painted wall

UDA A Battalion South Belfast

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The mural at the corner of Roden Street and Donegall Road was repainted annually in 1989, 1990, and 1991. The first (see the image from 1988) lacked the McMichael memorial seen here and the white background only went half-way up the wall; the second completed the background, added LPA and UDF emblems and “In memory of John McMichael” in text (see C00525). This third iteration places the McMichael memorial and the attendant graveside mourners on a bed of grass.

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Copyright © 1990 Paddy Duffy
T00120

Núada

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Núada and Morrígan (from Jim Fitzpatrick’s Beneath The Sky Of Stars) embrace below a ram (from Fitzpatrick’s Senach The Spectre) and between Celtic creatures inspired by the Book Of Kells.

This is a bright and colourful mural in stark contrast to the greys and browns of Unity flats, west Belfast

For many more images of Nuada, see the Visual History page on Jim Fitzpatrick.

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Copyright © 1990 Paddy Duffy
T00173

Freedom’s Sons

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The writing – D coy, 2nd batt, Belfast Brigade [IRA] – has been added where the volunteer’s legs used to be – see the Peter Moloney Collection for the original. A small plaque has been added at the top. Otherwise, the mural remains as before, with a hooded volunteer raising an assault rifle in front of a sunburst and Tricolour, with a row of barbed wire and the four provinces named in Irish.

Falls Road, west Belfast, now the site of the Garden Of Remembrance

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Copyright © 1990 Paddy Duffy
T00088

The Spirit Of Freedom

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A smiling Bobby Sands on the side of the Sınn Féın offices on the Falls Road, (also the west Belfast office of An Phoblacht/Republican News), with his famous statement that “Everyone, republican or otherwise, has his [here: “his/her”] own [particular] part to play” (and the lark with its “spirit of freedom“). This version was painted by Mo Chara Kelly in 1989, and an image of Sands has been on the wall continuously since then.

Sevastopol Street, west Belfast

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Copyright © 1990 Paddy Duffy
T00089

Free Ireland

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Manacles “Made in Britain” constrain the republican desire for a united Ireland, contrary to the burning GPO and rising phoenix.

“Numerous foreign groups and delegations visited Ballymurphy and west Belfast during the troubles. I remember one meeting I was at in Conway Mill, I picked up a pamphlet with a drawing of a manacled fist. The caption read “Made in the USA.” So I just took the image and changed the slogan to “Made in Britain”.” (Painting My Community/An Pobal A Phéınteáıl – English-language version available for free)

The plaque – which pre-dates this mural – is to local (A Company 2nd Battalion) IRA volunteers Stan Carberry, Frankie Dodds, Paul Fox, Sean Bailey, Paul Marlowe, and Tony Campbell. “Fuaır sıad bás ar son na hÉıreann”, “Ireland unfree will never be at peace”. (See the Peter Moloney Collection.)

Painted by Mo Chara Kelly in Beechmount Avenue/RPG Avenue.

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Copyright © 1990 Paddy Duffy
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Beıdh An Bua Agaınn

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“Beıdh an bua agaınn” [victory will be ours] is a slogan that Mo Chara Kelly saw inside a cell in the H-Blocks. A circle of four hands – perhaps intended to be in the colours of humankind – releases three doves: “freedom, justice, peace”. “We will be free.”

Painted by Mo Chara Kelly at the top of the Whiterock Road, west Belfast.

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Copyright © 1990 Paddy Duffy
T00095

Our Struggle, Your Struggle

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Chief sitting Bull with his back to the flag of the United States, with a lark (for the Irish struggle) and an eagle (for the Native American) and a border of the colours of humankind.

Painted by Mo Chara Kelly with Jan Attridge on the wall of the (then) Ballymurphy Community Centre just off the Whiterock Road, west Belfast.

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Copyright © 1990 Paddy Duffy
T00092

So I Always Looked The Other Way

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A cartoon by ‘Cormac‘ (Brian Moore) is turned into a mural on Belfast’s Whiterock Road by Mo Chara Kelly. The mural satirizes the ad included below, which urges people to call the confidential telephone to report terrorist activity. Instead, the protagonist can no longer ignore the violence of the British Army (and RUC) and calls the Sınn Féın office.

1 When the Brits were having a go … “Who cares?” I thought.
2 And when something really rough happened I just trained harder to forget it … [Speech-bubble:] Anything for a quiet life, see.
3 But where’s it got me? What have these brave lads in khaki done for me? [British Army soldier:] We’re not here to do things for you; we’re here to do things to you.
4 [RUC commander:] Hey, don’t forget us. We’ve done our share of wrecking homes, harassing people. We’ve murdered and tortured and …
5 And when I saw their kind of justice I thought “There’s got to be something better than this.” [Judge:] You may think I’m a corrupt Orange bigot. But I know that I’m a very well-paid corrupt Orange bigot! And the only justice you’re going to get is British justice.
6 So I made up my mind. I wanted these thugs off our backs. [Thought-bubble:] Is it any wonder that the British tourist is the most despised person on earth?
7 You see I want a decent future, and it’s not going to happen while these “hero[e]s” are doing the dirty work of British imperialism. And it’s not going to happen if you’re waiting for someone else to do something.
8 622112. Hallo? Is that the Sınn Féın office?

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Copyright © 1990 Paddy Duffy
T00091

Éırí Na Gealaí

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Bobby Sands’s prison diary (web) ends, on March 17th, 1981, with the words “Tıocfaıdh lá éıgın nuaır a bheıdh an fonn saoırse seo le taıspeáınt ag daoıne go léır na hÉıreann – ansın tchífıdh muıd éırí na gealaí.” [A day will come when this desire for freedom will be exhibited by all the people of Ireland – then we will see the rising of the moon].

The phrase “the rising of the moon” comes from the poem/song of the same name composed by fifteen-year-old John Casey in 1865 about the 1798 Rebellion. “Full bitter was their fate” but the desire for freedom was not extinguished with them: “… e’en still are beating/Hearts in manhood’s burning noon/Who would follow in their footsteps/At the rising of the moon.”

In this mural, just off Lenadoon Avenue, a larger-than-life prisoner stands in silhouette, with first defiantly raised, over the watch-towers of Long Kesh.

“Chífıdh muıd éırí na gealaí” – “chífıdh” and “tchífıdh” are variant spellings.

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Copyright © 1990 Paddy Duffy
T00068

Behind The Mask

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Here is an instance of the ‘masked skull’ design produced by prisoners in Long Kesh (according to Mo Chara Kelly), seen also in Britains Death Squads. This version is simpler: it does not have any writing and there is no UDR emblem on the UDA-style hat.

The small boards above the mural declaring west Belfast an “apartheid-free zone”/”ceantar saor ó apartheıd” were mounted in 1986 along with the ANC mural.

Beechmount Avenue, west Belfast – this wall has its own Visual History page as it is the most-often painted wall in Belfast.

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Copyright © 1990 Paddy Duffy
T00040