A striking exhibition telling the story of the fire that engulfed Primark and its subsequent rebuilding has been running just feet away from the historic Bank Buildings.
The Fire @ Primark by Dermot Blackburn includes several images that feature the “marvellous yellow sea containers” that dominated the site during the rebuild.
The exhibition at 2 Royal Avenue in Belfast documents the timeframe from the onset of the fire itself in August 2018 to a shot of the “newly restored Bank Buildings,” taken in July 2023.
Mr Blackburn was at the scene of the blaze at the five-story building that took three and a half days for firefighters to extinguish. He noticed it by chance as he was on his way to work:
“It was an iconic building, and in the very heart of Belfast, another piece of Victorian architecture lost - it seemed,” he said.
However, “it was the fire’s aftermath that was of most interest”.
“Aesthetically, it was the sculptural amd colourful nature of the regeneration process that caught my imagination,” he explained.
There are several photos of the yellow shipping containers that were set up surrounding Primark to minimise the risk of the building collapsing before it was properly restored.
“The structural engineers on the project informed me that the colour yellow was chosen as a nod to the maritime tradition of the city, and the cranes at H&W in particular,” he added.
He also drew attention to the infusion of other major world events taking place at that time. Face masks that were worn during the pandemic can be spotted in some of the footage. Also, the yellow and blue colour scheme created by the juxtaposition of the sky and containers were snapped amidst the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
Mr Blackburn said he was delighted that his work was exhibited at 2 Royal Avenue, a former Tesco which is now a creative hub in the city centre.
“The fact that they even ended up in the building next door is miraculous,” he said.
He said he hoped that “when the exhibition comes down, it would be fitting, hopefully, to have them remain in some other public space in Belfast”.
The photographs can be viewed until September 17.
