Thank you for visiting! Extramural Activity is …
(1) a map/database of the wall paintings in Northern Ireland/north-east Ireland. The database is accessed via the maps. There is one map showing all the wall paintings ever, and another showing only those that are currently visible.
(2) a collection of images and information about them. The collection of images is searchable using the tools in the side-bar. You can also scroll through the entries below — the newest works are at the top. If you want a feed of the latest art, “follow” us using one of the methods in the side-bar — a new entry is added (almost) every day.
(3) a set of “Visual Histories”, that is, pages describing and illustrating the history, trends, and common motifs in muraling and street art, e.g. Cú Chulaınn murals, the Bobby Jackson murals, Free Derry Corner, the International Wall, murals with Iron Maiden’s Eddie The Trooper, etc., etc.
Lucky Monsters
Berlin-based Mexican artist Sr. Papá Chango (ig | web) was in Belfast for HTN24, combining classical still life – in this case a metal pitcher with a pink lily and a clover leaf – with one of his “lucky monsters”.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
T04651 T04652
Sásta A Bheıth Anseo
The mural on the wall of Madden’s bar in the city centre has been updated. Fiddler Art Lundy and the “decommissioned” ashtray are retained, but much else has changed. (For the previous version, see Madden’s.)
Traditional Irish and Irish-language music features in multiple places:
— a poster for new group Biird (ig) is in the mirror behind Art’s head (and next to an Acht Na Gaeılge fáınne (see #AchtAnois) and a Pride flag);
— by his fingering hand is a poster for Féıle Na Gealaí (web);
— the “Fine Art” in front of the pints is the cover of Kneecap’s (web) forthcoming album – DJ Próvaí’s familiar tricoloured balaclava can be seen on the side-door in the third image, below (see also their two murals in Beechmount, Incendiary Device and England Get Out Of Ireland);
— the album cover to its right is the EP “Sásta A Bheıth Anseo” [Happy To Be Here] by Múlú (Mıaḋaċluġaın Ní Doṁnaıll | ig) which you can hear on youtube.
The other main change is the addition of two newspapers. In the Andersonstown News in Art’s pocket trumpets Cliftonville’s 3-1 victory over Linfield in the Irish Cup on May 4th (youtube highlights), while on the table a copy of The Irish News reports on DUP (now-former) leader Jeffrey Donaldson being prosecuted on charges of rape and sexual assault (BBC).
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
T04677 T04678 T04679 T04680 Berry St Marty Lyons
Hitting The Wall
The Belfast marathon (web) took place on May 5th (the same day as Hit The North) and as the runners completed their twentieth mile at the Waterworks on the Antrim Road they might have seen the mile marker shown above, which hopefully inspired them to power through ‘the wall’ they typically hit around 18-20 miles/3.5 hours of running (Marathon Handbook).
Also along the route, in North Queen St, and with a suitable theme, is the Sınn Féın placard shown below: “Let’s not run from the conversation” about a united. Ireland.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
T04668 T04469
Tomorrow
Sydney-based artist Sophi Odling (web | ig) was in town for HTN24, painting this large piece in York Lane (behind the D block of the new UU building), showing a youngster dreaming of what they will get up to ‘tomorrow’.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
T04508 T04507
North Down UVF
Each quadrant of Down (north, south, east, west) gave rise to a battalion of Ulster Volunteers, and North Down comprised 15 companies, almost doubling the typical British-Army size of eight companies (History Ireland; see also another History Ireland article on the initially sporadic development of the Volunteers out of Unionist Clubs).
Upon the outbreak of the Great War, the Down volunteers joined the 13th battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles, which were assigned to the 108th brigade of the 36th Division of the British Army.
The mural shown in this entry is a recent repainting; the previous version was painted in 2017 (and originally c. 2007 – see M03697).
See also: Only A Few Minutes – a memorial mural to Bangor native James Samuel Davidson, of the 108th and a North Down volunteer.
Clandeboye Road, at the bottom of the Kilcooley estate.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
T04297
Electrifying Footwork
Jordanian artist Dalal Mitwally (web) was in Belfast for HTN24, painting a large piece in Talbot Street which has signs reading “Danger 33,000 volts” on the wall – marking a Belfast council electricity sub-station.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
T04553 T04552r
The Last Thing To Lose Is Hope
Lídia Cao (ig), an artist from the Galicia area of Spain (ISSA), was in Belfast for HTN24, painting a large piece in Talbot Street, next to DanK’s Blurry Eyed and replacing Sabek’s Conflict.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
T04551 T04550
Broken Promises
This piece of street art by Zabou (ig) on the old Telegraph offices, painted for HTN24, is about 50 feet/16 metres tall, dwarfing Alice Pasquini’s Glide and BUST’s piece of neo-pop at the corner of Royal Avenue and Donegall Street.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
T04490 T04489 T04491 T04635r
Drum And Bass
Here is a gallery of 13 pieces painted for Hit The North 2024 on Union Street below Kent Street. In order, from top to bottom, they are by …
Psoman (ig)
David McMillan (ig)
Alexandra (ig)
Shona Hardie (ig)
Perspicere (ig)
Novice (ig)
JMK (ig)
Katriona (ig)
Klo Wi (ig)
?Moira Fowley? (ig)
Kerrie Hanna (ig)
Ana Fish (ig)
BOGS (MOS profile)
Finally, there are two pieces inside the construction site, by EOIN (ig) and FGB (ig).
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
[T04472] [T04473] [T04563] T04639 T04564 [T04640] [T04565] T04667
T04540 T04568
[T04549] T04567
T04487 [T04541] T04566
[T04542] [T04543] T04562
[T04544] T04561
[T04545] T04560
T04559
[T04546] T04558
[T04557] T04638
T04548 [T04556] T04637
[T04547] T04555
T04554
T04664
T04665
Ulster Freedom Fighters
The UDA began using the “Ulster Freedom Fighters” name from February 1973 onwards in order to avoid the UDA becoming a proscribed organisation, though its members had already killed dozens of people in 1972 and January 1973 (WP timeline). (Fifty Years Of Service (in Ballymoney) marks the fiftieth anniversary – in 2021 – of the UDA.)
The tarp shown above likewise conflates the UDA and UFF, with two images from 1972, before the “UFF” name was used; on the left, the men marching behind a van marked “UDA Patrol” are on the Shankill Road (BelTel); on the right, four men stand at a barricade in the Woodvale (Victor Patterson).
The images in the second tarp show (left) a bus blocking Agnes Street and four men blocking the Shankill Road (Getty – no date given) and (right) a 1975 march in Belfast (Som Tribune).
The UDU board immediately below was seen previously in Ulster Defence Unions.
Glenbrook Road, Glen estate, Newtownards.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
T04440 [T04441] [T04442] T04443 T04444 [T04445] [T04446]
Extramural Activity 