine Street, see Women Carry The People.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
T04911 T04909 T04912 T04910

You Have The Power

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“You have the power to say “No!” to drugs.”

Carla Hodgson (ig) and kids from the Carrick Hill community centre (with support from the University Of Ulster) painted this mural at the junction of Trinity Street/Sráıd Na Tríonóıde and Regent Street/Sráıd An Leasrí, in Carrick Hill, a spot which is reportedly used by dealers to sell drugs (Belfast Media | 2018 BelTel | 2018 Belfast Live).

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
T05062 [T05076] T05078 T05077 T05081
T05061

Sweet Rockall

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Nigel Farage yesterday had a banana milkshake from McDonald’s thrown over him by a protester in Clacton (Guardian) as Farage launched his own and the Reform Party’s campaign for the Westminster election on July 4th. It was not Farage’s first milkshake – he was doused by a banana-and-caramel shake from Five Guys in Newcastle in 2019 (BBC).

He is shown here (above) in a Ciaran Gallagher painting in the courtyard of the Dark Horse bar in Belfast city centre (at the end of the Ship Of Fools saga), with pint and cigarette in hand, looming over the UK’s most recent (and perhaps final) territorial expansion: the annexation of Rockall in 1955 and with it a claim of a 12-mile exclusion zone of sea and airspace; it is also claimed by Ireland, Iceland, and Denmark (WP).

Included below are other ethno-nationalists on display in the courtyard, portrayed as the four horsemen of the apocalypse, Donald Trump (famine), Vladimir Putin (death), Kim Jong Un (pestilence), and Ruhollah Khomeini (war).

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2023/2022 Paddy Duffy
T03195
T01683 T01682 T01680

Times Change

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Despite the quote “Times change; we need to change as well” (attributed to Nelson Mandela, though perhaps only from Francois Pienaar in the film Invictus) the riot going on in black-and-white is not from the past (as in this east Belfast mural) but the present, and in particular from the 2021 riots on Lanark Way (BelTel) which is the site of this new mural. Similarly, the mural depicted in the background of the riot scene is not from the past – it was refreshed in 2022 and continues to loom over Mount Vernon and the off-ramp from the motorway – see Prepared For Peace, Ready For War.

The mural thus asks young people to decide between two visions of present-day life: the grey world of violence and the colourful world of programmes from R-City – Communities Integrated Through Youth (www.rcitybelfast.com), including “one-one mentoring”, “leadership for life” (QUB), and “SHE” [Supporting Her Empowerment].

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
T04798 T04797 T04801 T04796 T04795 Marty Lyons

Meet The New Boss

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

These UVF posters urge residents of east Belfast who owe money to loan sharks not to sell drugs or find some other way to pay it back, but instead to get in touch with a political representative.

The Sunday World reported that repayments are being withheld after the Shankill UVF ordered the leadership in East Belfast UVF to stand down (in November 2023 – IRN | BBC) and took over the operation. The posters thus come from the old (East Belfast) guard, trying to thwart the new bosses and hoping to resume collection themselves.

SDLP councillor Séamus De Faoıte commented (in the Irish News), “Anyone who has knowledge of criminal activity or exploitation of vulnerable people should report it to the relevant authorities, but people do not need to take any lessons from the UVF when it comes to upholding the law.” (Also: BelTel)

Meanwhile, the endingtheharm.com campaign (part of the Executive/DOJ’s programme designed to tackle “paramilitary activity and organised crime”) continues. See They Control You for a 2019 version.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
T04279 Castlereagh Pl

Creggan Is My Home

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“Since 1947, Creggan is my home.” The murals of local sporting heroes on the Creggan shops/Sıopaí An Chreagáın have been replaced by a series of flowers and some local musical heroes: above, ‘Teenage dreams so hard to beat’ is the opening line of the Undertones’ ‘Teenage Kicks’ (also seen in Belfast); below is the title of Dana’s Eurovision-winning song: ‘All Kinds Of Everything’ (youtube).

The murals were created by Peaball (ig) and children from Holy Child PS (across the street) during the 2023 Derry Féıle project ‘Graffiti On The Wall’, which also produced Friz’s Derry Dryad and emic’s Younger Days (see Summer’s Blood) (Derry Journal).

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
T04217 T04218 T04219 T04220 T04221 T04222 T04230 T04224 T04225
there is no planet b every child every chance every day

Léım An Mhadaıdh

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Here is a selection of street art in Limavady/Léım An Mhadaıdh/”Leap of the dog” including, above, a leaping dog by London artist irony (ig).

Below, in order, are a pangram illustration by KVLR (ig), musicians by Claire Prouvost (ig), a jazz band by Matthew Knight (ig), a goat by Visual Waste (ig) for the Stendhal Festival (web), and a mental health piece by Peaball (ig).

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
T04256 [T04255]
T04250 [T04251] [T04252]
T04254 T04253c
T04257
T04248 [T04249]
T04246 T04247c