An exhibition will open in Bradford next month of seven artists' vividly differing interpretations of the district's Capital of Culture bid slogan "One Landscape Many Views".

The work ranges from a set of portraits depicting the faces of Asian riot suspects being sewn together by a white policeman to a portrait of European communities through the design of door intercoms.

Bradford Council has invested more than £20,000 in the £55,000 project which was organised by the Huddersfield-based Culture Company and part funded by Yorkshire Arts.

Sheffield artist Farhad Ahrarnia produced "Stitched", a set of seven riot suspect portraits which were digitally derived from the police "wanted" photographs published in the Telegraph & Argus.

The images are transposed on to a textile background so the suspects' faces appear to have been hand-stitched. They will be displayed together with a film depicting a white policeman doing the cross-stitching.

Today Mr Ahrarnia admitted the work may be controversial but said he was attempting to draw something positive from the disturbances.

He denied the message was that the rioters had been "stitched-up" by the police, insisting he wanted to portray the officer's role as peaceful and an attempt to bring the community together.

"I do not believe that these people have been stitched up in that way, because it is clear that a lot of violence was carried out," he said. "But if people want to interpret my work differently, then that is for them. I think it is a beautiful and peaceful image."

Paul Brookes, director of the Bradford Capital of Culture bid which co-organised the project, said he was familiar with Mr Ahrarnia's work, which he said was often "ambiguous" and tackled emotive issues.

"The risk you always take with commissioning art is that you never know what it is going to be like until you see it," he said. "Some of the best art deals with controversial issues, and sometimes it can help people understand them.

"This is certainly not a piece of propaganda work."

Work by five other artists is featured in the exhibition at Cartwright Hall.

Bradford-born artist Liza Dracup's exhibit Unseen uses the camera to navigate a night-time world perceiving changes and subtle colours not visible to the naked eye, creating dream-like scenes of Bradford's rural landscapes.

A Guide to Yorkshire Rivers by Simon Warner, of Keighley, was created by putting a video camera on to a miniature powered boat in the Wharfe, Aire, Ouse and Skell rivers to create a journey from a river's eye view. He worked with engineering and design technology students from Keighley College to modify the vessel for the journey down river.

Patrick Ward's collection Entrances is a portrait of European communities as revealed through the design of door intercoms, from personalised messages in Berlin to graphic instructions in Britain.

Julian Flynn's 24 hours in Bradford was created by the Batley artist, accompanied by a rota of volunteers, food, drink and spare cameras, walking in Bradford for exactly 24 hours and, prompted by a bleeper, taking one photograph every minute.

Californian artist Casey Orr, who now lives in Guiseley, created a work called The People's Path which concentrates on the paths made by people that run contrary to designated walkways. These large photographic images show how people find their own way between shrubs and flowers and through iron fences.

The Cancer Series by the late Sheffield artist Fi Frances features dream-like photographs deal with the personal and emotional landscape and upheaval caused by contracting a fatal illness.

The exhibition will run from February 14 to April 6.