About

Hardy and Free is a major outdoor photography exhibition celebrating the connections between the magnificent landscapes of Yorkshire and 12 extraordinary local women.

Carolyn Mendelsohn, a Bradford-based photographer, set out in 2023 to explore the links between the natural world and women in Yorkshire: farmers, artists, swimmers, athletes, gardeners and more. Her subjects are diverse in background and age, but they all share a profound emotional link with the landscapes that define our part of the world – from remote moorlands to urban parks, waterfalls to working farms.

Hardy and Free was originally commissioned in 2023 by the Brontë Parsonage Museum, inspired by the Brontës’ own relationship with the land around Haworth. Two years later, Carolyn has expanded the project for Bradford 2025 with new photographs – all printed to huge scale and presented on the exterior of the Kirkgate Shopping Centre. You can also hear audio interviews and recordings made with many of the women featured in the portraits – we’ll be posting them on this page when the exhibition opens.

The result is a powerful reflection on place, identity and creativity – inviting us to consider how the landscapes around us shape who we are, and how we find our place within them.

Image: Norah McWilliam on Thornton Moor, from the series Hardy and Free by Carolyn Mendelsohn.

>> Explore more events in the UK City of Culture as part of the #Bradford2025 celebration.