EVOCATIVELY symbolic dresses created by a seamstress from Otley are now on display in Bradford.

Creative designer Jo Palmer was invited to work with printmaker Ruth Fettis and Mich-elle Wren for the Here We Live exhibition, at Cartwright Hall Art Gallery.

Jo’s contributions to the collaborative art project, driven by Ruth’s desire to tell stories of love and loss, are three dresses – entitled Conchita, The Dress of Good Fortune, and The Dress of Deep Sorrow.

Jo said: “Ruth is the instigator of the exhibition and her work runs throughout everything.

“She asked Mich-elle to bring her work into 3D by creating a model of Bradford that keeps growing and expanding, with new people and places added all the time.

“And she asked me to bring her work into 3D form by printing onto fabric, so these are the three dress I designed and made for Ruth to tell her stories.”

“Conchita is a meek and mild old lady with her alter ego, Don Carlos Balmori, and based on a Mexican true story.

“‘The Dress of Good Fortune is about good luck. It incorporates lottery cards, but not as we know them, that were designed and printed by Ruth. They adorn the foot of the dress, ending in a long tail and flying scarf.

“And The Dress of Deep Sorrow tells of war-time love and loss. It is made from fabrics to resemble the deep sea, the waves and the foaming white as it crashes on the rocks and the beaches.

“The war-time postcards that are tossed in turmoil amongst the waves were printed by Ruth, and represent the turmoil of war and loss of loved ones.”

Along with Mich-elle’s model of the city, which incorporates printed portraits and 3D models of local shopkeepers, the exhibition features linocut portraits produced by Ruth and a poem by Bradford-based wordsmith Jane Steele.

Free to enter, the Arts Council funded display runs at Cartwright Hall until May 10.

Jo, meanwhile, is hoping to team up with Ruth and Mich-elle again on a new project soon.

She said: “I spend my time on private commissions, and also making uniforms for re-enactors from the Napoleonic era.

“This exhibition was a welcome change, a chance to let my creative juices flow.”