'The Tower of Now' is a public artwork recently installed in the newly landscaped Norfolk Gardens as part of Bradford UK City of Culture 2025. The soaring sculpture is by the internationally acclaimed artist Saad Qureshi, who was born in Pakistan and grew up in Bradford. 'Inspired by memory and place and how our sense of who we are can be shaped by the buildings we see around us', its intricate woodwork takes inspiration from Bradford's historic buildings with their towers, domes, ornate windows and mill chimneys, as well as temples, mosques, synagogues and Chinese pagodas. It represents communities coming together, which is something we really celebrate in Bradford. I liked it, in real life, rather more than I expected to from seeing pictures of it in the local press.
It really needs to be appreciated from the angle from which I took the photo above. It's juxtaposition with Bradford's City Hall, for me, puts it into context. Seen from the other direction, all there is in the background is the shabby gable end of a building on a building site. (They might at least have temporarily covered that in a sheet or some plywood to disguise it!)
Alongside, they have made some attempt to clad a fence, using mirrored sheeting that reminded me of those Halls Of Mirrors you get in a funfair. Cue for me looking rather shorter and fatter than I think I do for real!
I like it too.
ReplyDeleteVery nice workmanship, but I felt it a bit top-heavy.
ReplyDeleteSuch an interesting place!
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