Curator Talk: 'Flying Figures' by Elisabeth Frink

As part of European Heritage Open Days, join our Art Curator Anna Liesching for a relaxed gallery talk exploring Belfast’s famous Flying Figures, and explore their journey from city landmark to museum gallery.

For many people, these figures are remembered not from inside a gallery but from the street. For decades they were located on the Ulster Bank building at Shaftesbury Square, silently overlooking one of the city’s busiest junctions and through this, the figures became part of everyday Belfast life.

In this relaxed gallery talk, we will explore the Flying Figures within the context of the Elisabeth Frink exhibition, focusing on why these works captured the public imagination and how they came to define a place as well as a period.

Learn about the figures’ connection to modern Belfast, how opinions of the sculptures have shifted over time, and what it means for such a familiar landmark to now be encountered in a museum setting. You’ll also hear about Elisabeth Frink’s wider body of work, and how Ulster Museum cares for a significant collection of her drawings, sculptures and prints.

This European Heritage Open Days event offers a chance to reconnect with a shared piece of Belfast’s visual heritage, rediscover a work many people thought they already knew, and see how public art can shape a city’s identity.