“Fáılte go dtí Brandywell” – this is a long mural about the welfare of children, citing rights 3, 6, 9, 23, 24, and 31 from the UN’s Convention On The Rights Of The Child, as rendered by Caroline Castle.
Brandywell Road, Derry
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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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Countess Markievicz, carrying a flag of Cumann Na mBan, and Ethel Lynch, carrying a flag of the Derry IRA, take centre stage in the Mná Na hÉıreann mural in London-/Derry/Doıre’s bogside. Markievicz is famous for her role in the Easter Rising of 1916 (WP); Lynch died in December 1974 of injuries sustained when a bomb exploded prematurely. Between them, “Liberty leads the people” waving an Irish Tricolour.
To their left are three Derry women protesting the conditions in Armagh Women’s Prison and in the H-Blocks. This article on Mary Nelis (the protester on the right, with Kathleen Deeny and Theresa Deery) describes the photograph on which this part of the mural is based. The women in Armagh prison were allowed to wear their own clothes and so were not ‘on the blanket’ as their male counterparts in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh were. However, they did engage in a “no wash” protest, which lasted from February 1980 until March 1981, and three of them – Maıréad Farrell, Mary Doyle, and Margaret Nugent – joined the 1980 hunger strike.
To their right (beyond the coffin scene) members of Cumann Na mBan are on parade; the photo of on which this is based can be seen in Mothering Sunday In Beechmount, though the faces have been changed here, presumably to those of more contemporary volunteers.
The figure wearing a cloth cap and holding a rifle is Eithne Coyle, a leader and later president of Cumann Na mBan, imprisoned both by the Black and Tans before the treaty and after it by the Provisional Irish government (WP). For the photograph on which her pose here is based, see An Phoblacht‘s History Of Cumann Na mBan.
In the four corners are circles of Betsy Gray, Anne Devlin, Mary Ann McCracken, and Máıre Drumm. Gray and McCracken were Presbyterians; Gray fought (or at least, was killed) in the 1798 rebellion, as did McCracken’s brother Henry Joy; Mary Ann went on to work for the poor of Belfast and lobby against slavery. Anne Devlin assisted in Robert Emmet’s 1803 rising. (National Graves Assoc) Máıre Drumm was vice-president of Sınn Féın and commander of Cumann Na mBan, who are shown marching on the right-hand side.
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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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Carlos Latuff’s (ig) image of an Israeli Apache helicopter firing a “hellfire” missile at a Palestinian child has been reproduced in Springhill Park, Strabane, by John Carlin and others (Highland Radio).
It was also reproduced in Springhill, west Belfast, by Mo Chara Kelly.
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Copyright © 2014 Peter Moloney
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This is an end-of-life image – or perhaps a preparation-for-repainting image – of the mural at the corner of Ardoyne Avenue. The mural is still is reasonable shape (compared to 2008) but the 34 medallions with portraits to local volunteers and activists have been removed.
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Copyright © 2014 Peter Moloney
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A British soldier patrols the streets while a girl walks home from school and a boy plays hurley. This is one of the panels in the long mural at the shops on Ardoyne Avenue.
The “Welcome” verbiage is just out of shot on the left-hand side; on the right is “Is fearr Gaeılge brıste ná Béarla clıste” [Broken Irish is better than clever English] and (out of shot) some Celtic knotwork. For close-ups of all of the panels, see Growing Up Too Fast.
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Copyright © 2014 Peter Moloney
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This is a large mural is by Gerard “Mo Chara” Kelly‘s (video) new work at the top of Springhill Avenue, where it is blocked off from the Springfield Road.
On the left, a figure in a black-and white keffiyeh give the two-finger ‘V for victory’ sign beneath the Terence McSwiney (WP) quote: “It is not those who can inflict the most but those that can suffer the most who will conquer.”
In the middle, a protestor stands up to an Israeli tank with a swastika. (See the adjacent mural in Palestinian Territory.)
On the right, an Israeli Apache helicopter fires a Hellfire missile at a young Gazan boy carrying a teddy-bear (originally a Carlos Latuff (ig) poster).
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Copyright © 2014 Peter Moloney
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“Belfast’s Bloody Sunday. On the 9th July 1972 the British Army murdered 5 Irish citizens and severely wounded 2 others. It’s time for the truth.”
This is a mural by Mo Chara Kelly (with DD Walker, Michael Kelly, and Ta Heath) commemorating the deaths of five people shot by British Army snipers in 1972: Paddy Butler (39), David McCafferty (15), Margaret Gargan (13), John Dougal (16), Fr Noel Fitzpatrick (40). The snipers fired from JP Corry’s timber yard (shown on the right) and at the time the Westrock bungalows were still standing (shown lower left).
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Copyright © 2014 Peter Moloney
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Here is a set of pro-Palestinian murals at the top of Springhill, inspired by recent events in Gaza.
The second (from left to right) shows Palestinian teenager Faris Odeh throwing a rock at an Israeli tank; Odeh was shot and killed a few days later (WP). The AP photograph on which the mural is based can be seen in this May 2012 edition of (the Pakistani) The Nation.
The final two are intended to show four stages of the disappearing Palestinian territories (on the left) and four stages of the disappearing Irish gaeltacht (on the right). The Palestinian one was completed – see below – but the Irish one never was.
Springhill Avenue, west Belfast.
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Copyright © 2014 Peter Moloney
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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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The fairy-tale covering painted over an LVF “North Belfast Rat Pack” mural is fading away to reveal the previous work. For the original LVF mural, see D01199.
The graffiti on the wall – Welcome to LVF Land – has itself been scored out, and there is also a piece of anti-LVF graffiti in the street.
Ballysillan Avenue, north Belfast
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Copyright © 2014 Peter Moloney
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The local New Lodge GAA club Cumman An Phıarsaıgh is named in honour of Patrick Pearse, executed after the 1916 rising. The club’s new mural features footballers contesting a ball and Pearse’s image appears at the centre of a Celtic cross along with part of his 1912 poem Mıse Éıre in the bottom corner (shown in the close-up).
Painted by Lucas Quigley and Michael Doherty. Replaces ‘New Lodge 2000‘.
Mıse Éıre: Sıne mé na an Chaılleach Bhéarra.
Mór mo ghlóır: Mé a rug Cú Chulaınn croga.
Mór mo náır: Mo chlann féın a dhíol a máthaır.
[Mór mo phıan: Bıthnaımhde do mo shíorchıapadh.
Mór mo bhrón: D’éag an dream ınar chuıreas dóchas.]
Mıse Éıre: Uaıgní mé ná an Chaılleach Bhéarra.
I am Ireland: I am older than the old woman of Beare.
Great my glory: I who bore Cuchulainn, the brave.
Great my shame: My own children who sold their mother.
[Great my pain: My irreconcilable enemy who harasses me continually.
Great my sorrow: That crowd, in whom I placed my trust, died.]
I am Ireland: I am lonelier than the old woman of Beare.
New Lodge Road, north Belfast.
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Copyright © 2014 Peter Moloney
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Peter Moloney Collection 