God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son (John 3:16). And greater love hath no man but to lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13, often used in the context of military sacrifice). But local homes are for local people. (The use of a stencil is a step up in sophistication.)
The Union Flag fills the empty frame where there used to be a list of locals who died in The Belfast Blitz.
Jayden Braniff passed away in August in 2023 (Fb) from neuroblastoma. He was made an honorary member of the Pride Of Ballymacash (Lisburn) flute band (Fb). He is remembered by the Pride Of Ardoyne (Fb) and the Shankill Protestant Boys (Fb) in a tarp in Lawnbrook Avenue (upper Shankill, Belfast), next to the Walter Smith/Rangers tarp (one | two) and near his father’s house (Funeral Times).
Verz’s (ig) Hindu man on the side of the Hospice Shop in Finaghy was paint-bombed back in December (2023) even before it had been completed (see Tilaka) and after subsequent vandalism was “removed following community engagement”. At a subsequent meeting, Nisha Tandon (CAP profile) of ArtsEkta (web) (whose grant is paying for this and other south Belfast murals) was subject to racist remarks (Belfast City Council’s South Belfast Area Working Group – pdf). At a June 5th meeting (Fb), however, this design by emic (web) – of a bunch flowers being offered from one person to another – was accepted.
The in-progress shot (final image) is from August 7th
“‘For us there is no valid definition of socialism other than the abolition of the exploitation of one human being by another’ – Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara, Marxist revolutionary, 1928-1967.” The line comes from Che’s address at the Afro-Asian Economic conference in Algeria in 1965.
These Lasaır Dhearg (web) stencils and stickers also propose that it is “time for a socialist republic” (drawing inspiration from James Connolly) and that “the PSNI is not a normal police force” (for background see Just Don’t in the Seosamh Mac Coılle collection).
Stewartstown Road, west Belfast. For the same stencil of Connolly, though providing a better representation of the man, see Time For A Socialist Republic.
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.
The gates in the “peace” line at Kells Avenue, Stewartstown, are unlocked each morning at seven, allowing people to walk between to walk between Lenadoon and Blacks Road (the Lidl is on the Lenadoon side) until they are locked each evening at seven. The gates were painted by emic (ig) in December 2022, with PEACE IV funding (Belfast City Council).
This images in this entry depict, above and below the information board about the park, the World Wars installation inside the park and the banners on the fence along Derrycoole Way.
There is an annual commemoration of the fallen in the World Wars in Rathcoole each year. The monument consisting of mourning soldiers and sandbags) was created in 2020 (Fb group | News Letter) and the bench was perhaps added in 2022. Images from the 2023 ‘row on row’ commemoration can be seen at NI World. The Row On Row group (web) hope to create a permanent memorial on the spot.
Rathcoole People’s Park was renamed the Sir James Craig Play Park by Antrim & Newtownabbey council in September, 2021, as part of the council’s celebrations of the centenary of Northern Ireland (NI World).
The banners on the side are from the Rathcoole Protestant Boys flute band (Fb) whose annual parade was at the end of June, and the Whitehouse Williamite Historical Society (Fb) whose fun-day on June 15th included a historical re-enactment of William’s army landing at Whitehouse. (For more on William’s connection to Whitehouse, see June 14th, 1690.)
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.
Paddy Duffy Collection 