Linenopolis: A Major Exhibition at the Linen Hall Library
In 2019, I was commissioned by the Linen Hall Library in Belfast to design and produce a series of large‑format interpretive displays for Linenopolis, a major exhibition celebrating the social, industrial, and cultural legacy of the linen industry in Northern Ireland. My role focused on transforming the Library’s Vertical Gallery into a visually rich, historically grounded environment that guided visitors through the story of Belfast’s linen trade.
The project was supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund Northern Ireland, Tourism NI, and the Department for Communities as part of the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018. Working within this wider programme, I developed a suite of exhibition panels that blended archival research, historical photography, oral testimony, and carefully considered typography to create an accessible and engaging narrative.
I designed, and prepared eight large-format displays covering themes such as mill work, industrial innovation, health and safety, civic leadership, and the eventual decline of the industry. These included Mill People, A Dangerous Beauty, Linen Barons, Thriving Industrial Area, The Making of a City, and Unravelling: The Demise of an Industry. Each panel was crafted to highlight the lived experiences of the workers, particularly women and children, whose labour shaped Belfast’s global reputation for linen.
The exhibition also incorporated rare artefacts loaned by PRONI, Coleraine Museum, and Irish linen specialists McBurney and Black, including a Victorian silk top hat and a 1796 flax‑growing index. I designed the displays to sit alongside these objects, as well as an installation of vintage linen napkins and original glass plate photographs from Ewart Liddell, ensuring the visual language of the panels complemented the physical material on show.
Contemporary responses to the linen legacy were also part of the wider exhibition, with artworks by Anna Smyth, Claire Mooney, and Nathanael Smyth, and a photographic project developed with Belfast Exposed. My design work provided the interpretive framework that connected these elements and supported the visitor experience.
To extend the exhibition beyond the gallery, I also produced the visual and interpretive materials used for the Linenopolis walking tours, which explored key linen landmarks across Belfast, including Ewarts Warehouse, Belfast City Hall, and the Scottish Provident Building.
Client
Linen Hall Library
Project
Exhibition Design
Size
148mm x 210mm
