Gill Park - Interwoven Histories
A curatorial project and exhibition that explored histories of migrant workers in Leeds
Interwoven Histories was a two-year curatorial project and exhibition (2016-2018) contributing research to the intersecting areas of arts and heritage. It undertook and disseminated new research on the histories of migrant workers in Leeds, UK, challenging rhetoric around immigration, work and representation in the context of the industrial heritage of Leeds.
Produced by Pavilion, Leeds and supported by Heritage Lottery Fund, it aimed to make visible the important contributions that migrant workers have made to the textiles and clothing industries of Leeds through questions of migration and representation.
The project was documented and shared on a bespoke website, alongside other research material: photographs, documents, films, oral histories, letters, diaries and other archival material. These artefacts tell the stories of migrant textile workers from across Leeds. This formed an online archive of visual material and oral histories.
Pavilion worked together with partners Leeds Industrial Museum, the Women’s Group at refugee support organization, Meeting Point Leeds and community organisation Touchstone.
A series of talks, an exhibition, an artist film commission and other city-wide events also took place between 2016–18.
The project was curated while Gill Park was Director of Pavilion, a visual arts commissioning organisation based in Leeds.
The exhibition developed Pavilion’s reputation for curatorial innovation, as an organisation which produces research-driven, place-specific and socially-engaged exhibitions in Leeds and further afield.
Download project PDF: Gill Park - Interwoven Histories (3.3MB)
