Welsh from Everywhere: Phyllis Maud Theatre
In 2022 I was delighted to be chosen as one of the featured artists in the Ffotogallery Wales International Festival of Photography (Diffusion). Ffotogallery chose a selection of my Welsh from Everywhere images for exhibition at the main Friars Walk gallery. However, Ffotogallery went one step further in supporting my Welsh From Everywhere project by commissioning me to run a pop-up studio at the Phyllis Maud Theatre in the Pillgwenlly area of Newport, to generate more images for the project.
The day started off slow as I struggled to persuade passers by to come in and get their portrait taken. Understandably in an area of such high immigration, there is a natural distrust, or a lack of English which put barriers up for people. Soon though the local Imam came in to get his portrait taken, and this really got the ball rolling and the rest of the day went by in a blur of portraits.
I met some really interesting people, heard some great stories and got some lovely portraits. Job done!