This new Glengormley street art pays tribute to an elephant from Bellevue Zoo during WWII.
In response to the blitz of April 1941, thoughts turned to what might happen if the zoo was bombed. Thirty-three animals that would be dangerous to the public (if they escaped) were executed. A zoo-keeper, Denise Weston Austin, brought Sheila, an Asian elephant, to her home on the Whitewell Road, where she lived for several weeks, before being returned to the zoo in time for the bombing of May. (See WP for dates of the Belfast blitz.) For photographs of Sheila and Denise, and the tale of how Sheila’s absence was discovered, see Wartime NI.
“The Dark Dreamer – The Silkie mural by Loretta Lizzio is a recreation of the oil painting “Dark Dreamer” by world-famous Irish artist Patrick Jones who lived here in the family home.”
Patrick J. Jones (web) grew up in Belfast before leaving for London, England, in 1984 and Brisbane, Australia, in 1997. Lizzio, (web), who is also from Australia, reproduced Jones’s original (Fb) on the side of the Stax coffee-shop on the Cliftonville Road, renaming it ‘The Silkie’, though it depicts a mermaid rather than one of the seal-folk; compare with KMG’s interpretation of the Selkie myth in the city centre.
The rosette at the centre of the poppy wreath shows the UK armed services badge (with the crown overlaid by the Ulster Banner) surrounded by a verse from Binyon’s ‘For The Fallen’ and “Tiger’s Bay – York Street – Sailortown loyal”. That group’s Facebook page is private and no home-page seems to be available for ‘North Belfast Friends Of The Somme’.
North Queen Street, Tiger’s Bay, Belfast, at the old Lewis Street.
The new Grand Central Station opened at the beginning of September, replacing both Victoria Street train station and the Glengall Street bus station. The artwork outside the station (shown here) was completed by Dee Craig (Fb), depicting the rail-yards and mills of old Belfast, and physicist (and Belfast native) John Stewart Bell (WP).
One knock-on effect of the new station was that the tracks begin west of the Boyne Bridge and it is due to be dismantled – see Battle Of The Boyne Bridge.
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).
This is a new mural to UVF volunteers (l-r) Robert McIntyre, William Hannah, James McGregor, Robert Wadsworth, and Thomas Chapman, who were killed between 1973 and 1978. Compared to the previous mural, the volunteers generally present a more relaxed appearance, lacking their jackets and parkas, though still brandishing a wide variety of weapons.
It is not clear who the two gentlemen in the top, wearing vintage UVF arm-bands, are.
Carnan (or “C. Coy”) Street in the Shankill. For the mural to the left (to Joe Coggle and Paul McClelland) see S. Company, C. Company.
Prepped for the launch:
July 7th: The plaster was taken back to the brick and then re-plastered and painted before the mural was added.
Friendly faces by Aches (web) on the side of the “Sandy Row” Holiday Inn, officially in Hope Street/Bruce Street, but more familiarly above the car-park where the Twelfth bonfire has previously taken place, starting in 2016 – see Stuff We Don’t Need – and continuing into 2024 – see News Letter.
The 1916 centenary mural in Andersonstown has been repurposed and repainted to express solidarity with the people of Palestine.
From the frame of the previous mural – see Unbowed, Unbroken – the title, phoenix, and chains have been preserved but two instances of the inverted red triangle have been added at the top and bottom – see Resist! (and My Kite You Made).
The main panel puts the struggles in Palestine and Northern Ireland in parallel, showing (from top to bottom on each side) political prisoners, violence against protesters, and relatives carrying portraits.
On the left, Palestinian prisoners languish in Israeli jails (based on a photo of Hamza Abu Halima and on this Reuters photograph of prisoners sitting in the street, both from December 2023) and IDF soldiers make violent arrests – the one on the left is from 2016 (CCUN) and the one on the right is perhaps based on this Reuters photograph.
On the right: British soldiers restore order after the Burning Of Long Kesh (see Operation Pagoda), next to blanket-man Hugh Rooney, above three arrests made by British Army soldiers – their caps indicates that they are from the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders (left) and the Paratroop regiment (centre). (For two of the original photos, see BBC | Getty.)
Along the bottom of both sides, marchers hold portraits of the dead, including the recently-killed leader of Hamas Yahya Sinwar (BBC).
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).
Paddy Duffy Collection 