Description
Bill Kirk: 100 Photographs
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.
“I always wanted a chance to edit a ‘Best of Bill’ type selection, he eventually gave me the go-ahead and this is the result. It was quite a challenge to reduce his life’s work to 100 images but I selected the ones that best relate Bill’s humanity, empathy, sense of humour, skill and unwavering commitment to his socialist principles.” – Frankie Quinn
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