Drawn To The Boro

An ambitious new project will celebrate the stories of migration to Middlesbrough, capturing people’s heritage in a series of large-scale oil paint portraits.

The portraits are being created by Helen Bainbridge, an acclaimed artist who studied in Middlesbrough and taught at Cleveland College of Art.

Drawn to the Boro launched on August 4 as a response to the one-year anniversary of the riots that took place in Middlesbrough. Organisers behind the project hope to bring communities together through a shared history of migration.

Reflecting on uniqueness

Do you want to nominate a local person with a story of migration to tell? Nominations opened on 4 August and will close on 6 October, giving people from Teesside two months to share and celebrate the story of migration of someone in their community, and become part of a landmark portrait project.

Artist Helen Bainbridge has a BA and an MA in Fine Art and returned to full-time painting two years ago after a period in the design industry. Her focus is on portraits and personal narratives centred around transience and loss. In 2024, her work was selected for open calls with prestigious national prizes, and was longlisted for the Jacksons Art Prize.

Helen is hoping Drawn to the Boro will reflect on all the different kinds of migration that makes Middlesbrough such a special town.

Honest moments in painting

Helen explained: “My family and I are from Teesside and I know that we all share stories of movement. I’m so excited to be working with Borderlands this year because this idea will help people to recognise that we have so much more in common than we realise. Drawn to the Boro will be a quest for understanding. I want to capture not just what someone looks like but who they are and what they carry with them and how they ended up living here is such a big part of that.”

The portraits will be timeless, beautiful and reflect on both people’s uniqueness and the bonds that connect us. Helen added: “I am drawn to honest moments in my painting - the quiet strength, the joy, the pain. In these portraits I want those qualities to come through, the whole process will be a chance to deeply consider who we are and why weare here.

“Through my work I often scrub back parts of my drawings or paintings to reveal what's underneath, letting earlier marks appear. This excavation reveals history just as the sitter's story unfolds in layers. I think this process will be revealing in what it says about people’s stories of migration.”

Preserving memory and meaning

Alongside Helen’s large portraits, an audio artist will also capture the sitter’s story, preserving memories and meaning as people settle in Middlesbrough and make it their home.

Borderlands Creative Producer Lou Scholes said: “This project will celebrate the richand diverse communities that live here - putting their stories front and centre and highlighting the real people that make up Middlesbrough. I think it will be a bit like ‘Who Do You Think You Are’ on the BBC - it’ll be a chance for people to look back into their history. We all come from different places, particularly in a town like Middlesbrough that was built on migration for our heavy industry.”

In 2030, Middlesbrough will celebrate its bicentenary, marking 200 years since its founding in 1830. This milestone will be a key focus for the town, with a vision to emphasize culture and creativity, aligning with the celebrations and Teesside University's centenary in the same year. Throughout the town’s extraordinary 200-year history there have been so many untold stories of migration and change which the project hopes to capture.

Unifying and hopeful stories

The first surge in Middlesbrough’s population happened in the 1830s, following the birth of the town's coal industry. The second began in the 1840s, when Middlesbrough's iron ore industry took off.

Lou explained: “We want to make this process as inclusive as we possibly can. Anyone can make a nomination by completing the form, but we do ask that they check with the person they wish to nominate before submitting their details. It’s so important for us that we are launching Drawn to the Boro on August 4th.

“The riots deeply affected communities here, but we want to use this project to help people share unifying and hopeful stories. Middlesbrough has been a place of sanctuary, of safety and also of opportunity. We want to learn from communities here and can’t wait to read some of the nominations that come in.”

Sitters will be required to attend a three-hour session with Helen, for initial sketches to be made and to share their stories for an audio recording. Helen will then complete oil paintings of each community member over the following months, with a final exhibition and celebration event taking place in August 2026.

Find the Nomination Form HERE