W5 Exhibition. Designed and Built in Belfast - Open now until April 11th!
March 16 2010
Over a century has passed since work began on the legendary sea vessel known as Titanic. Over the years much has been written about the tragedy that befell Titanic on her maiden voyage in 1912 however less has been said about the Yard, Harland and Wolff and the design and incredible craftsmanship of vessels in the years before Titanic was built. W5’s Titanic. Designed and Built in Belfast exhibition, which opens at the interactive discovery centre on 12 March, in partnership with Belfast City Council, takes a different approach to the well-documented tale of the ill-fated liner and looks at Titanic in a wider context.
The exhibition invites you to journey into the past through the photography of R.J. Welch the official photographer of Harland & Wolff. Through his camera lens we get an amazing glimpse of the scale of the Yard, the environment in which men worked and the variety of different crafts that led to the design and build of ships prior to Olympic 400 and Titanic 401. R.J’s skill as a photographer was outstanding and his legacy has been a photographic record that provides empathy with the workers, amazement at the craftsmanship and astonishment at the scale of the yard and the ships that were built there.
In a cruel twist of fate, some of R.J’s original images of Titanic and Olympic were damaged in an air raid on the Yard during the 2nd World War. This makes the remaining Titanic images even more poignant and precious. However by using images from other ships, especially the Olympic and Britannic, we can gain an insight into the story behind Titanic. The Olympic and Titanic were built off the same plan but the Olympic being the first to be constructed had more photographs taken. The Britannic, the third ship originally named Gigantic, which was completed after the tragedy adds to the story.
The exhibition opens at W5 on Friday 12 March and continues until Sunday 11 April 2010 and is free with admission to W5. The exhibition is part of Belfast City Council’s official Titanic Made in Belfast Festival, which takes place from Saturday 3 to Sunday 11 April 2010. This will be the last chance to see this exhibition, which was created by W5 in association with Belfast City Council to celebrate Belfast’s maritime history.
