The number of dead Palestinians in Gaza has now reached 64,000 (WP | Al Jazeera | PBS), famine has been declared by the IPC (Guardian), and Israel is calling up tens of thousands of reservists for a new offensive in the strip (AP).
This new mural by Peaball (web) and GCR [Galliagh Community Response (Fb)] shows a blind-folded child in a war-torn landscape.
Fairview Road, Galliagh, Derry
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Kneecap member Mo Chara (Lıam Óg Ó hAnnaıdh) appeared in court (in London) on Wednesday on terrorism charges and was bailed for a further month while the judge rules on a technical issue about whether the trial can go forward (BBC). (See previously The Magic Within.)
The art above on a Galliagh (Derry) sub-station reflects Kneecap’s popularity among local youth. The word “Mo Chara” (“my friend”) is painted with a shamrock, an oak leaf (symbol of Derry city), and a Claddagh ring.
Painted by Peaball (web) with young people from On Street (Galliagh Community Centre & Galliagh Youth Club) (Fb).
On another sub-station in Galliagh: Respect The Force.
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“Jon Clifford’s Tristar FC, Derry, founded 1974”. Jon “Ugg” Clifford died on September 3rd, 2011, while waiting for a lung transplant (BelTel). In 1974 he had founded a youth soccer club – initially for boys – called “Tristrar” (web) in Creggan. The park where they played – Bull Park – was renamed in his honour, a portrait on boards was mounted in 2013 (which has now been replaced by the larger painting shown here), and a memorial championship was begun in 2014 (Derry Daily).
Update: The mural was officially launched on October 9th, 2025 (BBC).
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Derry native Nell McCafferty is commemorated by a mural in the Maiden City, launched on International Women’s Day (March 8th), 2025, and the annual Femme Sesh event was also dedicated to McCafferty (ig | Derry Journal).
McCafferty died last year (2024) after a long career as a journalist and activist (BBC). “Goodnight, sisters” was her parting phrase at the end of her segments on The Women’s Programme, which aired on RTÉ between 1983 and 1986 (Journal).
Here is RTÉ footage of Nell and Marian Finucane on the Late Late in 1991 and in 1980.
The mural was painted by Peaball (web) on a gable in Lisfannon Park and is visible from Lecky Road. The portrait of McCafferty appeared on the cover of (the Penguin Ireland edition of) her autobiography Nell.
For the mural on the low wall (in the wide shot, below), see Two Nations One Struggle.
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St Columba or Colmcılle or Columbcille established 50 or more abbeys and churches throughout Ireland in the sixth century AD, including one in Derry c. 540, but is most famous for the abbey established on the Scottish island of Iona and for spreading Christianity in Scotland.
This new art shows Columba in a leather-covered wicker currach sailing – with two of his twelve companions – to Scotland c. 563. The piece reproduces a commemorative stamp released in 1997 as one of four in a set of UK stamps designed by Clare Melinsky (web) called “Missions Of Faith”, two showing St Columba and two St Augustine (Collect GB Stamps).
The dove in the illustration is completely white – typically a Barbary pigeon or a rock dove bred for albinism – while a “colm cılle” is a wood pigeon.
Above: “Naoṁ Colmcılle – grá, sıoċáın [síoċáın], aontacht.”
On the side-wall: “Naoṁ Colmcılle – Saint Columba
Naoṁṗatrún Ḋoıre – Patron saint of Derry
Rugad [Rugaḋ] ı nGartán ı nDún Na nGall – Born in Gartan, Donegal 521
D’eag [D’éag] ın Albaın – Died in Scotland 597.
Grace will lead me home.”
By Peaball (web) in Columbcille Court, Derry
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This is a Creggan tribute to Derry film-maker Vinny Cunningham who died in February (BBC | Derry Journal). Cunningham made documentaries about the city (including “No Go” (youtube)) but the art on this long wall makes reference to his support for, and documentaries about, the Undertones (“Teenage Kicks” – youtube) and Derry City FC (“Passion Play” – youtube)
This is a continuation of Féıle’s ‘Graffiti On The Walls’ initiative
“Féıle [web] x Peaball [web]” with children from Holy Child Primary School, with funding from the Executive Office’s Communities In Transition project.
Central Drive, Creggan, Derry
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“… two for joy” – happy magpies in Dungiven by Peaball (web).
Keven Lynch Park, Dungiven
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This entry updates Cuımhníonn Doıre from August 2024, in which the central part of the mural, showing Maıréad Farrell (above), was incomplete. In addition to a completed portrait of Farrell there are two quotations from Bobby Sands and one from Fidel Castro (along with a list of the twelve dead hunger-strikers of the Troubles era):
“‘Everyone, Republican or otherwise, has their own particular part to play. No part is too great or too small, no one is too old or too young to do something’ – Bobby Sands” [Diary, March 14th, 1981]
“‘Our revenge will be the laughter of our children’ – Bobby Sands”
“‘Let tyrants tremble before men who are capable of dying for their ideals after 60 days on hunger strike’ – Fidel Castro” [The line comes from Castro’s opening address on September 15th, 1981, to the Inter-Parliamentary Conference (pdf)]
Also included below are an adjacent IRA Derry Brigade roll of honour and a plaque to Maggie McAnaney.
The ‘roll of honour’ boards are the same as those seen in Lecky Road.
McAnaney died when a gun went off at an IRA checkpoint near Burnfoot, Co. Donegal, a month before the Civil War began (Derry Journal). This is an unusual use of the phrase “active service”, as McAnaney was travelling to a picnic at the time, rather than on exercises or preparing munitions; the phrase would later come to be associated primarily with a premature bomb explosion.
“In proud and loving memory of Margaret “Maggie” McAnaney, Cumann na mBan, died on active service at Burnfoot on 31st May 1922, aged 18 years. The McAnaney family home was situated on Bishop Street. Fuaır sıad bás ar son saoırse na hÉıreann.”
Beyond these are the pieces seen in Empower Your Community.
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The United Kingdom Of Great Britain And Ireland was created in 1801, a reaction to the 1798 Rebellion, led by (amongst others) Wolfe Tone and Henry Joy McCracken, who were founding members of the Society Of United Irishmen in 1791 in Belfast.
In this mural, Tone and McCracken on the left gaze across the “centuries of resistance” from 1798 to 1916 Rising revolutionaries Countess Markievicz and James Connolly, and beyond to Troubles-era figures Maıréad Farrell, Bobby Sands, and Máıre Drumm.
Around the same time as this mural was painted, a Féıle exhibition called ‘Vibrant Colours, Violent Past’ included A Panorama Of Republicanism which contains dozens of figures but again chooses 1798/Tone, 1916/Connolly, and the Troubles/Martin McGuinness as the pivotal moments and figures.
“Comóradh Éırí Amach Na Cásca Bhéal Feırste/Belfast Easter Commemoration. This is the traditional place where on Easter Sunday Belfast republicans gather to honour Ireland’s patriot dead on their way to Milltown Cemetery.” “Honour Ireland’s patriot dead – wear an Easter lily.” “Unbowed, unbroken.”
The Beeechmount-Falls Corner has its own Visual History page, as the most-often painted wall in Belfast.
July 27th:
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Paddy Duffy Collection 