TWO touring exhibitions have been welcomed to Bradford for the new year.

One has a 13th century sculpture of a Hindu God at its centre and the other is billed as celebrating the work of upcoming photographers.

Celebrating Ganesha, at Cartwright Hall Art Gallery in Lister Park, showcases Ganesha, who is one of the most popular Hindu Gods - the creator and remover of obstacles.

The city has been chosen of one of seven venues across the UK to host the exhibition as part of the British Museum's National Programmes.

Curators from the British Museum in London were busy preparing the exhibition in Manningham yesterday ahead of its opening tomorrow.

The centrepiece is a one-metre high stone sculpture statue which was originally positioned in a niche on the outer face of a Hindu temple.

The exhibition brings this sculpture together with other depictions of Ganesha to explore his role as a figure of public celebration and private devotion in India, and around the world.

Among the pieces on display is the temporary statues created every year for the Ganesh Chaturthi Festival in Mumbai. The ornaments are placed in public or domestic shrines before they are immersed in water at the end of the festivities.

Twelve pieces will go on display in Bradford, including four from the British Museums. The others are taken from Cartwright Hall's own archives depicting Ganesha and include textiles, paintings, wooden cultures and a metal lamp.

Cartwright Hall Art Gallery curator Nilesh Mistry said it was a prestigious show for the gallery.

"It's pretty amazing to have it coming to Bradford. It is quite a unique sculpture and has some really detailed carvings," he said.

"The British Museum has a good collection of Hindu sculptures."

Mr Mistry said the touring exhibition was going to areas in the country where there were diverse communities.

"The whole reason why we are getting it is because the British Museum wants to make its collections more accessible and to do that they are loaning them to other museums.

"It is not just for the Hindu community, it is for everybody to get an understanding of other beliefs," he said.

"There are thousands of Gods for Hindus to worship. People worship idols in South Asia, particularly India."

The Ganesha stone sculpture has already been loaned to the Russell Cotes Museum in Bournemouth and the Oxford Museum.

After it has been on display at Bradford, it will be taken to the Bowes Museum in Durham, the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and the Horniman Museum and Gardens and Brent Museum and Archives, both in London.

The exhibition will be open at Cartwright Hall every Saturday and Sunday between 11am and 4pm and from Tuesday to Friday, between 10am and 4pm.

It will run in Cartwright Hall Art Gallery's temporary exhibition until Sunday, May 15.

Meanwhile Impressions Gallery, in City Park, has a new show, Jerwood/Photoworks Awards 2015, on display.

The exhibition features work by three photographers who won a national competition.

The awards promote and nurture talented emerging photographers by enabling them to develop ambitious new projects under the guidance of distinguished photography world practitioners.

Over 400 entries were received for the competition and pieces by three winners, Matthew Finn, Joanna Piotrowska, and Tereza Zelenkova, are now on display in the Bradford gallery, having already been on show in London.

In a joint statement, the director of Photoworks, Celia Davies, and Shonagh Manson, the director of Jerwood Charitable Foundation, said: "The Jerwood/Photoworks Awards are all about recognising future potential, supporting talented artists and their next steps. Working with our awardees throughout the creative production process and seeing the ideas behind their projects develop into such strong bodies of work that may not otherwise have been made has been hugely rewarding."

Mr Finn's work include photographs of his mother, who he has been taking pictures of since 1987. Ms Piotrowska's pieces explore anxiety and the effects of global and political events on the individual and Ms Zelenkova has travelled to her native Czech Republic to explore themes of history, local legend and folklore.

The exhibition runs until March 19 when it will move to the Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool in autumn.