Artist Dirk Strangely Paints Titanic Passengers and Crew Using Coal Recovered from the Wreck
Artifactism™ is a unique art series by Dirk Strangely, bringing the stories and souls of the Titanic to life through portraits incorporating coal recovered from the wreck.
Souls of the Titanic invites guests to step back in time to 1912 for an immersive afternoon tea or elegant dinner experience. Surrounded by the music of Wallace Hartley and replica White Star Line china, guests experience the elegance and atmosphere of Titanic's first-class dining rooms.
The Portraits
Each portrait tells the story of a real person aboard RMS Titanic. Their courage. Their love. Their final hours.
The Genre
Artifactism™
noun · an art movement founded by Dirk Strangely
A contemporary art movement in which genuine historical artifacts are physically incorporated into visual works, often as pigment or material, creating original pieces that blend historical legacy and creative expression.
What if a painting could contain actual history? Not depict it. Not reference it. Physically contain it. RMS Titanic, Inc., the only entity authorized to recover and authenticate artifacts from the wreck site, provided authenticated coal recovered during the 1994 expedition. Every soul in this series looks out at you through paint made from the ship they sailed on.
The Artist
Dirk Strangely
Dirk Strangely is a mixed media fine artist and the founder of Artifactism™, a new art genre in which authenticated historical artifacts become the medium of contemporary fine art.
With Souls of the Titanic, Dirk has spent years researching the real people aboard RMS Titanic, sourcing authenticated materials from the wreck site, and creating portraits that exist at once as art and as artifact.
“It is hard to explain a vision sometimes. Sometimes you simply have to see it.”
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