Bradford District Museums and Galleries worked with visual artist and designer Rhian Kempadoo-Millar as our Guest Curator/Artist on an Arts Council-supported project. As Rhian’s residency came to an end with us, this blog celebrates the process and result, a textile installation titled ‘New Lands – Hidden Hands’.
Bradford District Museums and Galleries (BDMG) are supported by the Arts Council as a National Portfolio Organisation (NPO). One part of the 2023/24 funded work was to recruit an ethnically diverse Guest Curator/Artist to explore our Designated Worsted collection. They would draw out the collection’s contemporary relevance and the hard work of the diverse communities that made the District internationally significant, leading to a reinterpretation of the permanent textile displays at Bradford Industrial Museum
![Black and white photograph of a worker in front of a large spinning or twisting machine, He has dark skin and darker hair and is wearing glasses, a light coloured shirt and jeans](https://bradfordmuseums.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/daniel-illingworth-1024x665.jpg)
by Tim Smith / Bradford Heritage Recording Unit (1987). In Bradford Museums’ collection.
![B&W photo, show a group of women sat using sewing machines in a factory setting, with clothes/textiles hanging on rails around them. Most of them appear to be Asian, wearing traditional outfits. Right at the back left of the photo, there's a man sat doing a similar role](https://bradfordmuseums.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/manningham-mill.jpg)
by Tim Smith / Bradford Heritage Recording Unit (1989). In Bradford Museums’ collection.
In 2009, Bradford District Museums and Galleries’ Worsted collection was recognised by the Arts Council as being a collection of international importance and given ‘designated collection’ status. The collection preserves Bradford’s unique textile heritage and highlights the significant international role of Bradford, ‘Worstedopolis’, in the worsted industry. Worsted is a type of wool yarn that is made from long wool fibres which has been straightened and combed before being spun so it’s smoother and finer. You can find out more about the Designated Worsted collection and Bradford’s history as ‘Worstedopolis’ – the worsted wool capital of the world – in this blog.
![Photo of the empty weaving shed at Lister’s Mill, Manningham, taken by Tim Smith / Bradford Heritage Recording Unit (1993). In Bradford Museums’ collection](https://bradfordmuseums.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/1_tim-smith-BHRU-manningham-mill-1-1024x680-1.jpg)
![Photo of the Weaving Gallery at Bradford Industrial Museum (2021). © Phillip Jackson.](https://bradfordmuseums.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/1_Phil-Jackson-weaving-gallery-1-1024x683-1.jpg)
Rhian Kempadoo-Millar, a Leeds based visual artist and designer, was recruited in the summer of 2023. Rhian had a series of research visits to Bradford Industrial Museum to meet Lauren Padgett, Assistant Curator of Collections, and Lowri Jones, Curator of Collections, to see some of the textile collection on display and some of our working textile machinery being demonstrated. She also met some of our textile volunteers and explored the textile collection behind the scenes in storage.
The collection that Rhian looked at included two Salt’s sample books. One was the 1853 pattern book of alpaca fabric, made with a cotton warp and alpaca weft, manufactured at Salt’s Mill, Saltaire, and created by Sir Titus Salt. While some were solid colours, other samples were vibrant and unexpectedly patterned.
![1853 salts book - Front cover, red leather with gilded writing](https://bradfordmuseums.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/1853-salts-book-1-300x184.jpg)
![Image of a sample of green fabric (within the book)](https://bradfordmuseums.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/1853-salts-book-2.jpg)
![Image of a purple sample of fabric (within the book)](https://bradfordmuseums.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/1853-salts-book-3.jpg)
![Close up of a pattern sample. It is a silvery-grey background, with a woven design of leaves in a lighter grey, superimposed with a branch/twig design in a darker colour](https://bradfordmuseums.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/1853-salts-book-4.jpg)
![Close up of a fabric sample - a fairly abstract design primarily in grey and red with curvy wavy shapes as the pattern](https://bradfordmuseums.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/1853-salts-book-5.jpg)
The other was a (really heavy and thick) 1920s sample book for Salt’s Ltd. Rhian was very interested in some of the designs and patterns in this book as some are reminiscent of designs and patterns used in textiles in other countries and cultures.
![Front Cover of a sample book, bound in green fabrice, with the title 'Sir Titus Salt and Sons Ltd' in gold lettering](https://bradfordmuseums.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/1920s-salts-book-1.jpg)
![Side view of the sample book,. It is very thick, with lots of sample edges evident](https://bradfordmuseums.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/1920s-salts-book-2.jpg)
![Page view from the sample book - fabric sample has an orange back ground with a design of short lines of various shades of red, blue, green, yellow etc](https://bradfordmuseums.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/1920s-salts-book-3.jpg)
![CLose up of page showing a number of fabrics with checked patterns in varying colourways](https://bradfordmuseums.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/1920s-salts-book-4.jpg)
![Sample book page with small rectangular sample pieces - mostly with a blue backgroun](https://bradfordmuseums.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/1920s-salts-book-5.jpg)
![Close up of a sample page with varying fabric swatches - mostly dark backgroups with lines forming the designs](https://bradfordmuseums.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/1920s-salts-book-6.jpg)
Rhian also did some painting offsite and on gallery at Bradford Industrial Museum, taking in the textile machines, yarns, fabrics and their bold colours.
![Image of table with various colourful painted works, and a hand poised with an artists brush mid-project](https://bradfordmuseums.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/1_painting-1-1024x768.jpg)
![Colourful painting depicting the industrial machinery with bright colours , and leave](https://bradfordmuseums.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/1_painting-2-1024x768.jpg)
![painting 3](https://bradfordmuseums.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/1_painting-3-1024x768.jpg)
![Painting depicting the top of the spinning machine with lots of threads on top](https://bradfordmuseums.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/1_painting-4-1024x768.jpg)
![Painting showing a number of colourful threads](https://bradfordmuseums.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/1_painting-5-1024x768.jpg)
On Sunday 10th March 2024, as part of our International Women’s Day event at Bradford Industrial Museum, Rhian ran a drop-in carnival headpiece workshop where visitors could create a headpiece using colours, textures and inspiration from the textile collection. Visitors of all ages joined in and got creative and crafty – museum staff even got into the carnival mood.
![Rhain leading a workshop, with a number of painted works on the table beside her.](https://bradfordmuseums.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/rhian-workshop-768x1024.jpg)
![Museum staff modelling a feather headdress with black and red feathers.](https://bradfordmuseums.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/staff-workshop-768x1024.jpg)
![2 young girls wearing decorative headdresses made from paper and dlower shapes](https://bradfordmuseums.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/2-girls-workshop-1024x768.jpg)
![2 women assembling their headdresses](https://bradfordmuseums.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/2-women-workshop-768x1024.jpg)
![Child wearing a hand-made headdress and holding a plaque saying carnival](https://bradfordmuseums.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/child-workshop-768x1024.jpg)
Inspired by the Designated Worsted collection and the rest of BDMG’s collection, Rhian decided that her artistic response would take the shape of three textile panels. Keen to emphasise the connection to the collections, Rhian planned to install the textile pieces embedded within the permanent textile displays in the Weaving Gallery. During a site research visit, Rhian and Lauren identified a perch (a frame used to drape lengths of fabric so perchers can identify and mark up any imperfections), the tabletop of a folding machine (used to fold fabric), and a mending table (a work surface for burlers to remove any knots or burrs – vegetable matter from the fabric, and for menders to correct any marked imperfections) in the burling and mending area of the Weaving Gallery as objects and spaces where the textile panels could be installed. They liaised with our Conservator, Dale Keeton, to let him know the display plans and discuss the textile pieces for his conservation input and guidance. Dale was onboard with Rhian’s ideas.
While Rhian worked on finishing and printing her textile panels, behind the scenes in April Lauren and Lowri worked with the weaving volunteers, particularly Joanne, to redisplay the burling and mending area. This will allow visitors to clearly see Rhian’s textile pieces when they are installed, and ensures that is still a functional area for the weaving volunteers who use the space.
![Image of the Weaving Gallery, burling and mending before the installation. Completely full of machinery, and with a steampunk style dress in the foreground. It is very full of machinery](https://bradfordmuseums.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/1_redisplay-before.jpg)
![Image of the Weaving Gallery, burling and mending after the redisplay but before the installation. Less cluttered and the steampunk dress has moved, and a large desk is visibl](https://bradfordmuseums.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/1_redisplay-after.jpg)
On Monday 13th May, Rhian, Lauren and Lowri installed the three textile panels that make up the new textile installation ‘New Lands – Hidden Hands’. The vibrant panels’ digitally printed collages consist of objects in our collections, such as Photo Archive images, photographs of textile samples and exhibits, and paintings of textile machinery. ‘New Lands – Hidden Hands’ responds to personal and hidden stories woven into the diaspora of the City which created contemporary Bradford as we know it today and explores the personal, geographical and intergenerational contributions embedded into the Worsted fabric industry. Rhian says that the panels “tell the human story of separation, longing, sacrifice, love, fear, bravery, reunion and family”.
The emotional warp,
The physical weft,
Creating the fabric of a new society.
![Image of the gallery with the textile pieces on display, - they are very colourful depictions of parts of the machinery and process](https://bradfordmuseums.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/1_textile-installation-3-1024x768.jpg)
![textile installation 1](https://bradfordmuseums.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/1_textile-installation-1-1024x768.jpg)
![textile installation 2](https://bradfordmuseums.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/1_textile-installation-2-1024x768.jpg)
![Close up of a detail the textile piece, which shows the faces of two women, one done quite realistically - the other is an outline using textures of fabric and design elements to highlight the shapes and contours of the face.](https://bradfordmuseums.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/1_textile-panel-481x1024.png)
New lands – Hidden Hands’ is on display in the Weaving Gallery at Bradford Industrial Museum, open 10am – 4pm Tuesday – Friday, Saturday and Sunday 11am – 4pm.
![image](https://bradfordmuseums.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/1_image.png)