Luke Jerram: A Good Yarn

Available for over a year

Luke Jerram creates spectacular art installations all over the world. He reached millions of people with his work ‘Play Me, I’m Yours’, inviting anyone to make music on the 2,000 pianos he’d placed on the streets of more than 70 cities. He’s also created large sculptures of the moon, the planet Mars and the sun, which were suspended in spaces like cathedrals so that visitors could admire the celestial bodies up close. For In the Studio Julian May follows the creation of the artist’s latest work, made for Bradford, this year’s UK City of Culture. “A Good Yarn” plays on the double meaning of the word “yarn” – both a length of thread and a story. It looks like a giant multi-coloured ball of wool, 3 metres high, which will be rolled through the city’s streets. During the Industrial Revolution Bradford became the centre of the woollen industry. By 1836 there were 73 mills in Bradford, creating 70,000 jobs, drawing people to work in the city first from Ireland and Germany and, in the 1960s, from Pakistan. Luke Jerram is a collaborative artist and Bradford residents have worked together to create a kilometre-long rope, made from woollen fabric donated by the public or from second-hand shops. It’s made up of all kinds of cloth – children’s bedsheets, men’s old shirts, saris, a ballet tutu – so the rope mirrors the intertwined lives of local people. As the work takes shape, the theatre company Bloomin’ Buds gather the volunteers’ textile-related memories, including from women who worked in the mills. Musicians The Broken Orchestra have been weaving these into a soundscape. In the programme Julian May follows Luke Jerram from his initial idea through the winding of the rope into a huge ball and rolling it - accompanied by local musicians - through the streets where the people who contributed the fabric - and their stories - live.