Bradford Art Show is a celebration of the district’s vibrant and diverse visual arts, platforming and recognising local people’s experiences and creative voices while the world-renowned Turner Prize exhibit on is on display at Cartwright Hall Art Gallery. The exhibition is curated from an open call responding to the theme OUR PLACE.

Submissions were invited from anyone aged 18 and over living or working in Bradford District and engaging with visual arts, whether or not they consider themselves a professional artist. Over 160 applications were received from which 124 works by 105 artists were selected by a panel made up of Chris Cambell (Artist and Poet), Dr Kerry Harker (Curator, Bradford Art Show), Mussarat Rahman (Artist, Maker and Founder of Intercultured Festival) and Aamta Tul Waheed (Artist, Creative Producer and Founder of The Story Pole Project).

The resulting exhibition is a dynamic and visually stimulating collection of works that suggest landscapes both internal and external. From the singular topography of Bradford District’s most recognisable places to the inner, psychological lives of the artists and their subjects – compelling themes of identity, home, belonging and the future of our planet emerge. Pick up a free exhibition guide for more details.

Many of the works are for sale, helping to support practising artists in the district. If you would like to make a purchase, please speak to a member of the gallery team.

Bradford Art Show is part of OUR TURN, Bradford’s visual arts festival. OUR TURN is designed and led by artists and delivered by South Square Centre in collaboration with Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture, Yorkshire Contemporary and Bradford Producing Hub. The festival is supported by Arts Council England, Yorkshire Visual Arts Network and commissioned by Bradford 2025.

OUR TURN is brought to you by South Square Centre, an arts heritage and community centre in the village of Thornton, just 5 miles from the centre of Bradford. Set in Grade Il listed workers cottages, South Square Centre is now home to ten artist studio spaces, galleries, community spaces, archive, fine art framers, bar and cafe.

The exhibition is divided into 3 main sections. As you step through the double doors, there is a long wall opposite you. Here are displayed a collection of external landscapes, an imaginary journey through the landscapes of Bradford, starting on the moors and uplands and moving left to right down through woodland and valleys past the ruins of industry, into the suburbs and finishing in the city centre with recognisable landmarks like the Alhambra theatre. Water accompanies us on the journey, from Simon Warner’s film of tumbling water after a storm, down to the fountains in City Park.

Here there are landscapes formed in many different styles – bleak, angular lines of the High Point building, bright and vibrant lines of Thornton Viaduct and surrounding fields, photographs of forgotten corners – in one a red rubbish bin pops against a dirty concrete wall. There are receipts, grafitti’d with pen, The Alhambra reimagined in different coloured wooden shapes, and then again in fabric, with string swirls. There are blocks of gold and yellow, reminiscent of Klimpt but inspired by the weaving processes at the heart of textile production in Bradford and a range of flora that capture every season from the dark greens of summer in full bloom through to wintery trees with their skeletal branches.

The wall opposite, on the left as you walk through the double doors, is grouped around themes of home, identity, belonging and heritage. Bookended by two sculptures – Carole Griffiths’s ‘Art House – Home of Dis/Content’ – a dolls house full of experimental objects in bronze, clay, paper, card, wood and fabric – and Helen Wood’s shelter ‘Temporary Magical Safe Space’ – which is a little like a kennel made from egg boxes. At the far end is a table of discarded objects found within the Bradford District – some are recognisable, like a broken plate, others, less so. Most you could fit in the palm of your hand, all show signs of wear. The other exhibits include a cotton apron appliqued with some of Bradford, Keighley and Ilkley’s blue plaques appreciating women who spoke out to enable change, a digital drawing of the view from a bedroom window when the artist was ill, rich fabric remnants brought together in a collage of African, Asian and East European materials and a Union Jill hanging – the traditional colours of the flag subverted into softer pastels.

The final section, to the right of the double doors as you enter the gallery, is focused around internal worlds, the imaginaries of the artists and the people they portray, and quite a few of the works bring to the fore issues around mental and physical health. There are quite a high number of disabled and/or neurodivergent artists in the exhibition. There is a portrait of a serious looking tattooed white man, abstract blue that drips down the canvas like a jellyfish, other abstract works in collage and paint and a row of 7 embroidered secret pockets – like small cushions, the shape hinting at woman’s reproductive organs, offering a timeline of secrets, pain and pleasure.

The exhibition at Loading Bay runs until 21st December