La Calavera Catrina

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Painting one’s face to resemble a skull, and wearing flowers (particularly marigolds) in one’s hair is a modern tradition that stems from the sugar skulls that are part of the offerings that the living provide for the dead who – for the brief period around the ‘Day Of The Dead’ – are able to return from the underworld (Mexico Historico | Bachman)

This calavera catrina (“dapper skull”) was painted by Visual Waste (web) on the upper wall of Bebe Adrianos Mexicanos (Fb), a burrito bar in Bangor.

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Zoom!

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Here is a gallery of new street art on the ever-changing wall in the ‘Project 24’ space off Queen’s Parade, Bangor. Above is a tribute by Glen Molloy (Fb) to fellow sprayer JOHNDEN1; below is the piercing gaze of an eagle by Keyto (ig).

Here are some pieces on the same wall from July (Bangor Is Buzzing), April (How About This For Art?), November 2023 (Stop Ruining Art), March 2023 (This Is Not The Same As Other Days).

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Mystery Man

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Bangor artist Jossie Pops (web) painted Bangor photographer Gerry Coe’s portrait (ig) of Bangor author Colin Batemen. Ten of Bateman’s books are stacked to the left, from 1995’s Divorcing Jack to 2022’s Thunder And Lightning.

Mill Row, Bangor, opposite irony’s ‘crab attack’ street art.

See also: Apocalypse Mime.

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The Pride O’ Oor Land Lie Cauld In The Clay

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“In proud memory of Ryan McCosh [and] Chris Hamilton, North Down battalion, Bangor”. The memorial board was officially dedicated on November 10th but was in place a month previously (Fb).

To the right of the wide shot, writing on side-walls can be seen that reads “Bangor Protestant Boys F[lute] B[and]” and “Did they beat the drum slowly? Did they play the fife lowly?”. The latter lines are from Eric Bogle’s song “No Man’s Land” which is about a young man (“Willie McBride”) dying on “the green fields of France” in WWI. (Here (youtube) is the recording by Tommy Makem and Liam Clancy.) McCosh and Hamilton appear to have been members of the flute band, rather than members of the Ulster Volunteers or the Troubles-era UVF.

Ardgheean Gardens, Kilcooley, Bangor

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Handsome Dave

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“In loving memory of Davy Wilsdon” – Wilsdon appears to have been a member of the Somme Memorial flute band (Fb) in Bangor. He died in January, 2022 (funeral service on youtube). The band sponsored a memorial bench in Wilsdon’s honour in the village of Mesnil-Martinsart, France (Fb | Street View | see also Ulster Tower). In addition, his portrait has been painted by London artist Olivier Roubieu (web) in Beatrice Avenue/High Street, Bangor, replacing the painting of Terry Bradley’s Don’t Look Back.

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Take Back The City

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The city in question here is Bangor, Co. Down (rather than London, which features in the video (youtube) for the song of the same name). The band Snow Patrol (and in particular, guitarist and Bangor native Gary Lightbody) have organised a music festival in the town’s Ward Park in 2007, 2010, and 2019 (Soul Surmise). There are no public plans for a ‘Ward Park 4’ (Chord Blossom) but there is some speculation on-line (Fb) of a concert in 2025, which artist Jossie Pops (web) is trying to drum up support for with this painting of Lightbody on the side of Harrison-Morris-Waugh chartered account’s office, in Southwell Street, Bangor.

Also in Bangor: The cover of Snow Patrol’s ‘Wildness’ album was painted for Ward Park 3 – see This Is Not The Same As Other Days.

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Peace Through Strength

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“The Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) was an infantry regiment of the British Army established in 1970, with a comparatively short existence ending in 1992. Raised through public appeal, newspaper and television advertisements, their official role was the “defence of life or property in Northern Ireland against armed attack or sabotage” but unlike troops from Great Britain they were never used for “crowd control or riot duties in cities”. At the time the UDR was the largest infantry regiment in the British Army, formed with seven battalions plus another four added within two years.”

“The UDR Soldier: As poppy petals gently fall,/Remember us who gave our all,/Not in the mud of foreign lands,/Not buried in the dessert sands.//In Ulster field and farm and town,/Fermanagh’s lanes and drumlin’d Down,/An Ulsterman should live in peace//We did not serve because we hate,/Nor bitterness our hearts dictate,/But we were they who must aspire,/To quench the flame of terror’s fire.//As buglers sound and pipers play/The proud Battalions march away./Now may the weary violence cease,/And let our country live in peace. – By John Potter”. Potter (bio at Royal Irish) also wrote a history of the UDR called A Testimony To Courage.

The statue featured on the right is the Lisburn UDR Memorial.

Next to the ‘B Specials’ board in Parkhall Road, Antrim

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For The Fishermen

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According to the Lough Neagh fisheries collective, about 400 tonnes of eel are taken annually from the lake (Fisheries Collective | also Fb | see also DAERA 2022 management plan). If eel is not your idea of dinner, the Fisheries Visitor Centre in Toomebridge might convince you otherwise.

This new painting is by emic (web) on Main Street, Toome.

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Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
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