Arts

Bradford is a place of travellers who built a common home together. The stories of crossing into Bradford are stories of departures and of arrivals; some forced others chosen.

For some the life before Bradford is tinged with sadness of pain while others hold onto that previous life with pride and delight. Some have found the life in Bradford challenging and hard while others have thrived and discovered new life. All these stories shape our present and feed our future.

By hearing the stories of first generation arrivals from different parts of the world we hope all Bradfordians will be encouraged to share their own journeys to this place and time.

We are looking to find shared commonality in our different individual stories and identify ourselves in the larger social narratives that have shaped our collective culture.

In partnership with the University we are hosting an exhibition of Ugandan Asian migration stories, alongside stories from the Windrush Community. These two exhibitions will open up dialogue between different journeys of hope from two communities who continue to tell important, positive stories of Bradford’s own black history as well as stories of migration to our city of sanctuary.

The Deposition of Christ, by Simon Rice, is a moment in the Gospel accounts when Jesus was taken down from the cross to be laid in the tomb. It is a passing moment; a necessary transition in the story but captured here on canvas.

The painting, however, is surprising and jarring. It is both realistic and surreal. It is muted and dark but with splashes of colour. There are expected figures alongside anachronistic objects. It is an expression of an artist wrestling to make sense of his subject.

The painting was accompanied by the story of the artist’s evolution of the piece and, so, the process becomes just as important as the final piece.

You can read an archived interview about it with the artist.

Child of Empire is an animated virtual reality (VR) docu-drama experience which immerses viewers in one of the largest forced migrations in human history: the 1947 Partition of India and Pakistan.

The film takes audiences through a deeply personal perspective of this epic historical event. 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 (voiced by Salman Shahid), a Pakistani Muslim who made the opposite journey — share childhood memories of their experiences while playing a board game.

As the two men unpack their memories, audiences embody the experience of a 7-year-old child at key points in the migration. Child of Empire offers a powerful counter-narrative that lends a fresh perspective on the effects of forced migration on everyday individuals. Child of Empire is directly inspired by real life accounts of three Partition witnesses from both sides of the border.

The exhibition was open during our regular opening hours: in the East End were all 42 of the photos.

Visitors were also invited to take their own photo of the Cathedral using the Fujifilm instax cameras and pin them up on the magnetic board.

There was also a photo spot in the West End where visitors were invited to create their own version of Peter Marlow’s photograph.

Photographer Kate Abbey is Artist in Residence at Bradford Cathedral. Her work explores the multi-faith community unique to Bradford, asking the question ‘is it possible to photograph faith?’.

Having encountered initial restrictions of access due to lockdown, Abbey met members of the Cathedral’s congregation in parks, then gardens and then homes. As the residency progressed and the work deepened, the project expanded, exploring many different faiths as well as personal spirituality.

“It was always important to show each sitter’s home within the portraits; there is so much we can learn from their personal landscape. I want the viewer to recognise themselves in the images, as well as appreciate the differences. Although each sitter is alone, they are not isolated, whether it be with their God, with myself taking the shots or together with the other portraits in the exhibition.

As part of the portrait process, I interviewed the sitters to learn more about their specific religions and their personal journey; this created a deeper understanding between us. It allowed me an insight into their beliefs, and unexpectedly raised questions around my own spiritual journey and perception of faith.” Kate Abbey.
The 12 displays position the people of Bradford back into the congregation.

You can also scan the QR code on the flyer or screen using your phone camera to hear some accompanying audio commentary.

An art installation for Refugee week accessible from the State Gate.

Secret transactions with God in prayer have life-changing consequences. Within worship and prayer, sorrow can be turned to joy, tension to peace. Alison Thistlethwaite’s paintings aim to capture some of this process in paint. Her paintings are not just depictions, or recollections, of encounters with God through the Spirit. They are themselves painted in encounter with God, much like the prayers of any one of us, but in physical form.

Alison comes from both an art and music background. Her art training specialised in colour, and her music training (for voice and music therapy) had a strong emphasis on improvisation. Sung worship is also very important to her. With abstract paintings these different streams combine. She hopes that these paintings for Lent, Easter and Pentecost will encourage personal encounters with Christ.

Ali Thistlethwaite lives in Gloucestershire and this is her second exhibition at the Cathedral.

Encounters with Jesus.

This is an open mic event. An opportunity for anyone who would like to perform poetry, music, song, movement or anything else in the magnificent space of Bradford Cathedral.

Serenity Event.

Common Threads met whilst studying textiles in Bradford and came to know its buildings, culture and history. The consecration of the Cathedral a century ago cemented its place at the heart of Bradford’s society. The exhibition looks at this textile city through its own medium, reflecting growth and change, wealth and poverty, exclusion and diversity. It is a tribute to a remarkable, relevant presence.

The Visual Commentary on Scripture, TheVCS.org, is the first significant online project to introduce visitors to the entirety of Christian Scripture in the company of art and artists. Celebrated with a launch event in November 2018 at Tate Modern, TheVCS.org seeks to connect the worlds of art and religion as a one-of-a-kind resource for scholars, educators, churches and interested readers looking for insightful, original explorations of art and the Bible.

In this talk, Canon Ben Quash, the project’s director, will share some of the challenges and discoveries he has encountered so far in this ambitious undertaking.

Whether you are a born and bred Bradfordian, or a newcomer to this great city, then don’t miss the opportunity to be part the ‘Bradford on Film’ archive screening. This flagship Bradford Cathedral Centenary event is brought to you by the Yorkshire Film Archive who have delved into their vaults to curate a special journey through Bradford’s rich film heritage, revealing the sights, sounds, faces, places, changing landscapes and industries, great events and everyday lives of people in Bradford from the 1890s to the 1990s.

Chris Czainski has been painting icons for about ten years, as part of her general artistic practice using contemporary techniques. For the last two years, she has been receiving training in the traditional method of iconography using the ancient medium of egg tempera on gesso-ed wood with gilding. Examples of both styles are in the exhibition.

Icons.

This exhibition of photographs by Tim Smith and the UNHCR tells the story of Rohingya people forced to leave Burma. It charts their journey from refugee camps in Bangladesh to Bradford, and shows the work done by Horton Housing Association to support their new lives in the city.

Burma Exhibition.

Touchstone: Extraordinary Drawers! Opening up insights in to faith, culture and journey 

From Touchstone comes a photographic exhibition that uses the hidden life contained within drawers to share insights into the everyday lives of ordinary people. Personal stories are so often private, but we invited people to share something of their ‘hidden’ lives by taking a photograph of a drawer that says something about them. We were given ordinary stuff that tells some extraordinary stories of life, faith and culture in Bradford.

Eva Mileusnic’s installation, Counter-Flow, represents pairs of migrants’ feet. Each of the 100 pairs of slip cast porcelain pieces has been decorated with ceramic decal transfers of the world’s textile patterns. The work references current global demographic shifts and the subsequent spread of cultural identities all around the world and celebrates the rich and diverse communities of Bradford. The feet will be on display in the Artspace during January and will then perambulate around the Cathedral. 

Counter Flow.