Famine - Falls Road - Belfast - Murals on Waymarking.com

This mural, titled 'Famine', is on Falls Road, Belfast, between Waterford Street and Clonard Street. It relates to the Great Famine of 1845 - 1852.

"The Great Famine (Irish: an Gorta Mór) or the Great Hunger was a period of mass starvation, disease, and emigration in Ireland between 1845 and 1852. It is sometimes referred to, mostly outside Ireland, as the Irish Potato Famine, because about two-fifths of the population was solely reliant on this cheap crop for a number of historical reasons. During the famine, approximately one million people died and a million more emigrated from Ireland, causing the island's population to fall by between 20% and 25%.

The proximate cause of famine was potato blight, which ravaged potato crops throughout Europe during the 1840s. However, the impact in Ireland was disproportionate, as one third of the population was dependent on the potato for a range of ethnic, religious, political, social, and economic reasons, such as land acquisition, absentee landlords, and the Corn Laws, which all contributed to the disaster to varying degrees and remain the subject of intense historical debate.

The famine was a watershed in the history of Ireland, which was then part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The famine and its effects permanently changed the island's demographic, political, and cultural landscape. For both the native Irish and those in the resulting diaspora, the famine entered folk memory and became a rallying point for Irish Home Rule and United Ireland movements. The already strained relations between many Irish and the British Crown soured further, heightening ethnic and sectarian tensions, and boosting Irish nationalism and republicanism in Ireland and among Irish emigrants in the United States and elsewhere."

SOURCE - (visit link)

My interpretation is that the lady with the potato-print dress and posy of wheat represents the English (who have plenty), who look on but do nothing, as the starving peasants can do nought but stare onto empty pots and pray for deliverence from the famine.

City: Belfast Location Name: James Harden shop, Falls Road Media: Paint on plaster Artist: Not listed Date: Not listed Relevant Web Site: Not listed

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