‘What do the Valleys mean to you?’
Ryan L. Moule, Head of Undergraduate Photographic Studies at UWTSD’s Swansea College of Art, has been selected to display his work at the National Museum in Cardiff in an exhibition entitled ‘The Valleys,’ to highlight the stories of the area.
The exhibition which runs from May 25 to November 3, will showcase 200 artworks in a wide range of media including painting, photography, film, and applied art. It reveals how the lives and landscape of the Valleys and the people who lived and worked there were transformed by iron and coal, and how these communities made a vital contribution to the modern world.
Ryan said: “It’s a great honour to be exhibiting in this exhibition alongside so many internationally recognised artists. Art has always enabled different generations to reflect upon the social, political, and environmental impact of the times in which they live. To be able to contribute to the ever-changing understanding of the place I call home fills me with a great sense of gratitude.”
In the 20th century, global forces placed huge economic and social pressures on these communities. Artists responded to produce a unique and internationally important representation of working-class experience, and yet this visual tradition remains largely unknown.
The exhibition profiles work by over 60 artists including Tina Carr and Annemarie Schöne, Robert Frank, Josef Herman, and Ernest Zobole as well as introducing the work of collier artists and makers including Nicholas Evans, Harry Rodgers and Illtyd David.
It includes several works which have not been displayed before, alongside a group of new photography acquisitions which have been made possible with support from Art Fund.
UWTSD is ranked first in Wales for Photography and 4th in the UK in the Guardian League Table 2024.
Further Information
Rebecca Davies
Executive Press and Media Relations Officer
Corporate Communications and PR
Email: rebecca.davies@uwtsd.ac.uk
Phone: 07384 467071