By Bill Kirk
THE province’s past is brought into focus through the lens of Newtownards photographer Bill Kirk, with a new exhibition and book featuring his work.
Bill Kirk 100 Photographs has been curated by Frankie Quinn for the Belfast Archive Project and features a broad selection of images from Kirk’s archive.
The photographs are currently on display at the Ulster Museum until June 1st and a book is available for those who want a more permanent reminder of his work.
Bill Kirk took up photography at the start of the Troubles after a couple of particularly challenging years.
He was laid off in 1971 by Short Brothers and then spent six months in hospital with tuberculosis – an infection which cost him a kidney and caused the deaths of both his parents at an early age.
In 1972, at the age of 35, he studied photography at Belfast Art College and throughout his career he used his craft to document images that were in keeping with his socialist politics and his sense of humanity.
The collection is split into six sections with one section dedicated to images of the Troubles, another to the corner shops that were so prevalent in the 1970s but which have all but disappeared now.
A number of pictures capture home life in Newtownards and Belfast in the early 1970s, with evocative images of the interior decor typical of the time.
Other themes chosen by Frankie Quinn are Sandy Row, Images of Belfast and general snapshots.
The Bill Kirk Archive Exhibition is open in the Belfast Room of the Ulster Museum.
