art


EDGAR MARTINS: WHAT PHOTOGRAPHY & INCARCERATION HAVE IN COMMON WITH AN


EMPTY VASE Ffotogallery, Cardiff Until Sat 9 Apr


Portuguese-born visual artist Edgar Martins set himself a challenge to “capture absence” – to photograph the experience and reality of incarceration without taking any pictures within prison walls. The resultant images, he suggests, turn traditional documentary photography on its head, revealing “the hidden narratives rather than the glaring truths”, and functioning as an act


face of dominant perceptions of imprisonment and inmates.


of If


rehabilitation, rather than punishment, for many inmates life after release is not liberating. In the pictures taken immediately outside prisons, Martins’ subjects look dwarfed by the scale of the walls, lost, daunted by the prospect of going it alone – pining, perhaps, for the companionship of the carceral community.


the purpose of prison is Even more striking is the image of resistance in the


a man appearing to pull a length of metal chain out of his mouth – on one reading, a powerful visual metaphor for the painful process of freeing oneself from the prison system. Or perhaps the reverse is true – is he actually swallowing the chain, and Martins is instead depicting the process by which incarceration


become a state of body and mind?


of their loved ones. Arguably the most poignant picture on display is of a single white sandal, with the label ’S GIL affied. Echoing the tragic six-word story “Baby Shoes” most commonly attributed to Ernest Hemingway, it underlines how keenly absences can be felt.


Of course, imprisonment affects not only those deprived of their liberty but


also those deprived


Admission: FREE. Info: ffotogallery.org BEN WOOLHEAD


is internalised to


CREATIVE COVERAGE Torch Theatre, Milford Haven Mon 4-Sat 30 Apr


Creative Coverage is a sort of publicity service for professional artists, who – outside of the upper echelons – are not always terribly well served by coverage of the form in British media. Become a member, and they profess to use their experience and contacts to get you column inches in relevant outlets. With this eponymous exhibition, which features three artists based in Wales – well, it looks like they’ve succeeded. Hats off to Creative Coverage for a job well done!


Richard Blacklaw-Jones lives near the gallery in Pembrokeshire, but more importantly plenty of beaches – with, apparently, lots of


MYLES MANSFIELD:


#INHUMAN Elysium Gallery, Swansea Sat 2 Apr-Sat 21 May


Technology is changing how we live, and in turn, we are changing to cope with its advances. Exploring what it is to be human in a digital-technological world, yles ansfield eplores the inaccessibility for


digital people with his kinetic sculpture robot builds. Past work of the Carmarthen-based artist includes sculptures for Dr Beynon’s Bug Farm in St Davids and the National Botanic Garden Of Wales.


pre- and non-


detritus that he sportingly picks up and upcycles into his self-styled ‘beachcombing art’. Narberth’s Austin Pinkerton is more definitively fine art in his practise – acrylics and watercolours, ceramic and stone sculpture – but with a degree of pointed care betraying his architectural background. And south Wales-based Dawn Harries creates impressionist landscapes that render countryside and coastline in striking yet accessible manner.


Admission: FREE. Info: creativecoverage.co.uk NOEL GARDNER


34


Taking a posthumanism approach, Myles crafts sculptures created from recycled materials and motors to depict a future where our descendants exist in a virtual computer reality without bodies. The moving mechanisms demonstrate the intelligence of technology while also purposely referencing the automata of the past.


Through studying a Kinetic Sculpture PhD, Myles hopes to open a discussion through his art. Are our local communities and intimacy as a whole in danger as we plunge further into Zoom calls and Facebook feeds?


Admission: FREE. Info: elysiumgallery.com EMMA WAY


JOY LABINJO: ODE TO


OLAUDAH EQUIANO Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff Until Sun 3 July


Circumstances concerning artist Joy Labinjo’s life are coming up doubles lately. In the past two months, not only does she have exhibitions on two continents, the public will learn about her art and also get a lesson in history as a bonus.


This new show Chapter Gallery features historical paintings which disprove


people first came to the U with the Windrush generation of the late 1940s. From reading David Olusoga’s Black And British: A Forgotten History, she learned of Olaudah Equiano, whose memoir – published in 1789 and one of the first in urope by a Black frican writer – and life story were the inspiration for this presentation.


the fallacy that Black


Woon Art Prize winner Labinjo is filling the gap of the absence of images of Equiano, and other Black contemporaries in England, with her work of intimate portraits and other representations of their journeys from Africa to England, re-presenting their stories in the 21st century.


Admission: FREE. Info: chapter.org RHONDA LEE REALI


OF FORESTERS,


FARMERS AND FISH Oriel Yr Ardd, National Botanic Garden Of Wales, Llanarthne Sat 2 Apr-Sun 29 May


The intersection of art and nature is one that has been explored constantly history.


The interrelationship is equally expressed through art as much as it’s investigated and analysed through science and industry. With our ever-changing environment, and the immediacy of climate change, it has never been more important to further this exploration, expanding our understanding and knowledge to strengthen our relationship for the health and wellbeing of our home and its future generations.


throughout human


Bringing together botanists and scientists Dr David Bedford (former director of Royal


Mark Macklin, to work alongside Judy Macklin of


change, Professor


Printmakers and Jennifer Stuerzl of IPSS, Brisbane, this international and interdisciplinary exhibition will explore our historical relationship with the wildwoods through print.


Aberystwyth


Admission: ./. kids. Info: botanicgarden.wales


ADAM WILLIAMS


Botanical Gardens, ustralia and a world authority in ecosystems and environmental


Tasmanian


Jennifer Stuerzl


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