draft and overdraft

I can see these two flying figures from my office. I pass them every day. They have been part of my cultural awareness since they were erected in the 1964, in a very different Belfast.

These cast aluminium figures high up on the side of the former Ulster Bank in Shaftesbury Square were sculpted by Dame Elizabeth Frink, who according to her obituary “was a woman of great courage, integrity and style who gambled continuously against the odds, both in her work - against stylistic fashion or any kind of comfortable or ingratiating image - and in her life."

She achieved the extraordinary distinction of becoming, without any compromise, a genuinely popular female sculptor whose work is admired by many today.

She came to see the site in 1961 and work out how she would fulfil her commission and then she returned in June 1964 to supervise the erection of the finished installation.

I can only imagine what people in Belfast (and in the bank) thought of two such figures being displayed in this prominent position ... but now they're simply part of the urban landscape!

Being on the side of a bank they were immediately christened "Draft and Overdraft"!  I understand that the "exaggerated modelling was used to express the inner spirit of the subject. Strength, struggle and aggression combined with sensuality and vulnerability are all characteristics found in these creations." So there, now you know!

That said for me they speak of a past era when we invested in public art for art’s sake. They remain, serene, overseeing the changing face of this place I call home.