THE FLYING ANGEL BY MAURICE HARRON IS DEDICATED TO SEAFARERS
A bronze and stainless steel angel reaches out from the bow of a ship built at the side of the Mission to Seafarers building. The figure is the symbol of the Seafarers’ Mission, a religious charity set up in the 18th Century to provide sailors with shelter and comfort. Find it at Prince’s Dock Street, off Pilot Street and just north of Clarendon Dock.
Harron was born and grew up in Derry, Northern Ireland. He studied sculpture at the Ulster College of Art and Design in Belfast.
Much of his work is public art sculpture and he has works sited in Northern Ireland and in the Republic of Ireland. Two of his most acclaimed commissions are Reconcilition/Hands Across the Divide in Carlisle Square, Derry, overlooking the Craigavon Bridge crossing the River Foyle, and the Gaelic Chieftain, arguably his most experimental and impressive piece sited in the Curlew Mountains, County Roscommon. This statue overlooks the site of the Battle of Curlew Pass, fought in August 1599, when a Gaelic Irish force under Hugh Roe O’Donnell defeated an English column during the Nine Years War.
His work Let the Dance Begin, dating from 2000, is sited near the Lifford Bridge in Strabane, County Tyrone and was commissioned by the Strabane Lifford Development Commission. It features 5 semi-abstract figures (a fiddler, a flautist, a drummer and two dancers) on the theme of music and dance, each 4 metres high and is made of stainless steel, bronze and ceramic tile mosaic. It is one of the largest pieces of public art in Ireland.
The Workers is a monument made from stainless steel and stone and is located at The Dry Arch Roundabout in Letterkenny. The monument was created in 2001 and commemorates a generation of men who worked on building the original bridge and train track at the Dry Arch. He also created the The Rabble Children monument in Letterkenny.
He also has work sited in the United Kingdom and the United States, where he created the Irish Famine Memorial on Cambridge Common, Cambridge, Massachusetts, which was dedicated on 23 July 1997.
DEEP LOVE BY ADW ON DUNBAR STREET AS SEEN IN THE FILM BELFAST
I stayed in the Ramada hotel nearby and one of the staff told me that this work, Deep Love, featured in the film Belfast. To the best of my knowledge this mural is by Dublin stencil artist ADW.
Belfast is a 2021 British coming-of-age drama film written and directed by Kenneth Branagh. The film stars Caitríona Balfe, Judi Dench, Jamie Dornan, Ciarán Hinds, Colin Morgan, and newcomer Jude Hill. The film, which Branagh has described as his “most personal film”, follows a young boy’s childhood in Belfast, Northern Ireland, at the beginning of The Troubles in 1969.
Belfast had its world premiere at the 48th Telluride Film Festival on 2 September 2021; shortly thereafter, it won the People’s Choice Award at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival. The film was released in the United States on 12 November 2021 by Focus Features,[7] and in the United Kingdom and Ireland on 21 January 2022, by Universal Pictures. It received praise from critics for Branagh’s direction and screenplay, cinematography and the performances of the cast, and has grossed over $45 million worldwide.
The film received seven nominations at the 94th Academy Awards, including Best Picture, winning for Best Original Screenplay. It was named one of the best films of 2021 by the National Board of Review, and tied with The Power of the Dog for a leading seven nominations at the 79th Golden Globe Awards, including Best Motion Picture – Drama, and won for Best Screenplay. It also tied with West Side Story for a leading eleven nominations at the 27th Critics’ Choice Awards, including Best Picture, and also received six nominations at the 75th British Academy Film Awards, winning Outstanding British Film.
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