The Valleys

Event Info

What do the Valleys mean to you?

From Ammanford to Pontypool, artists from across the world have been inspired by the south Wales Valleys since the 18th century. The Valleys showcases the work of some of the artists from the national collection to highlight the stories of the area.

With over 200 artworks in a wide range of media including painting, photography, film and applied art, the exhibition reveals how the lives and landscape of the Valleys and the people who lived and worked there were transformed by iron and coal, and how these communities made a vital contribution to the modern world.

In the 20th century, global forces placed huge economic and social pressures on these communities. Artists responded to produce a unique and internationally important representation of working-class experience, and yet this visual tradition remains largely unknown.

The exhibition profiles work by over 60 artists including Tina Carr and Annemarie Schöne, Robert Frank, Josef Herman, and Ernest Zobole as well as introducing the work of collier artists and makers including Nicholas Evans, Harry Rodgers and Illtyd David.

The exhibition includes several works which have not been displayed before, alongside a group of new photography acquisitions which have been made possible with generous support from Art Fund.