These electrical boxes are at the entrance to the Glencolin estate in west Belfast. The one above previously had an RSF stencil on it – see Restoration Of The Monarchy – but now bears an image of a Palestinian child in the ruins of Gaza flying a kite. (For the symbolism, see Tell My Story and My Kite You Made.
Here is a selection of city centre electrical boxes, painted as part of the Belfast Canvas project, which first recruited artists to paint electrical boxes in 2019. For more on the painting of boxes in Belfast, see the Visual History page.
For International Women’s Day (March 8th) HM Constance (web) went to work on Lanark Way (next to Times Change) painting a celebratory piece for SHE Youth Club (“Supporting Her Empowerment” – Belfast Live) that is one of the programmes at R-City (web).
“I am intelligent, I am beautiful, I am funny, I am determined, I am powerful, I am graceful, I am independent, I am influential, I am strong, I am confident, I am a women [sic]”.
The shutters of the Peppercorn café on the Woodstock Road were painted with a WWI theme back in 2015 (In Flanders Fields) and were re-painted in late 2020.
The first panel (above) shows “our wee country” – Northern Ireland, on the occasion of its centenary.
The second features the “Light Of Foot” (web) programme supporting the mental health of bandsmen in Scotland and Northern Ireland. “Marching mental health”, “It’s okay to talk”.
The final panel reproduces (in reverse direction) John Singer Sergeant’s painting Gassed – for a photographic version, also in east Belfast, see Observe The Sons Of Ulster. “Their sacrifice, our freedom.”
The mallard duck is common throughout Ireland (Birdwatch), including on Belfast’s Lagan (Geograph). These drakes are on an Annadale Embankment electrical box, painted by Katriona (web) as part of the latest round of painted electrical boxes in the Belfast Canvas project.
With organisational support from Daisy Chain (web).
Also included is an earlier (2023) south Belfast box, from the Lisburn Road, by Zippy (web).
Spring – or at least some dry days – is upon us, and with it the chance to get outside. This is a new piece by FGB (web) on the shutters of what was Quality Life massage parlour, in a row of mostly abandoned shop-fronts in (upper) North Street.
The “West End Horse” in Bundoran was painted by John Deegan (Fb) in 2013 (Discover Bundoran). The “Big wave” on the wall of Madden’s is by Nik Purdy of Blow Designs (ig), who also did murals of James Connolly in Sligo and of local literary figures in Carrick-On-Shannon.
The 21st Rory Gallagher International Tribute Festival (web) starts on Thursday May 29th in Ballyshannon, the County Donegal town in which the guitarist was born in 1948. In addition to the festival, Gallagher is remembered in the town by both a mural and a statue.
The mural is in Main Street, Ballyshannon/Béal Átha Seanaıdh; the statue is on The Mall/An Mál, next to The Faeries. As of January, 2025, there is also a statue of Gallagher in Belfast.
“Up the airy mountain/Down the rushy glen/We daren’t go a-hunting,/For fear of little men.//Wee folk, good folk,/Trooping all together,/Green jacket, red cap,/White owl’s feather! – Wm Allingham”
Customs-officer, magazine editor, and poet William Allingham was born in Ballyshannon, Co Donegal, in 1824, and his ashes – brought back from London – are interred in St Anne’s church in the town (WP). “The Faeries” (poetry.com) was first published in his 1850 collection Poems (UCC) and remains a staple of children’s and mythological collections.
The art shown here is on The Mall/An Mál in Ballyshannon/Béal Átha Seanaıdh.