Dear all,
just to let you know Hanbury Road Gallery will be closed tomorrow due to the opening of Dafydd's exhibition in Pontypool Market Hall. If you would like to come in for a chat, we'll be there most of the morning and early afternoon, and on Wednesday morning from 10 to 12, Dafydd will be there as well. From Wednesday on, the gallery in Bargoed will be open like normal, 10.30 to 6 Tue-Sat!
And here's some more information about Dafydd's project:
“We Are Ghosts” is an exhibition of images taken by Abertillery-born photographer and camera maker Dafydd Williams in the old Gwent Valleys. Using his homemade 8” x 10” large format camera and Harman Direct Positive Paper, Dafydd has photographed buildings from the late 19th and early 20th century that still survive in the area. Once grand and beautiful, the buildings were constructed in the times when the aesthetic, not utilitarianism was the principle in public space planning. Many of them were designed as miniature versions of buildings from Vienna, Paris or London.
Many of these buildings are still there; some worse for wear, decaying and hidden behind the signs of modern society’s obsession with plastic, fluorescent colours and franchise signage. Dafydd’s goal is to remind us of the lost and unnoticed beauty by photographing the top halves of the buildings that still retain their grandeur; taking them out of their modern context can allow us to see and imagine them again as they were originally seen.
The images attempt to reduce them to their shape and form, displaying them without the baggage associated with where they are, what they have become and how they represent the loss felt in the towns they came to stand in.
The images will hopefully help catalogue an overlooked part of our Valleys’ heritage, creating a visual record of these buildings that are slowly disappearing from the towns due to a lack of funds for maintenance or awareness outside of the Valleys that they even exist.
Each photograph is a unique image, developed and printed by hand without any manipulation or editing.
The exhibition will be presented in three locations, Pontypool Market Hall, Brynmawr Market Hall Cinema and Blackwood Miners’ Institute between November 2015 and March 2016.
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You can see more of Dafydd's work on his
page and follow him on
Twitter.
***
Mae "Ysbrydion Ydym" yn arddangosfa o ddelweddau gan Dafydd Williams, ffotograffydd a gwneuthurydd camera a anwyd yn Abertyleri, yng nghymoedd hen sir Gwent. Gan ddefnyddio ei gamera fformat mawr 8" x 10" a wnaeth ei hunan a Phapur Positif Harman Direct, mae Dafydd wedi tynnu ffotograffau o adeiladau o ddiwedd y 19eg a dechrau'r 20fed ganrif sy'n dal i oroesi yn yr ardal. Unwaith yn fawreddog a hardd, codwyd yr adeiladau mewn cyfnod pan mai'r esthetig, ac nid iwtilitariaeth, oedd yr egwyddor mewn cynllunio gofodau cyhoeddus. Cafodd llawer ohonynt eu cynllunio fel fersiynau bach o adeiladau o Vienna, Paris neu Lundain.
Mae llawer o'r adeiladau yn dal i fod yno; rhai'n dangos llawer o ôl traul, yn pydru ac yng nghudd tu ôl i arwyddion o obsesiwn cymdeithas fodern gyda phlastig, lliwiau llachar ac arwyddion ffransais. Nod Dafydd yw ein hatgoffa am yr harddwch coll a chudd drwy dynnu ffotograffau o hanner uchaf adeiladau sydd wedi cadw eu mawredd; gall mynd â hwy allan o'u cyd-destun modern ein galluogi i'w gweld a'u dychmygu unwaith eto fel y'u gwelid yn wreiddiol.
Mae'r delweddau yn ymgeisio i'w gostwng i'w siâp a'u ffurf, gan eu dangos heb y pwysau sy'n gysylltiedig gyda ble maent, yr hyn a ddaethant a sut y cynrychiolant y teimlad a gollwyd yn y trefi lle maent.
Gobeithir y bydd y delweddau hyn yn helpu i gatalogio rhan a ddiystyrir o dreftadaeth y Cymoedd, creu cofnod gweledol o'r adeiladau hyn sy'n diflannu'n araf o'r trefi oherwydd diffyg arian ar gyfer cynnal a chadw neu ymwybyddiaeth tu allan i'r Cymoedd eu bod hyd yn oed yn bodoli.
Mae pob ffotograff yn ddelwedd unigryw, a ddatblygwyd ac a brintiwyd â llaw heb unrhyw lurgunio neu olygu.
Gallwch weld mwy o waith Dafydd ar ei dudalen a dilynwch ef ar Twitter.
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The project is supported by the Arts Council of Wales, Torfaen Arts Development, Market Hall Cinema Brynmawr and Blackwood Miners' Institute. The exhibition will be on display in the following locations:
Cefnogir y prosiect gan Gyngor Celfyddydau Cymru, Datblygu'r Celfyddydau Torfaen, Sinema Neuadd y Farchnad Brynmawr a Sefydliad y Glowyr Coed Duon. Bydd yr arddangosfa yn cael ei arddangos yn y lleoliad canlynol:
Marchnad Pont-y-Pŵl, Pont-y-Pŵl, Torfaen, NP4 6JW
10 November - 7 December 2015
Cinema Neuadd y Farchnad Bryn-mawr, Sgwâr Neuadd Y Farchnad, Bryn-mawr, Gwent NP23 4AJ
December 2015 - January 2016 (dates to be confirmed)
Sefydliad Y Glowyr Coed Duon, Stryd Fawr, Coed Duon, NP12 1AA
1 March - 31 March 2016
1 Mawrth - 31 Mawrth 2016
