My work explores connections to place, environment, time and memory. After growing up in Newport, and living in wales my whole life I began to think about what this actually meant to me, and whether I had an emotional connection to the places/spaces of South Wales.
Throughout my work, I investigate how personal history and memory are tied to place, how time informs memory, and how visual representation can be used to communicate experience. John Berger suggests, “that photography is rather like memory; memory is normally embedded in an experience and photography has the ability to record these experiences”. The project explores connection to place and environment, focusing on the concept of being physically attached to where you come from.
The series investigates how personal history and memory are tied to place using photography as a visual representation of where I grew up. The layering within the series is an attempt to bring the viewer into my own experience of these places. Through using the graffiti an element of humour is introduced into the photography as well as shedding light on urban landscapes, and further references areas around Newport.
I have experimented with mixed media in my work to suggest the layering of information we compile within our experiences and our memories. The use of bright colours are utilised to inject positivity and uplift the viewer of my work.
My pieces frame issues concerning place, memory, connection and representation, while exploring the notion of change, while the layers of materials are used as a metaphor for the subjectivity of memory as certain parts of the image become lost or blurred.
Mae fy ngwaith yn archwilio cysylltiadau â lle, amgylchedd, amser a chof. Ar ôl tyfu i fyny yng Nghasnewydd, a byw yng Nghymru drwy gydol fy oes, dechreuais feddwl am yr hyn roedd hynny’n ei olygu i mi mewn gwirionedd, ac a oedd gen i gysylltiad emosiynol â lleoedd/gofodau De Cymru.
Yng nghrynswth fy ngwaith, rwy’n ymchwilio i sut y mae hanes personol a’r cof ynghlwm wrth le, sut mae amser yn llywio’r cof, a sut y gellir defnyddio cynrychiolaeth weledol i gyfleu profiad. Mae John Berger yn awgrymu “bod ffotograffiaeth yn debyg i’r cof; mae’r cof fel arfer wedi’i wreiddio mewn profiad ac mae ffotograffiaeth yn meddu ar y gallu i gofnodi’r profiadau hyn”. Mae’r prosiect yn archwilio cysylltiad â lle ac amgylchedd, gan ganolbwyntio ar y cysyniad o fod ynghlwm yn gorfforol wrth eich cynefin.
Mae’r gyfres yn archwilio sut mae hanes personol a’r cof ynghlwm wrth le, gan ddefnyddio ffotograffiaeth fel portread gweledol o leoliad fy magwraeth. Mae’r haenu sy’n rhan o’r gyfres yn ymgais i ddenu’r gwyliwr i’m profiad fy hun o’r lleoedd hyn. Drwy ddefnyddio’r graffiti, cyflwynir elfen o hiwmor i’r ffotograffiaeth, ac mae hefyd yn taflu goleuni ar dirweddau trefol, ac yn cyfeirio at ardaloedd o gwmpas Casnewydd hefyd.
Arbrofais gyda chyfryngau cymysg yn fy ngwaith er mwyn awgrymu’r haenau gwybodaeth a gasglwn fel rhan o’n profiadau a’n hatgofion. Defnyddir lliwiau llachar i chwistrellu positifrwydd a rhoi hwb i hwyliau’r sawl sy’n edrych ar fy ngwaith. Mae fy ngweithiau yn fframio materion yn ymwneud â lle, cof, cysylltiad a chynrychiolaeth, tra’n archwilio’r syniad o newid, ac mae’r haenau o ddeunyddiau’n cael eu defnyddio fel trosiad ar gyfer goddrychedd y cof wrth i rannau penodol o’r ddelwedd droi’n aneglur neu fynd ar goll.
