New photographic exhibition exploring landscapes that inspired the Brontës through the eyes of 12 women today

Hardy and Free, an audio-visual installation by acclaimed Bradford artist and portrait photographer Carolyn Mendelsohn, takes as its starting point an iconic quote from Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights: “I wish I were a girl again. Half savage and hardy, and free.”

The immersive exhibition explores the female connection to nature and examines how feeling connected to the natural world can be an important, enriching aspect of women’s lives.

Through personal stories, photographic portraits, soundscapes, projection and a cabinet full of significant objects, Hardy and Free examines the enduring relationship between women and the land while at the same time presenting a fascinating direct through-line from Charlotte, Emily and Anne to women living and working in Yorkshire today.

Mendelsohn is a perfect fit for the commission – her creative practice is rooted in storytelling and frequently gives voice to stories that are seldom heard; she is artist in residence for Born in Bradford and her recent work includes the portrait series and book Being Inbetween which featured powerful photographs of girls aged 10 to 12 and explored the complex transitional period between childhood and young adulthood. “When I heard that the museum was looking for a photographer who could use audio for a new commission about women in the landscape my immediate feeling was that it fits so well with the kind of work I do and I thought I would really like to do it,” she says.

“Then I thought about how I would like to approach it – I wanted to be taken on adventures so my call-out was for women from different backgrounds who work on the land or have a strong link with the land and I asked them to take me to a place where they felt hardy and free. I got a great response.”

The women in Mendelsohn’s striking portraits are farmers, swimmers, artists, writers, athletes, theatre makers, entrepreneurs, from a range of backgrounds and across generations, each with a powerful, engaging story to tell. Mendelsohn would initially make contact with them over the phone or email and then arrange to meet.

“The process did vary but we would go to the woman’s chosen location and I would ask them questions and listen to their stories, then arrange to come back to take photographs and make the audio recordings.”

One of the first set of pictures Mendelson took was of a group of wild swimmers based in Otley.

“I met this amazing group of women aged between about 35 and 70 who meet up when it is a full moon once a month and strip off and go into the water. They were a beautiful group of women, with a fascinating story. People love the drama of the literature of the Brontës but there was as much drama in their lives – and in a way that’s what I was responding to with this project. I wanted to look for ordinary people with extraordinary stories.”

Among the other women whose portraits feature in the exhibition are a flower farmer, a youth worker, a member of the Special Olympics cycling team, a horse trainer, a priest and a journalist.

The locations the women took Mendelsohn to include an allotment in Bradford, Keighley Moor, Goitstock waterfall and a famous Brontë landmark Top Withens, said to be the inspiration for Wuthering Heights.

“I was taken there by an ultra-runner who is also a nurse and a cellist – she told me about how she started running, how her friends encouraged her to run longer distances and how when her daughter had eye cancer, she ran to raise money for charity. The significance of Top Withens for her was that she had a first date there.”

Another of Mendelsohn’s subjects, a horse trainer, broke her back and, unable to go outside for a long period, she realised how much the landscape meant to her.

“She would look out of her bedroom window at a particular view, so I went to meet her at her home. Originally the idea was to photograph her there looking at the view but then I thought why don’t we go to the view instead.” Together they drove the 20 minutes to Askwith Moor. “It was one of those days where it was raining and wuthering and she took a step into that landscape and said: ‘this is what I miss, the rain in my hair and the wind on my face’. So that’s where we did the portrait.”

Not all the locations chosen by the women are rural, one, a place significant for a theatre-maker and artistic director is a strip of land in the BD3 area of Bradford. “It was amazing – it was a bramble-filled piece of land between houses that she loved when she was a child. She said it gave her a sense of freedom and adventure – and you could see how it shaped the theatre-maker she would become. As children we have that hardiness and freedom and as we get older, we are perhaps less likely to take those risks.”

Mendelsohn says that she applied the ‘hardy and free’ quote to herself in her approach to the project and to each encounter. “I think I was working in a much freer way than I would normally. I didn’t over prepare because I wanted to respond to each person and their location in the moment. It was a life-enhancing experience for me. I started taking the photographs in the dark days of January when I didn’t particularly want to get out of bed and I would go up on to the top of a moor at first light – it was so invigorating. It was an amazing privilege to be able to spend quality time with these fantastic women and for them to share their world and their lives with me and to be able to create something with them from their stories.”

The exhibition invites the viewer to immerse themselves in the landscape and the relatable stories. “I would like people to be transported to these different places and to think about their own special places where they feel that sense of freedom and the significance it has in their lives,” says Mendelsohn. “We all have places that we might not always think about but that really shape who we are.”

From the Brontë Parsonage Museum’s perspective, the show perfectly reflects themes that are central to their ethos and continuing work. “The whole Brontë family were really inspired by and considerate of the natural world,” says Sassy Holmes, Programme Officer. “They pored over books on birds and drafted poems and sketches influenced by their surroundings; our collection shows the significant impact it all had on their creativity. Emily in particular was passionate about the environment, spending a lot of time out on the moor, so it felt important that with this commission we engage a contemporary artist that would really embrace the female connection to nature. Carolyn is an extraordinary artist and we are completely invested in the stories she has unearthed for this exhibition and the bond each of these wonderful Yorkshire women has with the landscape.”

Hardy and Free is at the Brontë Parsonage Museum until January 1, 2024. bronte.org.uk