Here are four panels on Beechmount Avenue (Belfast) in 1981 depicting (from left to right) Ireland in the grip of a fist with a Union Flag cufflink, a prison guard whose mouth holds prison bars, a naked figure in a tricoloured scarf crucified on a Union Flag, and Ireland carrying a cross “Made in Britain”.
At least three of the original images are by Jack Clafferty, a founder member of the Troops Out Movement, and can be found on-line.
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Copyright © 1981 LC
M00121 M00122
A naked republican prisoner lies in the arms of his parents – invoking Michelangelo’s pietà – with the towers of Long Kesh (a.k.a. HMP Maze) in the background.
Painted by Con at the top of Donegall Road, Belfast.
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Copyright © 1981 LC
M00111 M00109 M00110
Here are four images of the completed ‘Incident At Narrow Water’ mural shown in-progress in a separate post.
For interpretation of the piece, see Visual History 4 – Paramilitary Murals (1981-1982).
Rockville Street, west Belfast
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Copyright © 1981 LC
M00107 M00105 M00106 M00108
Here are three images of a Rockville Street (CNR west Belfast) mural being painted in 1981, depicting (one part of) the IRA’s 1979 ambush of the British Army at Narrow Water Castle, near Warrenpoint (WP), on the same day that Louis Mountbatten was killed (see previously: 13 Gone But Not Forgotten).
Images of the completed mural are in a separate entry.
For interpretation of the piece, see Visual History 4 – Paramilitary Murals (1981-1982).
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 1981 LC
M00103 M00102 M00101
A poster showing an armed republican volunteer against the background of an Irish tricolour attached to a poleaxe (pike) is reproduced in Rockdale Street, west Belfast.
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Copyright © 1981 LC
M00118
The first names of six hunger-strikers — Bobby, Francis, Patsy, Raymond, Joe, Martin — on a ribbon held by a tricoloured phoenix against a sunburst, flanked by Starry Plough and Tricolour and volunteers firing a final salute. The ribbon would be expanded to include the first names of all ten 1981 hunger strikers – see the Paddy Duffy Collection.
Painted by Con in Rockdale Street, west Belfast.
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Copyright © 1981 LC
M00116
“Venceremos” is a Spanish Civil War slogan meaning “we will win (or: overcome)”, here alongside Irish revolutionaries armed with rifles and machine guns against a background of tricolour and sunburst.
Slemish Way/Andersonstown Road, Belfast
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Copyright © 1981 LC
M00115
“Victory [to the] IRA”. Volunteers with RPGs and armalites on Shaws Road, Belfast, kneeling over an outline of Ireland in green, white, and gold. The original (unattributed) photograph is below.
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Copyright © 1981 LC
M00114
“We must grow tough, but without ever losing our tenderness.” Three female activists, one with a rifle, proclaim “Resistance” on the Falls Road, Belfast “painted by Sınn Féın Youth”. The phrase is attributed to Che Guevara. Rolston (1991 p. 94) claims this mural was done for International Women’s Day 1982 (March 6th). An in-progress image can be seen in the Paddy Duffy Collection.
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Copyright © 1981 LC
M00100 M00137
“Of course we can be murdered, but while we remain alive, we remain what we are, political prisoners of war – B. Sands”. A lark in barbed wire on an Irish tricolour, with the names of the ten hunger-strikers who died: B. Sands, F. Hughes, P. O’Hara, K. Lynch, M. Devine, R. McCreesh, J. McDonnell, M. Hurson, K. Doherty, T, McIlwee [McElwee].
Whiterock Road, Belfast.
The latter images show an earlier version of the mural, with six names, and the wall in preparation.
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Copyright © 1981 LC
M00097 M00205 M00204 [M00207]
Peter Moloney Collection 
