Full Fathom Five, by Celia Jackson

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Our first exhibition at 76m2 will be "Full Fathom Five", by Celia Jackson. We're excited to be opening a new gallery in Pontypool and we hope we'll see you there when we open on the 11th of February.

“Full Fathom Five” is a solo exhibition by Celia Jackson, Wales-based photographer and senior lecturer at the University of South Wales. It is the first in a series of 9 exhibitions that will run in 76m² between February and December 2017 thanks to support that we received from the Arts Council of Wales, Torfaen Arts Development and Pontypool Town Council.

Considering the personal character of the story behind the photographs, we would like to present it to you through Celia’s words:

Full Fathom Five

Full fathom five thy father lies,

Of his bones are coral made;

Those are pearls that were his eyes;

Nothing of him that doth fade,

But doth suffer a sea-change

Into something rich and strange.

(William Shakespeare, The Tempest, I. 2. 397-403)

My father spent most of his life in, on or near the sea. He was born in Whitstable, Kent, in 1925 and grew up to the sound of gulls and shrimp-sellers. Later, when he joined the RAF, he was stationed in the Far East and brought back small packets of beautiful black-and-white photographs taken with his Leica camera. These show a mixture of exotic gardens, architecture, and beach scenes featuring implausibly large, feathery palm trees and brilliant sunshine.

Later Dad acquired a small dinghy and we would sail this determinedly up and down the River Avon on summer weekends, tacking every minute or so - less on a windy day, as the river was so narrow. He would also take sailing holidays on the North Sea, living on board for several days with new-found friends; these experiences inspired the poetry and short stories he wrote many years later.

Towards the end of his life Dad would take me and his two grandchildren to the Canary Islands every summer, where the white sands and dazzling turquoise sea were always a source of joy to him.  He lost his life in the sea in August 2011, off La Oliva Beach outside Corralejo, Fuerteventura.  As was his habit, he was floating on his back, looking up into the intense blue of the sky, and his heart simply stopped.

The images made for Full Fathom Five represent my first hesitant steps towards making something positive from the memories of that terrible day.  Like the American photographer Barbara Ess, I am “trying to photograph what cannot be photographed”, and, like her, I use the simplest of pinhole cameras to capture my way of experiencing the world.

CELIA JACKSON

NOVEMBER 2015

Images featured in the exhibition were taken with cameras made of a coffee can and a biscuit tin with brass pinholes.

The exhibition will run between the 11^th of February and the 7^th of March 2017.

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Mae “Pum Gwrhyd Llawn” yn arddangosfa solo gan Celia Jackson, ffotograffydd ac uwch ddarlithydd ym Mhrifysgol De Cymru. Hon yw'r gyntaf mewn cyfres o 9 arddangosfa a gynhelir mewn 76m² rhwng mis Chwefror a mis Rhagfyr 2017 diolch i gefnogaeth gan Gyngor Celfyddydau Cymru, Datblygu Celfyddydau Torfaen a Chyngor Tref Pont-y-pŵl.

O ystyried cymeriad personol y stori tu ôl i'r ffotograffau, hoffem ei chyflwyno i chi drwy eiriau Celia:

Pum Gwrhyd Llawn/Full Fathom Five

Full fathom five thy father lies,

Of his bones are coral made;

Those are pearls that were his eyes;

Nothing of him that doth fade,

But doth suffer a sea-change

Into something rich and strange.

(William Shakespeare, The Tempest, I. 2. 397-403)

Treuliodd fy nhad y rhan fwyaf o'i fywyd ar neu'n agos at y môr. Cafodd ei eni yn Whitstable, Caint, yn 1925 a'i fagu yn sŵn gwylanod a gwerthwyr berdys. Yn ddiweddarach, pan ymunodd â'r Awyrlu Brenhinol, bu'n gwasanaethu yn y Dwyrain Pell a daeth â phecynnau bach o ffotograffau hardd du-a-gwyn a dynnodd gyda'i gamera Leica yn ôl gydag ef. Mae hyn yn dangos cyfuniad o erddi egsotig, pensaernïaeth a golygfeydd traeth gyda choed palmwydd pluog anhygoel o fawr a heulwen danbaid.

Yn ddiweddarach cafodd Dad gwch bychan a byddem yn hwylio hyn yn benderfynol lan a lawr yr Afon Avon ar benwythnosau yn ystod yr haf, gan dacio bob tua munud - llai ar ddyddiau gwyntog, gan fod yr afon mor gul. Byddai hefyd yn cymryd gwyliau hwylio ar Fôr y Gogledd, gan fyw ar long am nifer o ddyddiau gyda'i ffrindiau newydd; ysbrydolodd y profiadau hyn y farddoniaeth a'r straeon byr a ysgrifennodd flynyddoedd lawer wedyn.

Tuag at ddiwedd ei fywyd byddai Dad yn mynd â fi a'i ddau o wyrion i'r Ynysoedd Dedwydd bob haf lle'r oedd y tywod gwyn a'r môr gwyrddlas disglair bob amser yn ffynhonnell llawenydd iddo. Bu farw yn y môr ym mis Awst 2011, ger traeth La Olivia yn agos at Corralejo, Fuerteventura. Yn ôl ei arfer, roedd yn arnofio ar ei gefn, yn edrych lan ar lesni’r awyr, a pheidiodd ei galon â churo.

Mae'r delweddau a wnaed ar gyfer Pum Gwrhyd Llawn yn cynrychioli fy nghamau petrus cyntaf tuag at wneud rhywbeth mwy cadarnhaol o atgofion am y diwrnod ofnadwy hwnnw. Yn yr un modd â'r ffotograffydd Barbara Ess, rwy'n "ceisio tynnu llun yr hyn na ellir tynnu ei lun", ac fel hi, rwy'n defnyddio'r camera twll pin symlaf i gyfleu fy ffordd fi o brofi'r byd.

CELIA JACKSON

TACHWEDD 2015

Tynnwyd y delweddau a ddangosir yn yr arddangosfa hon gyda chamerâu a wnaed o gan coffi a thin bisgedi gyda thyllau pin pres.

Cynhelir yr arddangosfa rhwng 11 Chwefror a 7 Mawrth 2017.