painted wall

So Glad You’re Here

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Here is a gallery of images from the nineteen new pieces of art around the perimeter of Grand Central station at Durham Street and Grosvenor Road, called “When Walls Speak Welcome”. Commissioned by @translinkni @daisychaininc and @emicartist

Durham Street:
1 Pointing Child – emic (web)
2 Thinking Angel – Wee Nuls (web)
3 Bees – Friz (web)
4 Mech Head – NOYS (ig)
5 Helmet Sprayer – KVLR (web)
6 Three Flowers – FGB (web)
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7 Raven – Conor McClure (ig)
8 Head With Swallows – emic (web)
9 Hands And Birds – Zippy (web)
10 Schoolgirl Holding Tree – ?Razer?

Durham Street/Grosvenor Road junction:
11 Nature – Kerrie Hanna (web)
12 Let’s Go – Lost Lines (ig)
13 Flamingo – Imogen Donegan (ig)
14 Blossoms – Alexandra (ig)
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Grosvenor Road:
15 Floating Guy – Jam2 (ig)
16 Cockerel – Ana Fish (web)
[gate]
17 Tandem Bicyclists – David McMillan (web)
18 “Nocturne Flow” – Karl Fenz (web) and Rob Hilken (web)
19 So Glad You’re Here – HMC (web) and Danni Simpson (web)

Entrance to Grand Central Station

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Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
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Belfast Blitz 1941

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This is a representation of the 1941 Belfast Blitz, providing a graphic companion to the large board in Enfield Street, which contains information and images, and a list of 79 people from the Woodvale who died in the blitz. (There is also a plaque on the side of the Woodvale Community Centre.) There were three separate nights of bombing: April 7th/8th, April 15th/16th, and May 4th/5th and half of the buildings in Belfast were destroyed or damaged (WP); it is not clear what particular buildings are being depicted here.

On the left, spotlights and anti-aircraft guns attempt to take down the planes dropping bombs. (For information about the anti-aircraft guns in Belfast, see York Road Civil Defence Hall.)

Painted by DanK (web) in Glenvale Street, Woodvale, west Belfast, during the same trip in which he painted a D-Day mural in Carrickfergus.

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Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
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Sword Beach, June 6th 1944

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The plaque in the bottom-right corner reads, “Dedicated to Sergeant George Arthur Horner 27/03/1927 Royal Ulster Rifles 14464865 — “Carrickfergus’ Oldest Veteran” and to all other veterans who served in HM Armed Forces.” Horner turned 99 a few days after this mural of D-Day was unveiled (on March 22nd) and he was awarded the freedom of Mid- And East-Antrim Borough (web). He served in the second battalion of the Royal Ulster Rifles, and landed on Sword Beach during the D-Day landings in June 1944 (Fb).

Painted by DanK (web) in Carnhill Walk, Castlemara, Carrickfergus, replacing 100 Years Of The Covenant.

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Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
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All Gave Some

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This entry updates a similar entry from 2022 with images and close-ups of the now-faded red and orange paint in the mural on the back wall of the “36th (Ulster) Division Victoria Cross Memorial Garden”.

For close-ups of the board picturing the WWI VC winners, see The Dead We Honour Here. “‘Throughout the long years of struggle … the men of Ulster have proved how nobly they fight and die’ – King George V, 16th November, 1918”

St Leonard’s Crescent/old Newcastle Street, east Belfast

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Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
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Mercedes Gleitze

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Mercedes Gleitze was an open-water endurance swimmer who achieved various feats, including swimming the English Channel and the Straits Of Gibraltar. She also attempted to swim the North Channel eight times, starting on four occasions from Donaghadee (Brighton Museum), site of these drawings by artist Vanessa Daws (web | Swimming A Long Way Together) – herself an open-water swimmer – on a shelter on Commons Park.

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Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
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Show One’s Teeth

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Here are the results of a recent paint-jam in the Project 24 space near Bangor Marina. From top to bottom (left to right on the wall):

Nozzle-headed cats by ?Imogen Donegan (ig) and Ana Fish (ig)?,
a spooky sprayer by Critter (ig),
a toothsome skull by ANCO and (A)SEK (ig) of TMN,
a (painted and not in fact) sewn face by Codo (ig),
a cigarette smoker by Féoıl (ig),
a smiling shark by Keyto (ig), and
writing by TORE

2025-12 Twist The Sinews Of Thy Heart
2025-06 Love All Round Ye
2025-04 Shrunken Heads
2024-11 Zoom! (which includes Glen Molloy’s remaining JOHNDEN piece, which can be seen in the wide shot, below)
2024-04 How About This For Art?
2023-11 Stop Ruining Art
2023-04 Around Every Corner
2023-01 This Is Not The Same As Every Day

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Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
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Fine Heads

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Belfast match-maker Maguire & Paterson made matches under the brands Buffalo, Swift, Bo-Peep, and City Hall (and perhaps others). The factory was on the Donegall Road, on what became, for a time, the site of West Side Stores (and is now a set of houses facing the Park Centre. Here is an aerial view (on Fb) of the factory in 1947, when Celtic Park was still standing.

This tribute to the Belfast match is by Leo Boyd (web) in Beechmount Avenue, west Belfast.

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Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
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