Yorkshire women in the rural landscape star at Great Yorkshire Show
The Editor
A truly inspiring Yorkshire photography exhibition which captures Yorkshire women in the rural landscape is coming to the Great Yorkshire Show, which takes place on Tuesday 14 – Friday 17 July.
Hardy and Free has been created by award-winning photographer Carolyn Mendelsohn (pictured) and takes its name from a line in Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights: “I wish I were a girl again, half-savage and hardy, and free...”
It was originally commissioned by the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth as part of its contemporary arts programme and then a new series of portraits was created for Bradford 2025, UK City of Culture.
Hardy and Free will be on show in the building next to the Ariat GYS Stage from Wednesday to Friday and explores the relationship between 12 contemporary women and the natural world, all sharing a profound emotional link with the landscapes that shape them.
Over several seasons, Carolyn photographed her subjects, who included the Great Yorkshire Show Director and farmer Rachel Coates, as well as artists, swimmers, athletes, adventurers and activists, in their chosen natural locations. She also recorded their thoughts on why those places were important to them.
From remote moorlands to urban parks, waterfalls to working farms, these environments serve as a backdrop to narratives of resilience, creativity and identity.
Caroyln said: “I am delighted that my series Hardy and Free is being exhibited at the Great Yorkshire Show. It feels especially apt that work made in collaboration with women from Yorkshire, in landscapes that hold deep personal meaning for them, is being presented at an event so closely connected to agricultural life and experienced by thousands of visitors.
“The journey of the series reflects this spirit first shown on an intimate scale at the Brontë Parsonage Museum, then expanded outdoors in the urban centre of Bradford as part of its City of Culture programme and now brought indoors again at large scale within the setting of the Show.
“My hope is that at the Great Yorkshire Show more people will encounter these portraits, enjoy them and be inspired to think about their own stories, and their personal relationship to landscape.”
Show director Rachel Coates said: “I was honoured to take part in this exhibition, and it is fascinating to see how a diverse group of women interact with the rural landscape we are all lucky enough to share in Yorkshire.”
Tickets for the Great Yorkshire Show are on sale now and are available to purchase in advance only, with prices frozen at the same rate as last year. The Great Yorkshire Show sells out every year with 140,000 visitors expected over four days and with some 8,500 animals exhibited in pursuit of prize rosettes. Tickets are priced Adults £36.50, Children £13 and Families £89, while YAS Membership is Single £95 and Joint £155. Go to www.greatyorkshireshow.co.uk/ticket-information
Farmer tickets are also available, offering those who work on-farm extra flexibility to attend. These tickets can be used to access any day of the Show and are strictly for purchase by the farming community only. Farmer ticket prices have also been held at the same rate as last year. For details see www.greatyorkshireshow.co.uk/farmers
Free shuttle buses are operated by The Harrogate Bus Company every day of the Great Yorkshire Show. The buses run every 10 minutes from Harrogate Bus Station (next to the Railway Station) to the Showground’s White Gate, starting at 7.20am. The last bus departs the Showground at 7pm.
