‘Powerless’ is a body of work comprised of moving and still images taken at Porthcawl beach during the height of the storms that hit South Wales in 2019-2020. The project is autobiographical and attempts to capture personal traumatic experience and express my feelings about the loss of my father to the sea when I was a child. I use my photography as a means of self-therapy and this project has allowed me to explore the potential of combining image, text and sound, including a poem I wrote to accompany the work. Together I intend that these elements act together as a metaphor for my feelings of acute loss and anger I experienced then, and that are still with me today.
My current project follows on from an earlier work ‘Solitude’ 2019. This was a series of landscape images that experimented with techniques of reflection and mirroring and the ways in which ‘abstract’ landscape can be seen to act on the unconscious mind. The series of images was exhibited at the Plaza Gallery, Llandough, during Mental Health Awareness Month. The images were taken at a time when I was mentally at my lowest having received devastating news about my mother’s health and the potential outcome of her illness. I have used this challenging period in my life to make the projects ‘Solitude’ and ‘Powerless’ with the intention that they become thought provoking images that I hope will speak to my audience about universal human experiences.
Casgliad o waith sy’n cynnwys delweddau symudol a llonydd yw ‘Powerless’ a dynnwyd ar draeth Porthcawl adeg stormydd geirwon 2019-20. Mae’n brosiect hunangofiannol sy’n ceisio cyfleu profiad trawmatig personol a mynegi fy nheimladau o golli fy nhad i’r môr pan oeddwn i’n blentyn. Rwy’n defnyddio fy ffotograffiaeth fel math o hunantherapi, ac mae’r prosiect hwn wedi caniatáu i mi archwilio’r potensial o gyfuno delwedd, sain a thestun, gan gynnwys cerdd a ysgrifennais i gyd-fynd â’r gwaith. Y nod yw cyfuno’r elfennau hyn fel trosiad o’m teimladau o golled a dicter dwys a gefais bryd hynny, ac sy’n dal i effeithio arnaf heddiw.
Mae fy mhrosiect cyfredol yn dilyn gwaith cynharach ‘Solitude’ yn 2019. Cyfres o ddelweddau tirwedd oedd hon oedd yn arbrofi gyda thechnegau adlewyrchu a chreu drych a sut gall tirweddau ‘haniaethol’ gael eu gweld fel rhywbeth sy’n effeithio ar yr isymwybod. Arddangoswyd y gyfres yn Oriel y Plaza, Llandochau, yn ystod mis ymwybyddiaeth iechyd meddwl. Tynnais y lluniau hyn pan oedd fy stad feddyliol ar ei hisaf, ar ôl derbyn newyddion torcalonnus am iechyd fy mam a chanlyniad posib ei salwch. Defnyddiais y cyfnod heriol hwn o’m bywyd i greu prosiectau ‘Solitude’ a ‘Powerless’ gyda’r bwriad o greu delweddau sy’n pigo cydwybod gan obeithio cyfleu profiadau cyffredin y ddynoliaeth i’m cynulleidfa.
