'Freedom' panel added to city tapestry display

A new tapestry panel designed and stitched by people in Leeds has been added to a long-running art display in the city.

The project at Leeds Central Library is part of the national "Our Freedom: Then and Now" creative scheme and invited residents to reflect on what freedom meant to them 80 years after the end of World War Two.

The artworks were crafted into a panel which now sits alongside the original sections in the first-floor corridor at the library.

The 16-panel tapestry was created between 1992 and 2002 to celebrate the city, its people and its history.

Panel themes include sporting life, community spirit and education.

Devised and designed by artist Kate Peace, its creation involved more than 2,000 people making 1,500 individual embroideries.

"One of the aims I had was that not only would people be involved at every stage, but that to celebrate Leeds' textile heritage we would attempt to include every single known hand embroidery, machine embroidery, every kind of textile creation, every kind of way to make the textile image that we could," she said.

"There's thousands and thousands and thousands of hours of work in it."

For the new panel, lead artists Hayley Mills-Styles and Elnaz Yazdani worked with community groups across the city to create embroidered, patchworked and embellished sections.

Works were inspired by library collections, the history of Leeds and a specially commissioned poem by poet laureate Simon Armitage called Freedom Road.

The city is marking 400 years since Leeds received its first royal charter, giving it the right to self-governance.

Councillor Asghar Khan, Leeds City Council's executive member for communities, customer service and community safety, said it was apt the tapestry was getting a new panel during the anniversary year.

"The artists and volunteers have done a brilliant job in making it all come together and I'd recommend anyone to go and see it," he said.

Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.