The Leeds Labyrinth is now open!
This is the entrance to the Leeds Labyrinth this is where your journey begins.
The golden owl watches over are as you enter. Like it does on so many buildings in Leeds. You must knock the lion door knocker before entry, and MUST close the door behind you.
The Leeds library has some amazing tile work through its corridors and on it's the walls, I was trying to mirror this and create the Labyrinth entrance thats looks like an original part of the building.
The tiles fragment and begin to breakdown and turn into the stone walls of the Labyrinth.
The red thread begins here, tied to a pair of golden owls, the red thread helps you to native your way through the Labyrinth. You are invited to help yourself to a piece of paper and a pencil to take with you on your journey.
There are 365 stories tied to the red thread which leads through the Labyrinth to the centre. These are written by Mathew Bellwood, he wrote a story a day for a year.
Leeds owls inhabit the Labyrinth and have service route holes to allow them easy passage through the space. They also guard the stories stored in the centre, the heart of Leeds.
Throughout the Labyrinth you can find listening posts, here you can listen to music written and stories told about Leeds. Spend some time in someone else's shoes.
In the ladies room there are embroidered cushions made by Hayley Mills-Styles. The cushions are cerated from embroidered maps sewn by the local WI ladies. In this area there are two sets of headphones which play the ladies voices re telling stories and sharing memories from their lives in Leeds. This is a space for you to relax and listen to stories, bring some knitting or sewing if you like.
The paper boats have been made by school children in Leeds, they travelled on a canal boat down the river and thought about their hopes and wishes for their futures in Leeds.
They wrote these on the boat's flags.You can sail origami boats in the water basin, a pump creates a water flow and the boats sail from one side to the other. They can then be pegged up to dry, before being sailed again. People are also invited to fold their own origami boats to sail, from maps of Leeds.
The centre of the Labyrinth is the last space you travel through. When the door is closed the room consists of 8 identical walls with tiles, shelves and doors.
You are invited to write your own story and place it into the well. At the end of each year the stories are collected and stored in the dated boxes on the shelf above.
The last question to ask yourself is: Which door is the way out?
Construction by Gideon Woods. Tiling by Kelly Jago, assisted by Vicki Smith.
Scenic painting by Kelly Jago, assisted by Josephine Far.
