OVER the past year, local artists have showcased a variety of work in an online gallery. Now a selection of that creative output is going on display in Bradford city centre.
Winter Wonder Wall - an Open Exhibition of Bradford Art and Photography opens at Trapezium Gallery on Saturday, November 19 and runs until December 23.
On display is a selection of creative work submitted over the past year to the Online Gallery at Trapeziumarts.com.
The exhibition brings together work by 34 artists from across the district, using many art forms including drawing, painting, photography, textiles, crafts, 3D and video.
Earlier this year, Trapezium Arts asked people to send their creative work which was then uploaded to the Online Gallery. Now, instead of art on screen, these works are brought to the walls of the gallery on Kirkgate for people to come and see.
Says Ken Woods of Trapezium Arts: “In May 2021 we held a similar exhibition for all the work submitted to our Online Gallery during lockdown, called ‘Back to the Wall’. It was a great success and really brought local artists and other creatives together, some of who have gone on to have solo shows at our gallery on Kirkgate.
“So we decided to hold another joint exhibition for all the new artists who submitted virtual work. Hopefully, this will encourage their creative endeavours and give them a platform to develop their skills and profile - something we think is crucial with the Bradford 2025 City of Culture only a couple of years away.”
The Online Gallery and the Open Exhibition have welcomed work from professional artists and enthusiastic beginners alike. Ken adds: “We want to be as inclusive as possible and really spread the message that art is for everyone. We think it’s important that local creatives have a space to display their work. Hopefully this Open Exhibition will be something we run every year for the artists of the Bradford district.”
Trapezium Arts is a volunteer-run independent contemporary art and photography gallery based at 58 Kirkgate, Bradford. It show “art from all walks of life” in a welcoming, accessible way.
There’s a chance to meet some of the artists at the launch on Saturday, November 19, 12-2pm. Visit trapeziumarts.com or email art@trapeziumarts.com
* A POWERFUL animated docu-drama about the Partition of India and Pakistan comes to Bradford Cathedral for Interfaith Week.
Child of Empire - a VR (virtual reality) experience which premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival in America - runs from November 14-19 as the latest event in the Cathedral’s Artspace programme. The film takes audiences through a personal perspective of the epic 1947 Partition of India and Pakistan, one of the largest forced migrations in history.
Two men from the Partition generation - Ishar Das Arora (voiced by Adil Hussain), an Indian Hindu who migrated from Pakistan to India, and Iqbal-ud-din Ahmed (Salman Shahid), a Pakistani Muslim who made the opposite journey - share childhood memories of their experiences while playing a board game. As the men unpack their memories, viewers are immersed the experience of a seven-year-old child at key points in the migration.
The docu-drama will be shown in the Cathedral’s North Transept, where visitors can use VR headsets. There will also be information stands and interactive maps to flesh out the story. Sparsh Ahuja, the film’s co-creator, says: “75 years after their migrations, Partition remains a deeply personal experience for my two grandfathers (Ishar and Jagdish) who inspired this film. By highlighting the similarities of migration journeys on either side of the border, Child of Empire is a reminder that it is ordinary people that suffer the most when nationalisms are created and torn apart by political elites.
“This film is a challenge to the divisive communalism that unfortunately plagues the subcontinent today. As a child of diaspora, I have come to understand that the important stories of migration are not those of the politics that dictate it, but the people it uproots.”
The Revd Ned Lunn, Interim Canon Missioner and Chair of Artspace, adds: “Bradford Cathedral is excited to welcome this innovative storytelling project as part of Interfaith Week. We have a proud history of inviting and promoting marginalised voices and hosting healing conversations between cultures. As we look ahead to City of Culture and develop the Artspace programme to present more projects with the same boldness and creativity, we’re grateful that this sets such a high precedent for all that will follow.”
A closing event on Saturday, November 19 from 7-8.30pm will include screenings of three short films, titled Lost Migrations. Visit bradfordcathedral.org.uk/artspace
* A NIGHT of Iranian film, music and food, a rip-roaring ceilidh and horror in a vintage caravan...it’s all coming up in Skipton’s film festival with a difference. Tickets have gone on sale for the next Hinterlands Film Festival, as organisers announce the first films and events. The three-day event is back from March 17-19, 2023, with events in Skipton’s Plaza Cinema and Town Hall.
“Hinterlands is all about the great outdoors in films from around the world,” says artistic director Geoff Bird. “Every film in the programme is a celebration of incredible landscapes and lives. Skipton is the ultimate backdrop to Hinterlands, with the Dales on the doorstep.”
Events include a St Patrick’s Day screening of dark comedy The Banshees of Inisherin and a ceilidh; an Iranian buffet, traditional music and Hit the Road, a comedy about a middle-aged couple and their two sons taking a road trip across Iran; and comedy-horror cult classic Sightseers, screened in The Cinema Caravan, a vintage caravan transformed into a tiny cinema. The film follows awkward couple Tina and Chris, whose caravan holiday turns into a murderous rampage as they kill off holidaymakers.
The team behind Kendal Mountain Festival will host a “night of adventure” with short films celebrating exploration and travel and family-friendly screenings. Families will be invited to build a blanket den and watch animated film The Secret of Kells. Says Rowan Cannon, director of festival producers Wild Rumpus: “We want our audiences to have a really memorable experience, whether watching a film in a vintage caravan or from a snuggly den.”
Hinterlands is supported by Film Hub North with National Lottery funding on behalf of the BFI Film Audience Network, and Skipton BID. Visit hinterlandsfestival.org.uk
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