#76: Offline Journal Newsletter: 26 Aug '24
Photography updates aplenty
Hello again
As we head speedily and scarily towards September, here are some updates on what’s happening in Cymru/Wales photoland.
As this is another long/packed newsletter it will likely be truncated in its email version in your inbox, so you will likely find the browser version easier to read in all its glory, or try clicking on "View entire message" and you should be able to view the entire post in your email app of choice.
Brian
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NEW CATALOG PREVIEW
I’m excited to reveal the next in Offline Journal’s CATALOG series which will accompany issue #013 in October as a free supplement for Offline’s Subscriber Plus supporters.
Bargoed Mining Community is catalog 004 and a collaboration between Swedish photographer Kjell-Åke Andersson, emeritus professor of sociology at Cardiff University Huw Beynon and Offline Journal.
At 44-pages plus softcover, the new catalog has been published as a memento of Andersson’s participation in the current ‘THE VALLEYS’ exhibition showing in National Museum Cardiff until 3 November 2024. All fifteen of the exhibition prints are included with captions, along with three additional photographs from the photographer’s larger archive of work shot in Bargoed between 1973 - 85, and in addition to an introduction by Kjell-Åke Andersson there is a reflective 4-page essay on mining in Wales and Andersson’s documenting of it by Huw Beynon.
With no official exhibition catalogue available from Museum Wales, Bargoed Mining Community is a unique record of this work in THE VALLEYS show and an exclusive reprint of a small selection of images from Andersson’s now-rare Gruvarbetare i Wales photobook published in Sweden in 1977.
As THE VALLEYS exhibition in Museum Cardiff will end 3rd November, I’ll be making this new catalog available more widely to purchase from Saturday 12 October 2024 to enable more people to view it alongside the exhibition.
Be sure to support Offline Journal with a 2-issue Subscriber Plus subscription to receive this Bargoed Mining Community catalog 004 free with the October ‘24 issue #013 of Offline Journal.
EYE FESTIVAL 2024 POSTPONED
Scheduled for the weekend of 18-20 October, this year’s EYE International Photography Festival, the longest-running photography festival in Wales, has just announced this year’s event will be postponed until October 2025.
EYE Festival Director Glenn Edwards provided Offline Journal with the following statement:
“Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances beyond our control, the EYE International Photography Festival has had to be postponed until next year. At this time, the new dates will be 17 - 19 October 2025 which we will confirm as soon as possible.
Ticket holders will be automatically transferred across, or a full refund given if you are sadly unable to join us. If you have any queries please contact the Ticket Office artstaff@aber.ac.uk
Apologies to everyone for any inconvenience caused, and we hope to see you in Aberystwyth in 2025 for an amazing weekend of photography. This years speakers have been superb in their understanding and have agreed to attend our next festival”.
– Glenn Edwards, Director, EYE International Photography Festival
With the postponement of the EYE this year in Wales, attention will focus on Ffotogallery’s new FFOTO CYMRU 2024 Festival running 1 - 31 October. At time of writing, I’d expect the full festival programme to be announced at a launch event on 5 September.
The Ffotogallery website has been updated to clarify the focus of this first festival, a successor to Diffusion, as follows:
“In a society where women artists and photographers are still regularly overlooked, the first Ffoto Cymru points the spotlight towards female photographers and artists using photography. With the theme ‘What You See is What You Get?’ the festival questions how we see, understand and use images and how they shape our identities and culture, from historical archives to AI and modern technologies”.
– Ffotogallery
Also announced as part of the festival is a feature exhibition in Ffotogallery in Cardiff by respected photographer Marian Delyth titled Darnau | Fragments.
Darnau | Fragments offers an intimate look at Delyth’s practice, showcasing her radical and consistent curiosity; through portraits, landscapes, introspective and reportage from the 1970’s to 2024 solidifying her position as one of Wales' most influential artists while celebrating her significant contributions to the artistic and visual identity of Wales.
– Ffotogallery
You can listen to Marian Delyth’s conversation with Ffoton Wales, recorded in 2015, on their YouTube Channel
COFIO EXHIBITION - Rhodri Jones
A selection of work from Rhodri Jones’ new photobook COFION will be on show at STORIEL museum and gallery in Bangor from 7 September 2024, where the book will also have its official launch.
The exhibition and photobook are a tribute to the photographer’s father John Ellis Jones who had a long association with Bangor University through his career as a Classics Lecturer and expert in Greek Archaeology before retirement and death in early 2023.
Copies of COFION will be available at STORIEL and direct from the photographer.
INNOCENCE OF EYE softcover
Pete Davis continues to share his photography in print and book form with a newly self-published INNOCENCE OF EYE title.
First published as a large format, limited-edition hardback book in 2020, this new, revised and expanded, soft-back edition, is now available direct from the photographer. At 68 pages measuring 210mm x 210mm, this perfect-bound version contains a collection of Pete’s photographs taken ‘off assignment’ on his travels through the UK and Europe.
Davis has posted a video on his YouTube channel giving a ‘Making Of’ illustrated talk on putting the new softcover version of the book together.
Look out for two further titles being republished as affordable softcover photobooks by Pete - 'The Expressive Land' (images from which featured previously in an Offline Journal FOLIO exhibition poster) and 'Cader Idris'.
Signed copies of INNOCENCE OF EYE (at just £10.00 each) are available directly from Pete Davis via his BigCartel store:
https://petedavisphotography.bigcartel.com
TALK PHOTO at Oriel Colwyn
Those lucky enough to grab a ticket and able to attend Oriel Colwyn’s next TALK PHOTO session on Wednesday 28 August at 7pm are in for a real treat - with Open Eye Gallery and Bluecoat Press founder Colin Wilkinson as the guest speaker.
Founded in 1992, Bluecoat Press published numerous photobooks that focussed on British documentary photography – including titles on work by photographers Tish Murtha, John Bulmer, Nick Hedges, Chris Steele-Perkins and Jim Mortram.
Free but limited tickets for this event which starts 7pm are available via the gallery website.
www.orielcolwyn.org/talk-photo