Derek Hughes

Using still photography and moving image, Derek Hughes explores themes of memory, melancholy, history, and trace. By exploring his own past, alongside the history of a small local chapel, Seion, of which he is the custodian, Hughes creates a visual representation of history’s fragmentation.

Throughout the process of making this body of work, the chapel has become a material reflection of self, having once flourished with excitement and optimism, now tainted by a sense of melancholy.

Gan ddefnyddio ffotograffiaeth a delwedd symudol, mae Derek Hughes yn archwilio themâu cof, melancholy, hanes, ac olrhain. Trwy archwilio ei orffennol ei hun, a hanes capel bach lleol, Seion, y mae’n geidwad arno, mae Hughes yn creu cynrychiolaeth weledol o ddarnio hanes.

Drwy gydol y broses o wneud y darn o waith yma, mae’r capel wedi dod yn adlewyrchiad materol o’r hunan, wedi iddo ffynnu unwaith gyda chyffro ac optimistiaeth, yn nawr wedi’i lygru gan ymdeimlad o felancholy.

Not Waving but Drowning

Charlie James

Not Waving but Drowning is a project that explores how long you can hold a smile before you physically cannot take it anymore. Social media consistently shows people smiling, creating the illusion of happiness, when in reality they may well be struggling with life. This illusion of happiness is not vital to a healthy life. Exploring the idea of people putting on a smile to hide how and what they are truly feeling, this project explores the detrimental effects of the social stigma surrounding depression and poor mental health.

Title taken from the poem Not Waving but Drowning by Stevie Smith (1972)

Mae Not Waving but Drowning yn brosiect sy’n archwilio pa mor hir y gallwch chi ddal gwên cyn na allwch chi’n ei chymryd mwyach. Mae cyfryngau cymdeithasol yn gyson yn dangos pobl yn gwenu, gan greu’r rhith o hapusrwydd, pan mewn gwirionedd mae’n bosibl iawn eu bod yn cael trafferth gyda bywyd. Nid yw’r rhith hwn o hapusrwydd yn hanfodol i fywyd iach. Gan archwilio’r syniad o bobl yn gwisgo gwên i guddio sut a beth maent yn ei deimlo mewn gwirionedd, mae’r prosiect hwn yn archwilio effeithiau andwyol y stigma cymdeithasol sy’n ymwneud ag iselder ac iechyd meddwl gwael.

Teitl o’r gerdd Not Waving but drowning gan Stevie Smith (1972)