Seed Stories was a suspended paper installation commissioned by Leicester Cathedral – a project that sat in that space between Heritage, History, Learning, and the Arts. It was the first art installation inside the Cathedral’s new Heritage and Learning Centre that opened in Spring 2025, a place that brings together community and inspires learning. It was with this in mind that the Cathedral invited me to co-create artwork with young people aged 16-25 years at Focus Charity in Leicester City. Together we creatively told the story about the Roman settlement from seeds discovered from the excavation that occurred a few years prior. Suspended from the ceiling was an abundance of giant hazelnuts, apples, figs, straw, grapes and houseflies.
The visual inspiration was taken from the shapes, colours, and markings from seed material excavated from the dig and presented to the group by ULAS (University of Leicester Archaeological Services) – that fascinating talk sparked imagination into the life of the first 400 years in Leicester! These also influenced the printed paper patterns seen in the large constructed three dimensional hazelnuts.
The block printed giant hazelnuts, and painted straw on translucent papers reflected the abundance and comfort of the settlement indicating their affluence amongst affording edible luxuries like dried figs, hazelnuts, grapes which all would have been imported from across the world. A new dimension to the installation was brought to life with the natural light streaming through the large windows, dappled sunlight casting beautiful shadows, dancing between the marks painted on thin Japanese cartridge papers.
I took the enthusiasm of the young people back to my studio and created the large-scale paper figs, grapes, apples and houseflies, and assembled the straw and hazelnuts for installation.
During those workshops, I noticed something special about the way in which projects like this come full circle, how they have the creative power to connect arts with heritage. This is why making with meaning is important to me. Seed Stories took up space inside the new Heritage and Learning Centre – there was an inner expansion that took place too. One experience influences the other. It has impacted on my artist practice as all great projects do when we reflect on how we relate to the work we make, with the people we make it with, how it changes how we see the past that has influenced our present day – such is the powerful connection of Heritage, History and the Arts.
Mandeep Dhadialla | ARTIST printmaker 