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THE BRADFORD GRID PROJECT Sunday 30th
July to Tuesday 22nd
August to Preview Friday
4th August 7-9pm Artists participating: Nudrat Afza The Bradford Grid - The Idea. The Bradford Grid is an ongoing photographic survey using map sections of the area, to direct a core group of photographers exploring aspects of the local culture and topography. The photographers are encouraged to be responsive to what they find and are free to choose any creative process which best helps to express their ideas. The project has been running for three years and will take far longer to cover the whole area. It will be subject to change in terms of chosen subject matter and also those taking part in the project. This is our second exhibition and, as before, includes a range of topics that the photographers have chosen to consider over the past year. The idea to work in this way was inspired by a similar project that has been operating in Portland, Oregon titled The Portland Grid. This project has been operating for ten years and they have compiled a data base of about 20,000 images of Portland including land forms, architecture, people, residential neighborhoods and industrial sites, which give a sense of place that would otherwise have gone unrecorded. (Some of this work can be viewed via portlandgridproject.com) I had always thought that a similar approach could work over here and one particularly dark rainy evening in Bradford while sitting with other photographers in the pub (the best place for ideas) decided the time had come to do something about it. Bradford seemed the ideal subject; its perceived image is not great, the dilapidated buildings from its industrial past have given it the reputation of being run down and attempts at recovery seem thwarted by its close proximity to Leeds. It has a history of 'missing the boat' and recent redevelopment projects have done little to really change things. But there is a dynamic and diverse culture, different communities of people live and work here, it is their home. The landscape, which is both urban and rural, continues to adapt, its layered history giving clues to a dynamic past. This provides ideal material for a social and topographic survey. We decided core members of the group had to either live or work in the Bradford district. There are no restrictions regarding format, method or subject matter. Each month a section of the map is chosen at random from an old Kodak processing tin. We try to meet regularly to show and discuss what has been found and to choose a new section to explore for the following month. I have to say at this point that we are nothing like as rigorous as our Portland counterparts but it still seems to work. During this
project we also intend to invite guest photographers to participate when
they are visiting Bradford and we are also interested to include material
by writers and other members of the community which will be included on
our website: Charlie Meecham.
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