Huw Alden Davies
A photographer of the documentary kind, Huw Alden Davies explores the lines of visual and written narratives, studying concepts such as sense of place and cultural identity. Widely published, his work has been featured in a number of international exhibitions, with selected works in the permanent archives of the National Library of Wales, National Museum of Wales, and The National Portrait Gallery, London.
Lured by the single frame and its ability to tell the grandest tales, Davies’ has always turned his camera on the little things, or subjects largely ignored. This has seen his photographs selected by renowned Magnum photographer Martin Parr, The Association of Photographers, and The National Museum of Wales. Supported by the Arts Council of Wales and Ffotogallery (the national agency of photography), Davies’ work has gone on to represent Wales internationally, including a recent visit to India as part the Ffotogallery delegation in Jaipur.
Recent projects include, ‘Prince’, both a publication and a multi media study of the artist’s father and bi-product of a generation, and ‘Y Carnifal’, an on-going social documentary series celebrating sense of community and collaboration said to be at the helm of neoliberalism. He is currently in the phase of publishing his next title ‘Scaffold to the Moon’, with new work to be unveiled in the fourth biennial Diffusion - International Festival of Photography 2019.
the*kickplate*project
the*kickplate*project started off as a pop-up gallery in a former barber shop in Wales, and takes its name from the metal plates that sit in place as a reminder of our first gallery’s past. between July 2013 and January 2014, we organised and ran seven free exhibitions of international photography in our town in South East Wales, Abertillery. the popularity of the exhibitions in our local community made us realise how much art galleries were needed and welcome in small towns in the Valleys; we decided to continue elsewhere and expand. in February 2014, we organised "dall'Esterno", an exhibition of 7 female photographers from Eastern Europe, in Naples, Italy, bringing it to our former gallery later that year. between August 2015 and April 2016, we ran Hanbury Road Gallery in Bargoed. our most recent project was based in Pontypool, where in 2017 we opened the 76m2 gallery, organising 20 exhibitions over the last 2 years and running a free darkroom. we have also organised several offsite exhibitions in Cardiff and in the Valleys, including Abersychan, Brynmawr, Deri and New Tredegar, cooperating with other organisations promoting the arts in the area. so far, we have exhibited over 50 artists from 27 countries and 3 continents.
our aim as a project is to show that art is not prescribed to one social group, as well as to bring high-quality international photography to places that don't have a permanent gallery. as part of the project we also search for artists who are perhaps part of the alternative art world. we'd like to help promote new artists, focusing on countries whose art is often overlooked.
due to the nomadic character of our lives, we’d like to take the*kickplate*project to other places.
Michal Iwanowski
Michal Iwanowski is a Cardiff based artist and a current Ffotogallery tutor. He graduated from Documentary Photography at the University of Wales, Newport in 2008. His work explores the relationship between landscape and memory; marking the silent passing of seemingly insignificant individuals and histories. In 2009, he won the Emerging Photographer award by the Magenta Foundation, as well as being given a Honourable Mention at Px3 Prix De Photographie, Paris. He's received Arts Council of Wales grants for his two major projects: Clear of People (2012) and Go Home, Polish (2018). His work has been exhibited and published worldwide, with the most recent shows in Poland and Wales. His first monograph 'Clear of People' was published by Brave Books in April 2017, and the book was nominated for the Deutsche Borse Photography Prize 2018.
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