Salmon carries history on its scales

An unusually large salmon has begun its journey northwards from the Firestation Artists' Studios in Dublin to Belfast where, after a brief dip in the Lagan, it will take up permanent residence on Donegall Quay today.

The 10-metre-long monster, called Big Fish, was built by sculptor John Kindness and a small team of assistants over the last year in the Firestation's Buckingham Street workshop.

Its "skin" of ceramic tiles rests on a sturdy skeleton of steel and concrete. Commissioned by the Laganside Development Corporation, its arrival coincides with the real thing as, after a major cleanup, salmon are reportedly returning to the river in increasing numbers.

Kindness's ceramic salmon is the fish not so much of knowledge as of history. Episodes from Belfast's past are inscribed on its "scales" in the form of words and images culled from the city's archives and libraries, with some drawings provided by school children.

Study it attentively and you will see such emblematic sights as the Titanic on the slips in the shipyard, workers in the linen mills, emigrants setting off for America, and even Bono on stage with David Trimble and John Hume.

The idea was to represent the history of the city as though recorded on shards of old blue delftware. But it has more to do with enjoyment than learning.

Looking at it, Kindness says, should be "more like beach-combing than studying history". Known for his mosaic sculptures of animals, he is himself from Belfast.

This is his second stab at local history. A series of autobiographical paintings, The Belfast Frescos, which recall his childhood, are in the Ulster Museum. His father's family worked in the shipyards and his mother's were photographers.

Making Big Fish, he observes, "is the nearest I have come yet to combining those two disciplines".