Belfast NI War Memorial Exhibition
NI War Memorial Exhibition Photos
About NI War Memorial Exhibition
Diane McCormick from Dungannon created this art work called April showers bring forth May flowers in 2007. Located in the hallway of this building it displays a shower of falling ceramic bombs which change into flax flowers. It’s inspired from the Belfast Blitz in 1941 when over 1,000 people were killed here. The reference to flax flowers also alludes to the Festival of Remembrance. The flowers symbolise the resilience of the people to flourish after the devastation of war. The images and printed articles focus on certain places and people that were directly affected.
Originally this exhibition was held in the Memorial House in Waring Street but in 2006 these new premises were dedicated to what is now officially called the Northern Ireland War Memorial Home Front Exhibition.
The centrepiece of the exhibit is this stain glass by Stanley Murray Scott of Newcastle Upon Tyne.
Carolyn Mulholland was responsible for this art work in 2008. It illustrates cut figures of positive and negative shapes made from bronze.
Along the wall is this large copper frieze by James McKendry. It records the presence of American forces here and the effort of all those men and women on the Home Front.
Although the main theme here is dedicated to those who fell during WWI and WWII it’s also about those ex-servicemen and women who struck up friendships with other foreign armies at the time such as with the American forces that numbered up to 40,000 when they arrived here in 1942.
On the rear wall is this memorial hewn from French Noir de Sable Stone. The granite tablet houses two Rolls of Honour for those who died in both wars.
On one wall is a painting of Magennis VC by the distinguished Ulster artist, Robert Taylor Carson.
There are also new media resources that show footage of local areas and the damage caused after the Blitz. A few glass cabinets contain typical war memorabilia like ID cards, medical equipment, photos etc. There are a few good examples of medals and even a knife with the Nazi displaying the Swastika.
In this last cabinet are old Ration books and these colourful learning cards with the title ‘Careless talk costs lives’. They were given out to soldiers remind them of the dangers they faced and to behave accordingly.
Finally, this screen displays all the names of those who died. In WWII it’s believed around 120,000 men and women from this island north and south, fought for the British Armed Services.
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