When the Halifax Explosion happened on Dec. 6, 1917, windows rattled in New Glasgow.
“They heard the explosion here,” says Debra McNabb, director of the Museum of Industry in Stellarton.
The response to the disaster was immediate from the people of Pictou County with nurses, doctors and firefighters going to help.
Which is why McNabb feels it’s appropriate that an exhibit called Hope and Survival commemorating the event is now on display in Stellarton.
“We thought we’d like to have it here, because Pictou County was very involved in the aftermath of the explosion,” said McNabb. “In fact the first train that got into Halifax with people to help came from New Glasgow.”
In addition to the support sent to Halifax, a hospital was temporarily set up in a school on the west side of New Glasgow.
“It really affected the lives of people here,” McNabb said.
The centerpiece of the exhibit is a quilt with images from the Halifax explosion. The focal point is of a girl flying through the air. The girl is said to have survived being thrown a long distance because she landed on a soft piece of grass in a park.
The work was created by Laurie Swim in her studio in Lunenburg from cloth dyed with blue/black pigment powder and snow. The dark blue is to represent the colour of the survivors’ scars, caused by the oily black residue that rained down upon them. The snow is symbolic of the horrific storm that followed, complicating rescue efforts.
Also as part of the exhibit Swim created a scroll of remembrance memorializing the names and ages of the 1,946 victims of the explosion to accompany the centrepiece. To recognize those blinded and visually impaired by the blast, the names were translated into Braille and beaded by a team of 400 volunteers throughout Nova Scotia, according to information on the artist’s website.
“A lot of people were blinded by flying window glass,” explained McNabb. “They were standing looking out the windows at the fire in the harbour when the vessels had collided. When they exploded people got the glass in their eyes.”
A video of the entire creative process, as well as photographs and footage taken in the aftermath of the explosion, accompany the art on display.
At the Museum of Industry staff have added their own touch by including some rubble underneath the quilt similar to what would have been seen in the aftermath of the explosion.
The exhibit is free for people to come in and view at the Museum of Industry until the end of February.
