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Based at BITMO, our Community Artist in Residence, Elnaz Yazdani worked with the community in Belle Isle to create the ‘Belle Isle Tapestry’, an artwork celebrating local people and places that are important to residents. Supported by volunteers, Elnaz gathered stories about the area from Belle Isle residents at local community centres and groups, including Trinity Network, Cranmore & Rayland’s, the 26 Centre, the 59 Club and the 58 Centre.
The unveiling event was on 29th May 2025 at Bitmo's Gate, Aberfield Gate, LS10 3QH. The piece of work is currently on display at Leeds City Museum in the Community Corridor.
As the collection of stories grew, a group of creative participants met with Elnaz each week at BITMO to stitch stories from their own lives and other peoples’. Some participants were trying embroidery for the first time, so we were delighted to see how much they got involved in stitching and taking ownership of the artwork. Some group members even stitched pieces at home to add onto the tapestry. These enthusiastic crafters have now set up their own stitching group, ‘Sew 2gether’ so they can continue to collaborate at BITMO and hopefully pass on the skills they’ve learnt to more members of the community.
The Belle Isle Tapestry will be on display in the Community Corridor at Leeds City Museum from June until August. After this, it will return to BITMO, where it will be permanently installed.
This piece was created by a participant, representing her garden. She told us, “This is the first piece I've stitched. I've got an apple tree, pear tree and plum tree in my garden. My neighbour advised me to cut them back to help them grow. At Christmas I wrap lights around them to decorate them. Last Christmas when it was windy, all the baubles flew off and ended up everywhere. I'm waiting for the tulips to come up. The fence used to be white like it is on my embroidery.”
These hearts were stitched by a participant to represent the Stronger Together group which she runs at BITMO. It’s a parent support group for anyone who cares for a child with a disability. She also runs a group for adults who are neurodivergent. The hearts represent people and show the differences and similarities between them. Lines show connections between people. She wanted to show how people find others who are like-minded and form friendships through the groups.
A robin was drawn by a participant to honour those who we’ve lost. The robin also holds significance for another participant, who used to notice them often when she worked at a children’s home in the area.
This participant told us, “I used to work at the children’s home in Middleton. We had two homes in the grounds and I have lots of stories of the fun we had over the years. On Saturday morning we used to take the kids pocket money shopping and would buy sweets. The cleaner and I used to look out for a robin that came into the garden. In the summer, cherries came out in the tree at the front, which the young people picked. I’ve also stitched a plate of Afghani Pulao, which we used to make every Ramadan. The older kids lived at number 2 and the younger kids lived at number 4. We’d often have neighbourly chats over the wall.”
One of our volunteers stitched a participants story about the games he played as a child. He told us, “I remember playing cricket in front of the broom shops on broom place. We used to enjoy playing ‘Cuppy’ on the same ground.”
Many Belle Isle residents told us about the joy of going to see horses in the area. The participant who stitched this horse said, “I moved to Belle Isle in October 2020 during lockdown. I often walked to Morrisons and on my way I’d stop to feed the horses in the fields on both sides of the road. When my grandchildren came to stay they always liked to go and feed the horses.This breed of horse is called a Gypsy Cob. They are used for pulling a bowed wagon, called a ‘Vardo’.”
This participant also created this scene, telling us, “The reason I chose this is because BITMO is the heart of the community. They offer lots of different things for different needs. On certain days in the winter, I can come here rather than using my heating. Even if you don’t want to join in, you can sit and socialise. Through talking to others, I learnt that the 59, 58 and 26 Centres are important to people in the community.”
These hands, stitched by one of our regular group participants, mean friendship in sign language.
Stitched by a volunteer, this bobble hat represents a lovely member of staff at BITMO, who is rarely seen not wearing her woolly hat. She told us that she first came to BITMO in 2002 to work on a young persons housing support project, called the Winrose Project. She said, “It was quite revolutionary and forward thinking for a housing provider to set up their own supported accommodation. The board had identified a problem with young people not being able to manage their tenancy, so they put a solution in place, to stop people ending up becoming homeless.”