14 November, 2017

the big fish

The Big Fish aka The Salmon of Knowledge is a printed ceramic mosaic sculpture by John Kindness. The 10-metre-long (33 ft) statue was constructed in 1999 and installed on Donegall Quay in Belfast, near the Lagan Lookout and Custom House.

The outer skin of the fish is a cladding of ceramic tiles decorated with texts and images relating to the history of Belfast. According to the Belfast City Council, each scale "tells a story about the city". Material from Tudor times to present day newspaper headlines are included along with contributions from Belfast school children.  The Ulster Museum provided the primary source of historic images, while local schools/day centres located along the line of the River Farset were approached to provide drawings for the fish. Images were provided by Glenwood Primary School, St Comgalls and Everton Day Centres.
The Big Fish contains a time capsule storing information, images, and poetry on the City.
Info courtesy of Wikipedia










26 comments:

  1. Hi Bill.

    Beautifully made is this bill.

    Groettie van Patricia.

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  2. This is a real nice piece of art. I had to open the photo to full size to see the texts and images. Very interesting.

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  3. What a great sculpture, I like the tiles covering the fish.

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  4. Great fish and wasn't H&W also the wharf that build the Titanic?

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  5. A beautiful art work, and really huge!

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  6. You find the most interesting things to photograph!

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  7. I saw the title and thought you wrote about a fishing expedition. This fish is very creative indeed. Great idea!

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  8. Beautiful art work, I like it !

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  9. That is simply amazing. It is a work of art, as Karl says. And not a fish you're gonna put in your pan and fry!

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  10. That is very impressive and attractive. I like it.

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  11. Quirky! I love it. The Salmon of Knowledge...awesome!

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  12. It's a great piece of artwork involving local groups & children as well as telling Belfast 's history.

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  13. What an amazing piece of artwork. I love it and wish I could see it in person. Have a blessed day! Diana

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  14. oh that's so neat, someone's clever.

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  15. I like it just as a sculpture and all of that extra info makes it even better!

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  16. Mr. Kindness is very creative and talented. I LOVE the name. "The Salmon of Knowledge." Great post Bill.

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  17. Now THAT'S some fisherman's story! And it didn't get away!

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  18. Super big fish with an interesting story.

    we had fish scattered around the small communities around here. The one I saw the most was covered with flattened coin for the scales. Each Salmon had a meaning and were eventually auctioned off. What happened after that I do not know.
    MB

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  19. Gosh that's fantastic Bill. I love that it was such a meaningful community endeavour!

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  20. Lovely sculpture, and thanks for the interesting read too.

    All the best Jan

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  21. Very cool. This might be the biggest fish I know about.

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