BRADFORD Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has unveiled a new work of art as part of a celebration of the city.
The trust commissioned nationally-acclaimed photographer, Ian Beesley, to capture Bradford free-runner, Dwain Clarke, in various locations around the city, and the resulting collection of photographs, entitled Upwards and Onwards, also incorporates the words of poet, Ian McMillan.
Trust chief executive, Miles Scott, said: “We wanted to celebrate and support the work of the Positive Bradford project celebrating the city, and as Ian is one of the area’s leading artists we thought he would be perfect to help capture the city’s positivity, vibrancy and people.”
Beesley said he hit on the idea of using Dwain as the inspiration for his work purely by chance, adding: “I struggled to develop a strong concept at first, until by sheer chance, one beautiful afternoon, I was walking past the Alhambra Theatre when I noticed out of the corner of my eye a young man hurtling through the air, twisting, turning landing on his two feet and somersaulting away.”
He then created a series of seven images. These have been put together with McMillan’s poem and printed on a 28-foot banner, which has been installed in the outpatient waiting area at St Luke’s Hospital.
