painted wall

Female Guardians

Extramural Activity1 Comment

This pair of images — “Deserted! Well – I can stand alone” from the anti-Home Rule campaign that continued during WWI and the other a more contemporary scene of “a protestant farmer’s wife guard[ing] her husband against sectarian attack from across the border” — was previously painted in (what remains of) Moscow Street, next to the Rex bar on the Shankill. (See X00066. See also M00558 lower Shankill | M00621 east Belfast | M02302 east Belfast). The plaque on the right was not originally part of the mural (see J2395) and the mural would later be modified by the removal of the Orange Order and St Andrew’s flags (but not the UVF emblem), replaced by a shamrock-strewn banner reading “Fight To A Finish” (M08026).

Drumtara, Ballymena

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Copyright © 2007 Peter Moloney
M03578

Bernadette

Extramural Activity1 Comment

The Bernadette mural by the Bogside Artists is prepared for an update, ten years after originally being painted, in 1997.

“The Artists’ first coloured mural is a tribute to the women of Derry and their role in the civil rights campaign. Bernadette Devlin, Britain’s youngest MP, addresses the crowd during the Battle of the Bogside: her actions resulted in a six month jail sentence for inciting and taking part in a riot. The woman to her left bangs a dustbin lid on the ground to alert neighbours to the arrival of the authorities. The triable motif inspired by the gable end is repeated throughout the painting. Our job is to do justice to our history and the price people have paid for their democratic rights. That’s what we are about.“

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Copyright © 2007 Peter Moloney
M03414 [M03933] M03861

The Famine

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“Nature sent the potato blight, government & landlords created the famine.” 1845-1849 saw one million Irish people die and a million more emigrate. During the period, the full range of other foodstuffs was produced and shipped to England, being too expensive for the native population.

Lenadoon Avenue, Belfast

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Copyright © 2007 Peter Moloney
M03538

Stop At Nothing

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“Our rulers will stop at nothing to attain their ends. They will continue to rule and rob until confronted by men who will stop at [nothing to overthrow them].” The quote is from James Connolly on Conscription. Local volunteer Joe McDonnell is portrayed between the names of the ten deceased 1981 hunger strikers. 

Lenadoon Avenue, Belfast

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Copyright © 2007 Peter Moloney
M03537

Lamh Dearg Abu

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The UVF’s Red Hand Commando are inspired by the British Army’s SAS and uses a similar image for its emblem: instead of wings on a sword, RHC uses wings on a red hand. [East Belfast] C company mural in Ballybeen. ‘Lamh dearg abu’ = ‘red hand to victory’.

Upper Newtownards Road

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Copyright © 2007 Peter Moloney
M03515 [M03513] [M03514]

Ulster’s Sons, Ulster’s Sacrifice

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The upper image in the main mural is of workers leaving Harland & Wolff shipyard in 1911. In the lower image, they are shot in the trenches and suffer a gas attack in WWI.

Upper Newtownards Road, Ballybeen, Dundonald

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Copyright © 2007 Peter Moloney
M03505 [M03503] [M03504] [M03506] [M03507] [M03508] [M03509] [M03510] M03511 M03512 M03502