Bill Kirk Archive Exhibition

About

The Belfast Archive Project aims to preserve, interpret and present our vanishing photographic heritage. It has been entrusted with collections of negatives and photographic prints in order to protect them for future generations. Belfast Archive Project aims to make these collections accessible through exhibitions, digital resources and print publications. These archives include the work of some of Northern Ireland's most respected photographers.

About Bill Kirk
Newtownards-born (1937) Bill Kirk's life has been shaped by two major passions – cycling and photography. Cycling became a powerful motivating force following the early deaths of Kirk's parents due to tuberculosis. It was his own life-threatening battle with the illness, alongside his redundancy as a draughtsman at Short's, that prompted Kirk to study photography at Belfast's Art College. He was driven, he says, 'by a naïve belief that photography could make a difference.'

This dual commitment to social and aesthetic responsibility lies behind a body of work which is steeped in a sense of common humanity, whether its subjects are eminent local figures or random instants of life. Kirk's perspective was a fresh one; and a refreshing one in the context of documentary photography during the Troubles.

Bill Kirk's photography archive has been co curated for this exhibition by the Ulster Museum and Frankie Quinn.

What to know:
-This exhibition will be on display in the Belfast Room from Friday 28th March to Sunday 1st June 2025.
-This exhibition is free to visit.