Kieran Doherty died in the 1981 hunger strike after 73 days of fasting; the Andersonstown mural in his memory shows scenes from his funeral cortège on August 4th.
In preparation for this year’s anniversary, the mural has been refreshed and a new, enlarged image of Doherty’s parents, Alfie and Margaret, included. The photograph that provides a source can be seen in the An Phoblacht report on the funeral of Alfie, who died in 2008. Margaret Doherty died in 2019 (Bobby Sands Trust).
See Kieran Doherty for images of the mural when originally launched in 2014. For the memorial stone depicted in the fourth image, see Those Who Endure The Most.
Here is a gallery of the street art in the Project24 space along Queen’s Parade (which continues on from the art on the main road – see Remember To Daydream), updating the gallery in How About This For Art? The buzzard, toad, and turtle are all by Keyto (ig) and the partial face is by Kate Whiteman (web); the artist of the final piece is perhaps COZ (ig).
Here is a gallery of street art from a repainting at the end of June of the boarded up shop-fronts along Queen’s Parade, Bangor. The images from top to bottom in this post follow the art east from the Project24 space towards Main Street:
Side-Eye Birds by Strangford (ig) Sup Moon And Sun Save The Tiger Shark by Keyto (ig) Squid by Fox & Bear Swan by Kate Whiteman (ig) Hold Me In This Wild Wild World by Sweat, Tears, And The Sea (ig) Remember To Daydream by Lost Lines (ig) Stars by Cha Cha (ig) (organiser of the jam and tour guide for the Bangor Street Art tour) Koi Pond by Anie Poole (ig) Flowers by Alexandra (ig)
“Our wee champ.” 21-year-old boxer Liam McGuinness, of Gleann ABC (Fb), died by suicide in October 2010, one of the many people to take their own lives in west Belfast that year among the 313 in all of Northern Ireland (Irish Examiner | Guardian | NI Assembly). A vigil was held in September (in Twinbrook) to commemorate the suicides there (BBC); another was held in the days after McGuinness’s death (BBC); a forum on the topic was held by Sınn Féın. The mural in his memory and in support of suicide awareness is outside the club, off the Glen Road in Hannahstown.
The source of James Connolly’s quote involving the phrase “from the plough to the stars” is unknown, on-line, at least. As a result, there is no definitive version of it. Here it is given as “The Irish people will only be free when they own everything from the plough to the stars” but more reliable sources – though still without citation – give it as “A free Ireland will control its own destiny from the plough to the stars” (RTÉ | People’s World). Whatever its exact nature, the remark might have been in the context of explaining the use of the plough in the stars, the Starry Plough, Ursa Major, for the flag of the Irish Citizen Army (History Ireland).
The Starry Plough currently serves as a symbol of the IRSP (web). The painting shown above is on an electrical box in St James’s Park (near the new Connolly centre); the other painting, below, which might still be in progress, is outside the IRSP’s Costello House on the Falls Road
Here are four north Belfast landmarks that are still standing in the shadow of Cavehill, though not all of them are in great shape. From left to right:
Chapel Of The Resurrection (as seen from Innisfayle Park – Street View), originally built in the 1860s as part of the Belfast Castle estate and from 1938 until 1972 a (public) Church Of Ireland chapel (WP), after which it was left derelict until recently being turned into luxury apartments (Property News) as part of “Donegall Park Gardens”;
the Bellevue steps (official title, the “Grand Floral Staircase”) – the currently overgrown steps and a vintage photograph of the steps in happier times can be seen in Everyone Wants To Eat – leading to Floral Hall, which now provides storage space for the zoo – full history at ‘Lord Belmont’ | BelTel;
Belfast Castle;
(perhaps) the former Fortwilliam Park Presbyterian on the Antrim Road (News Letter | BelTel) – once Belfast’s tallest spire (BelTel) – which in 2019 became Immaculate Heart Of Mary/Eaglaıs An Ċroí Ṁuıre Gan Smál (web) saying only the (Catholic) Latin mass.
The art is on the walls of UPS estate agents’ at the top of Cavehill Road, north Belfast, by Danni Simpson (web) and Karl Fenz (web), who also did the swan, the fox, and the squirrel on other local establishments.
In May and June, Palestinian artist Taqi Spateen (web | ig) toured various cities in England and Scotland (Leeds, Glasgow, Bristol, Stroud, London) as part of the Bethlehem Cultural Festival, producing a wall-painting at each stop. Thereafter, he came to Belfast, where he painted three pieces, beginning with this small piece on the side of the Sunflower bar in Kent Street, showing a person with a head encased in concrete trying to hammer themselves free.
“From the river to the sea Palestine will be free.” The South Link, Andersonstown, murals seen recently (at end of March) in Though An Army Besiege Me, My Heart Will Not Fear have already been repainted, switching images of Israeli weapons for the images of death, suffering, and destruction seen here. According to the Al Jazeera tracker, the Palestinian death toll is approaching 40,000, with almost 90,000 injured.
“I’m just a young fella from Andytown who didn’t give up.” In May (2024) Anthony (“Anto”) “The Apache” Cacace (ig) won the IBF super featherweight title with a victory over Joe Cordina in Saudi Arabia (BelTel). To honour this feat, a mural was painted in South Link, Andersonstown, with Cacace holding the both the IBF and IBO belts. Cacace went to Holy Child primary and starting boxing at the age of 10 at Oliver Plunkett’s (Fb). His father Tony is from Naples, Italy – hence the Italian flag on the right.
On September 21st, Cacace will defend his IBF title, fighting against Josh Warrington in Wembley Stadium (BelTel).
The two passages cited here have been cited before on the side wall at the junction of the Limestone Road and N Queen St, with images of Orange symbols and Union Flags, in order to promise that Your Kingdom Will Endure Forever. That theme has now been invoked in upper Tiger’s Bay, to celebrate the latest king (Charles III) of the everlasting kingdom demarcated by the shields of the “four nations” in the corners of the main gable, Northern Ireland included.
The people in question in the second book of Samuel are the people of Israel but as with previous scriptural references on the lower wall (Lamentations | Chronicles | Revelations | Psalms | Genesis), the Protestant people in Ireland and Britain are under discussion (though they might also refer to contemporary Israel).
In the King James version, 2 Samuel 7:10-16 the prophet Nathan is speaking to David: “Moreover I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as beforetime, and as since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel, and have caused thee to rest from all thine enemies. Also the Lord telleth thee that he will make thee an house. And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men: But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee. And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever.”
In Luke 1:31-33, an angel is speaking to Mary: “And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.”
Paddy Duffy Collection 