Sponsored by
Leeds's hands-on museum exhibition
THEIR hands helped build a city, now a new exhibition pays tribute to Leeds's industrial heroines and their nimble fingers.
The photos at Armley Mills Industrial Museum celebrate Leeds's textile heritage and features as its highlight some powerful images of the hands of many of the workers who sewed their way into history.
The exhibition, entitled Wool, is the work of Armley photographer Casey Orr, who used women from Armley Helping Hands, a charity for the elderly, as her subjects.
She wanted to reflect the connections between the people of Armley and the textile industry.
"The Armley Mills was once the largest textile mill in the world," said Casey. "Armley was built on the wool industry with most residents having, at one time, some connection to textiles.
"These hands belong to Ethyl, Annie, Evelyn, Mary, Joyce, Lily, Sylvia, Betty, Edna, Joyce, Audrey, Dorothy and Mildred.
"All of these hands belong to women who worked for almost their entire lives in the mills and factories of the local textile industry.
"These women, mostly in their 80s, the oldest 94 years old – started their careers when leaving school at 14, nimble fingers and small hands being perfect for the fine detail work they were to learn."
Wool also features photographs of the gradually disappearing textile industry and the remnants of it still found in Armley today.
It is the first exhibition at the new MillSpace art gallery at Armley Mills. It also forms part of the 2010 I Love West Leeds Festival, which runs until July 25 at various venues around west Leeds.
For details of any festival events, visit www.ilovewestleeds.co.uk or call the festival infoline on 0787 058 1566.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Leeds
Saturday 11 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: -2 C to 0 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 2 C to 5 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: North west
