Hello Leeds: Artists look to breathe new life into the untold history of busy city centre street

Two local artists have been selected as part of East Street Arts' heritage action programme to breathe fresh life into the history and modern development of a busy Leeds City Centre street.
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West Yorkshire based Harry Clayton-Wright and Leeds artist Yaku Stapleton will work with East Street Arts and a consortium of organisations to develop a programme that explores the past, present and future of an important high street in Leeds City Centre – New Briggate.

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"We are learning a lot about the area and the history." Harry told the YEP "We discovered a photo of a protest outside this cinema in the area called the plaza which was an adult cinema. So it's amazing to see the history on the street of protest and activism."

Harry is looking to tell the Queer history of the area. Picture: Sam Taylor-Edwards, styling by Nathan Henry.Harry is looking to tell the Queer history of the area. Picture: Sam Taylor-Edwards, styling by Nathan Henry.
Harry is looking to tell the Queer history of the area. Picture: Sam Taylor-Edwards, styling by Nathan Henry.
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Harry is a performance artist, writer and radical creator whose work spans theatre, installation, zine and film. Harry will be collaborating with Marlborough Productions to uncover the untold Queer histories associated with this part of the City.

They will explore submerged stories and how bringing them to light can create change in the present day. Through creative research the duo aim to envision what a genuinely safer high street looks like and feels like for LGBTIQ+ people in the city and work to make sure history is being made proudly and openly.

"It's not only about how we can tell stories from the past but also about looking forward and how we can make our streets safer for queer people." he said "Homophobic and transphobic hate crimes have risen quite a lot so it's about making the high street a safer place and if there is any work we can do here to progress that."

Leeds based Yaku meanwhile will explore the history of performance on New Briggate taking a deeper look into community, fashion, clothing and costume that has been present here over the years.

Yaku will explore the history of performance on New Briggate taking a deeper look into community, fashion, clothing and costume. Picture: Oscar Finnie.Yaku will explore the history of performance on New Briggate taking a deeper look into community, fashion, clothing and costume. Picture: Oscar Finnie.
Yaku will explore the history of performance on New Briggate taking a deeper look into community, fashion, clothing and costume. Picture: Oscar Finnie.
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Yaku specialises in fashion design having recently graduated from Leeds Beckett University with first-class honours having switched courses having originally began studying Geography.

"In my free time I was making these one-off t-shirts and hoodies for people and realised if I love something I am better jumping in head first and seeing where it takes me." he said.

His hope is to reimagine clothing for the communities in Leeds today using sculptural processes, sound and working with dancers and has been left intriguied by how practical clothing remains.

"What I've found interesting is what the average person wore." Yaku explained "It's always based around functionality, the clothes people wore had such a strong relation to what they did."

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"I really want to find a balance between the work wear functional clothes and then look at the costume design which has happened over the years."

New Briggate is the gateway to the city centre of Leeds - the start of the busy and bustling commercial and cultural high Street. With the oldest Church in Leeds, Saint John’s, bordering the high Street, New Briggate was a development of Briggate and became the home of Leeds Grand Theatre in 1878.

Helen Moore, Engagement Lead at East Street Arts said: “We are delighted to have Harry and Yaku working with us on this exciting national programme, this is a great opportunity to explore the fascinating culture and history of New Briggate and work with the businesses that are residents of New Briggate and surrounding neighbourhoods.”

The programme will culminate with a celebration of what has taken place in the first two years, and will tie into city-wide events and activities already planned including Leeds 2023. The stories and histories uncovered will be imprinted on New Briggate and documented for future learning, while new memories are created by the communities involved.

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