23 May – 15 Jun 2025
Tape Letters
Modus Arts
An exhibition exploring migration on tape.
Sundays: 12-4pm
Lost and found: hear messages recorded and sent back to Pakistan by new arrivals at this special exhibition.
Tape Letters looks back on life in Bradford for new arrivals in the days before technology connected us all in an instant. This free exhibition unearths the practice of recording messages on cassette and sending them to friends and family, popular with Pakistani migrants to the UK from the 1960s to the ’80s – and gives us a unique insight into this long-lost method of communication.
The project began when artist Wajid Yaseen discovered his own family’s history of sending personalised cassette tapes to relatives in Pakistan. Initially focused on the north, Tape Letters has now sourced cassettes and completed oral history interviews with people from right across England and Scotland – including Bradford, the focus of this exhibition. Listen to original cassette recordings, hear oral histories, read transcripts, see portraits – and journey back decades to a very different world.
Opening times
The Gallery at Loading Bay is open at the following times:
- Thursday – Saturday 12-6pm
- Sunday 12-4pm
- The gallery will also open to view before evening shows
Visit Loading Bay
Loading Bay is a brand new pop-up arts venue in Bradford City Centre for Bradford 2025.
Join us on Duke Street as we bring a true Bradford 2025 buzz to the heart of the city.
Plan your visit using our sustainable travel planner.
Loading Bay
1 Duke Street
Bradford
BD1 3QR
With thanks to the archive contributors who participated in Tape Letters England, made possible by The National Lottery Heritage Fund and Arts Council England.
Full project credits available at tapeletters.com/credits
