“2025 was just a year.”
Myfyrdodau ar y flwyddyn a fu. Reflections on the year that was,
w/ Farah Allibhai, Llinos Anwyl, Melissa Appleton, Kath Ashill, Manon Awst, Aur Bleddyn, Clare Charles, David Cleary, Diffwys Criafol, Angela Davies, Tudor Rhys Etchells, Rebecca Gould, Steffan Gwynn, Dylan Huw, Hannan Jones, Gweni Llwyd, Dyfan Lewis, Sophie Mak-Schram, Owain McGilvary, Jack Moyse, Radha Patel, Naomi Pearce, Kayley Roberts, Durre Shahwar, Holly Slingsby, Gwenllian Spink, Iestyn Tyne, George Hampton Wale, Iolo Walker, Angharad Williams, Darya Williams
Bangor Stars, Stryd Fawr Bangor
There was so much I could talk about this year! Particularly Hannan Jones' piece for Artes Mundi at the Roman Legion Museum. Really ambitious and so intricately connected with the land and the community there, including the staff at the museum. I also wanted to highlight an essay written by Steph Roberts for Fit Notes, published by Ache, talking about her experiences of chronic illness. Ache is a feminist publisher 'exploring illness, health, bodies and pain' and Steph's essay takes an image of Matisse in his bed to reflect on her own experiences and the wider politics of sickness and disability. The essay takes in the knotty relationship between art and work, the bodily toll of capitalism, and the inability of sickness to follow the rules of progress. There has been so much great writing coming out of Wales this year but this has really stayed with me.
Gweni Llwyd
Eleni, ma’ sybscreibio i gylchlythyr y newyddiadurwr Will Hayward—Substack sy'n canolbwyntio ar wleidyddiaeth Cymru—wedi gwneud i mi deimlo'n optimistaidd am Gymru eto. Anaml y mae'r hyn sy'n cael ei reportio yn fy llenwi â gobaith. Fel arfer fedrai’m credu be dwi’n ei ddarllan - "a yw cenedl lle mae 45% o blant dan bedair oed yn byw mewn tlodi wir yn rhoi ots am genedlaethau'r dyfodol?" Ond dwi bob amsar yn falch o’i ddarllan. ‘Chos pwy arall sy’n ACTUALLY reportio yn gyson ac yn feirniadol ar y materion sy'n wynebu Cymru heddiw?
This year, subscribing to the journalist Will Hayward’s newsletter—a Substack focused on Welsh politics—has made me optimistic about Wales again, even if what’s being reported rarely fills me with hope. I often can’t believe what I’m reading: “does a nation where 45% of under-fours live in poverty really give a crap about future generations?” But I am always glad to be reading it. Because who else is ACTUALLY consistently and critically reporting on the issues facing Wales today?
Sophie Mak-Schram
[moved in Wales, in 2025]
In a darkened room, a careful spotlight on a keening voice singing about aborting; in a church adorned with neon hearts, a shiny disregard in the hard, fast vocals; in a basement shimmering with projected visual loops, a song mobilised by the singer’s fury.
A red cable trails up the marble stairs as we make a Greenham Common chant audible again by singing it. A long scroll of carpet neatly wedged with wood, divides the video from its foley sound. Drunken rugby boys manage to harmonise on the train platform, and I think about how song can carry, sound can cross, and the closeness of singing with, to, for.
[Eimear Walsh, Mixed Messages from the Irish Republic at Chapter opening; Panic Shack at Other Voices; Demand the Impossible by Common Wealth; Rubie, George H. Wale and Sophie Mak-Schram, performance as part of To Shift a Stone; LIAR LIAR by Anthony Shapland at Aberystwyth Arts Centre]
Aur Bleddyn
Oriel Sploj: Diwedd cinio dy sul cartre a dreifio ugen milltir i’r oriel pop up leol ddiweddara. Y dre oedd unweth yn dy labeli’n une townie neu joskin wan yn gartre i sîn gelfyddydol ymylol. Peintwyr o Lanbrynmair, ffotograffwyr o Gorris ac ambell un o dros Y Bwlch yn hoelio’u lle ar y plywood amharhaol. Cip o hysbys am nosweithie sinema a DJ, ac un o’r Gwerinwyr diweddara i’w swyno yma. Tanwydd i 5 stages of grief yr A470. Cyrredd nôl i Gaerdydd gan dderbyn y suon am y lle sy fel cyn gariad, me Mach yn le gwell bellach.
Four thousand years ago, gold was melted and shaped into something moon-like, a golden crescent, rippling with zigzags, lines and dots. We can only imagine the life it led, adorning necks and held by hands that have since disappeared with the tide of time. A hundred-and-fifty years ago, a farmer noticed a golden shimmer in the peat. Lifted into a different life, it was exhibited in glass boxes and handled with gloves. Three months ago, the lunula disappeared again. Stolen from Sain Ffagan in October, I often catch myself thinking about the life it now leads. Maybe it’ll appear again, or maybe not, slipping through hands into the abyss of time.
Pedair mil o flynyddoedd yn ôl, fe doddwyd a siapiwyd aur i efelychu cilgant y lleuad, yn donnau a llinellau euraidd. Gallwn ’mond dychmygu’r gyddfau a’u haddurnwyd a’r dwylo a’i daliodd, sydd erbyn hyn wedi hen ddiflannu efo llif amser. Cant a hanner o flynyddoedd yn ôl, sylwodd ffermwr ar lewyrch euraidd yn y mawn. Trawsblannwyd i fywyd gwahanol, ei harddangos mewn bocs gwydr a'i thrin â menig. Tri mis yn ôl, diflannodd y lwnwla eto. Wedi'i ddwyn o Sain Ffagan ym mis Hydref, dwi’n aml yn myfyrio ar y bywyd y mae'n ei harwain nawr. Efallai ymddangosai eto, ond efallai ddim, yn llithro trwy ddwylo i ddyfnderoedd amser.
Owain McGilvary
What’s Wales good for? Of course many things, but the one that sticks out to me is our polyvocality (emphasis on the vocal). Haf yma cymerais rhan yn rhaglen Pegwn gyda Peak Cymru, wedi’i curadu gan Casi Wyn. Bron i wythnos o weithgareddau ysbrydodol, heriol a pwysig yn meddwl am rol iaith o fewn profiadau amrywiol i artistiaid, cerddorion, sgwennwyr ayyb. This intimate group of 7 (including myself: Hedydd Ioan, Darya Williams, Larysa Martseva, Eddie Ladd, Penny Hallas and Aur Bleddyn) was able to put our Welsh worlds to rest through intense discussions (ydan ni’n fetisheiddio pres yn byd ffilm?), anturiaethiau drwy porthau ogofau Bannau Brycheiniog, writing free form poetry and ending most days with a bottle of wine and gossip. Wrth gwrs, mae Cymru’n llawn pobol cool, creadigol, cyfoethog a llawn grit. Bod yn dyst a’r pobol yma, hefyd Casi Wyn, Becca Voelcker, Hanan Issa, Alan Bowring ac tim Peak - I wasn’t moved by just one cool thing, I was moved by many cool people. Ni fel artistiaid ddim byd heb caredigrwydd eraill. Diolch Peak Cymru for facilitating and giving time: once again you showed me what Wales is good for. We’re loud when we need to be.
Tudor Rhys Etchells
I started on Mandi and a year of the Yemeni cuisine of Cardiff. Brought to this city by one of the oldest muslim diaspora in the UK, Bute St now has a Yemeni caf that delivers the best value and quickest chicken Mandi. Bottom of City Road and at the restaurant up top on lamb portion size, we’re told the history of it being cooked underground with the juices from the meat dripping onto the rice. Yes, they’re are some duds, but word of mouth is that the new one in Splott is euphoric.
Dyfan Lewis
[ar Tai Haf Heb Drigolyn]:
Heb neud y peth yma amdana i, ond dw i'n heneiddio.
Fy ngafael yn llacio, mewn a mas o'r sîn, blino, diflasu,
mynegiant yn cael ei ollwng (yr aros a'r weithred),
cael fy nghario, byw mewn cyfnod heb enw, dim syniad i gynnig;
dwys, llawer rhy dwys a difrifol - teg dweud fy mod i mewn cyflwr.
Felly, nes i gamu mas heb fwriad heblaw gwrando -
a chanfod fy hun yn clywed drwy'r mwll sgrechian llanciau yn eu hyder -
y gwyllt y gwyllt y gwyllt a'r hardd.
LIAR LIAR (Anthony Shapland, Canolfan y Celfyddydau Aberystwyth)
Dangosodd Demand the Impossible beth all celf gyflawni wrth ganolbwyntio ar bethau rydym yn cael ein hannog i'u hanwybyddu. Mae'r sioe yn dod â'r sgandal spycops yn ôl i'r amlwg, gan ei gyflwyno fel rhywbeth a ddigwyddodd i bobl sy'n byw gyda chanlyniadau ymyrraeth hirdymor, ble cafodd y ffin rhwng gwyliadwriaeth gyhoeddus a bywyd preifat ei gymylu’n fwriadol. Mae Common/Wealth yn defnyddio profiad byw i amlygu’r llun ehangach. Nid ychwanegiad ‘di diwylliant; mae'n un ffordd gall cymunedau rhannu gwybodaeth, gofalu am ei gilydd, ac yn dweud yr hyn sydd angen ei ddweud.
Demand the Impossible showed me what art can do when it pays attention to things we’re encouraged to overlook. The show brings the spycops scandal back into the open, presenting it as something that happened to real people who are still living with the repercussions of long-term intrusion, where the boundary between public surveillance and private life was deliberately blurred. Common/Wealth stay close to lived experience while still making the bigger picture visible. Culture is never an add-on; it’s one of the ways communities stay aware, look out for each other, and say what needs saying.
Farah Allibhai
[from a sweat lodge in Blaina to the National Museum in Cardiff]
In ’24 a song, a poem actually, was shared with me in Blaina. After some research I discovered its source. I carried it with me, reciting it to the ex miners working at Big Pit who’d never actually heard it. That day I was gifted a donkey jacket, which I wore when visiting Streic! 84-85 Strike! this year. I became surprisingly relatable as staff commented on it and I shared how it came into my possession. But what’s really stuck from these encounters, maybe it’s my age, is the generosity of people, their spirit and the poets of Wales.
Rebecca Gould
I hate the feeling I've left something/someone out. I hate end of year round ups. I hate marking time in years, seasonality matches my experience; this is the time of wet mud. I’m interested in artists/writers who are grappling with materiality, putting words to feelings in a way that speaks directly to me, using a language and sensibility that I vibe off. This has something to do with location, humour and communicating beyond ourselves. Is this prayer? I’m excited when people make work that takes me beyond where I am physically, that transports me in some way. These are some things that made my year “good.”
- the painting ‘rio tinto ar bwbach chavlyd’ by IWAN LEWIS. rio tinto was a firm part of my landscape and seeing the upside down cigarette from the road meant you were nearly home. I love the dreamy foreboding in this work - how you’re not sure what is going on.
- this article by LLINOS ANWYL is bendigedig, their questioning of why Wales has no critical voice and who gets to belong in Welsh culture.
- NEB AP NUDD strange shorts play with language, and what it means to belong or try to situate yourself in a land.
- THIS GROCERS on bangor high street; selection of cold drinks, meat counter, spices, halva and the most delicious baklavas.
- seeing TRISTWCH Y FENYWOD at ara deg festival in bethesda, sat in front row in a church hearing the opening drums of ‘ferch gyda’r llygaid du’ for the first time has stayed with me, the entire set blew me away - highlight!!
Few places can lay claim to cliched imagery quite like the Valleys: slag heaps, anthracite grit, despondence in the face of inequality. Grim is the outlook if the archive is gospel. For those that call the Valleys home, reality is markedly different from the images produced by parachute photographers. Perhaps this is why I felt a sense of ease before setting foot in Rhys Slade Jones’ Cwm Here Now. Born and reared in the Valleys, the exhibition in Ffotogallery’s project room is forged from the artist’s family records, found objects and new imagery. The show offers an authentic antidote to the celebrated archives housed mere feet away. The dramatic landscapes are, and will always be, ever-present yet, through Jones’ lens, the focus shifts from other tired stereotypes. Community and family take precedence here as the artist, unburdened by the weight of the tradition, redefines how post-industrial towns feel to those who call them home.
Durre Shahwar
My cultural highlight was attending the Associate of Welsh Writing in English’s Annual Conference this year at Gregynog Hall. The drive up from Cardiff was simply stunning, and I spent the weekend listening to incredible writing, papers, talks and even performances on the theme of ‘Underscapes’. According to the conference organisers, the term is not yet defined by the OED, and is used to explore what lies beneath: drowned villages, underwater kingdoms, coal-mines, the subconscious, unseen realms of class, race and activism, the subtext of any work. As someone with a research-led practice, I found it really inspiring to listen to new approaches and perspectives born out of this term that I hadn’t come across before.
Diffwys Criafol
Darn sy wedi seirio i’n nghof yw post Substack Geiriau Gwain, "Ysglyfaethwyr". Ddaru "me too" byth ddal yn y byd Cymraeg ei hiaith - ond cafodd effaith y merched ddaru sefyll fynnu yn erbyn pobol pwerus, poblogaidd ysbrydoli ni gyd. Yn yr achos yma, grym a nerth Gisele Pelicot bu Lowri'n diolch iddo. Dyma ddarn sy'n herio patriarchaeth a'r modd yr ydym ni yng Nghymru yn ei atgynhyrchu. Er iddo fy lenwi a thristwch a dicter o glywed hyn a ddioddefodd - mae'r darn yma yn drobwynt yn ein diwylliant. Y mae'r pwysau aruthrol i gadw'n dawel am y drais rhywiol mewn cymunedau bychan - y mae'r nerth i siarad am hyn yn un chwyldroadol. Pob nerth i bob diofeddydd, sut bynnag y mae nhw yn ymdopi gyda'r fath drais. Dim ond nodyn gen i i ddweud y hoffwn ddiolch i Lowri am rannu. Diolchaf i ti.
Naomi Pearce
I am grateful for: Gayberystwyth Books — my local beacon of queer lit. Anthony Shapland and Francesca Reece, two brilliant writers and generous workshop leaders who shared their wisdom during a week-long residential at Tŷ Newydd, a place where writing retreat dreams are made. My Ysgrifennu Ffuglen/Writing Fiction cohort, whom I met during this residential. They are the network of Welsh writers I’ve longed for. Last but not least, Mererid Hopwood’s writing and campaigning for peace. In her Eisteddfod address as Archdruid earlier this year, she asked us to consider: “What difference could ‘Wales as a Nation of Peace’ make to this aching, old world?”
Re-becayyb (Esyllt Angharad Lewis, Mostyn)
In May, I travelled to NYC from Wales to see friends and research community-led housing in the city. Wandering into the almost shut-down ISP Studio Program exhibition at Westbeth Gallery, I was welcomed by Ash Moniz, artist and co-creator of the film [Inaudible], which features Palestinian rock band Osprey V. The band members, Mo’men Al Jaru, Raji Al Jaru and Sa’ed Al Jaru, with Ash Moniz on drums, wanted the film to remain in the exhibition where most works had been withdrawn by artists in protest at censorship of the programme.
[Inaudible] follows Osprey V as they continue to record and produce music under bombardment and siege in Gaza – sending files across borders and locations when fragile internet connectivity permits. They seek out former-recording studios in towers now targeted by the Israeli military and create DIY set-ups in heavily curtained spaces; in one scene Raji sits in a car, surrounded by devasted buildings, seeking relative silence to record his vocal track. Deeply aware of the potential of art to transmute violence into spectacle, Ash and collaborators share Osprey V’s work with precision and tenderness.
In July, I learn on social media that videographer Ismail Abuhatab and artist Frons O. Alsalmi, who worked on the film, were killed by Israeli forces in the bombing of Al-Baqa Cafe in Gaza City; the band members and their families are scattered between Jordan, Egypt and Gaza. I keep thinking about Ash, Osprey V and [inaudible] and the insistence of its collaborators to make and share art that sustains life: ‘There was definitely a point where I thought, “What’s the point of making art during a genocide?” I don’t feel that anymore because after spending time with Palestinian artists in real life, I saw that art often matters to them more than anything. They are so tired after two years where the only goal has been not to die. That has totally changed my entire relationship to art, by seeing that it can also be life-producing.’ – Ash Moniz Interview with Ash Moniz, Thomas Roueché, TANK
Hannan Jones
Sometimes it is people's passion that can be the center of why we are moved, changed, or see the world a new and in that, if Dr. Mark Lewis, the Senior Curator of Roman Archaeology at the National Roman Legion Museum, in Caerleon can't convince you to be wholly invested in the grains of sand and dust that form the foundations of some of the archaeological assumptions, transforming those speckles into the electric excitement, then I am not sure who could?
Strangely, the Roman Legion Museum in Caerleon, greets you not with Roman severity but, unexpectedly, with Greek pillars walking through the doors, the collection on display holds a little of everything, rich with possibility and quiet magic. With Perspective(s) I worked alongside Dr. Mark Lewis, the museum’s dust, Roman fragments, Welsh foundations and spirits of the past. With Mark as an extremely enthusiastic and knowledgeable vehicle into the possibilities and potential of archaeological assumptions, he transforms the hidden and perceived ordinary into something radical and marvelous. What stayed with me was not just the knowledge, but the belief it inspired: that even the smallest grains of the past, in the right hands, can still glitter, it just needs the right spotlight, and Mark is that!
Steffan Gwynn
Dau brofiad celfyddydol sydd wedi aros gyda fi yn 2025: Yn gyntaf, arddangosfa ddiweddar Deanne Dodington Mizen ym Mhlas Glyn y Weddw, Y Gofod Rhwng…, ac yn enwedig y cerfluniau swynol/brawychus wedi eu creu allan o wlân. Yn ail, arddangosfa Print Rhyngwladol 2025 Tŷ Pawb yn Wrecsam. Fe wnaeth cyfres Typographic Landscapes y Red Plate Press argraff fawr arna' i’n benodol. Dau beth a wnaeth i fi ryfeddu, wnaeth fy nghyffroi a meddwl o’r newydd am y berthynas nôl a mlaen sy’n medru bod rhwng y corff/iaith/tirwedd.
The conversations I've had with queer grassroots organisers in north Wales—Unique, TINN and Dyffryn Conwy Open Door—have really helped me think about communal support structures and work that’s out of public view. North Wales is often seen externally as a place that is absent of LGBTQIA+ queer support structure, but these groups have strong roots into its landscape. I've been moved listening to the organisers' histories and motivations to create spaces in overlooked places for LGBTQIA+ communities and families. They volunteer their time to create life-saving community resources which go beyond the scope of institutions. I’ve been learning so much from them.
Iestyn Tyne
Pan o’n i’n dechrau sgwennu, o’n i’n postio dipyn o stwff ar dudalen blog, neu wefan; yn raddol bach dros y ddegawd a fu mi gafodd hynny ei wasgu a’i wasgu nes ei bod hi’n teimlo fel mai’r unig beth oedd yn gallu cael traction ac ymateb oedd hot takes cryno ar socials. Felly mae hi’n dda gweld ffrwd Substack Llinos Anwyl / Hen Bapur Newydd yn cael lot o sylw, a Llinos yn mynd dan groen lot o bethau sy’n eu corddi/diddori/herio nhw mewn darnau o sgwennu mwy estynedig. Yn ‘Learning Welsh is what Solidarity Looks Like’, mae Llinos yn deud y bit ’da ni fod i gadw’n dawel amdano fo allan yn uchel; ac mae’r pethau sydd ganddyn nhw i’w dweud yr un mor berthnasol i ofodau, sefyllfaoedd a digwyddiadau celfyddydol yng Nghymru ag i unrhyw faes arall.
George H. Wale
Finally saw The Rest of Our Lives by Jo Fong and George Orange at Theatr Brycheiniog, a joyous, chaotic, life affirming, tense and tender duet: go see it if you get the chance. Taking the joy and resilience of collective singing into 2026 from: Jenny Moore workshops and performance of Wild Mix at Chapter and singing with a very local, very tiny, choir. Swansea Performance Weekend: Adele Vye’s performance to camera, face with head torch spinning outside a washing machine. SPAF Collective banner designs for DSEI Peace camp. Dysgu Cymraeg gyda others in the arts.
Dylan Huw
Thema fawr 2025: bod 2026 yn agosau. Dyma flwyddyn o ymarfer. Nes i deimlo, yn lot o brofiadau mwya trydanol eleni, cydfodolaeth ffrwydrol rhwng yr hen, yr hyn-sydd, a’r hydd-sydd-(falle-)i-ddod: Rebuild the Poets yn g39 a ffilmiau Sadia Pineda Hameed yn ei sioe ddwbl rhwng Cwmbran a Blaenafon; deuawd Osgled gyda recordiad archifol o’i Nain ar “Paid a deud” a rhuo John Cale trwy cân gynta Charli xcx ers Brat; y delweddau a’r lleisiau archifol sy’n atgyfodi hanesion gwerin o gyd-symud tu hwnt i ffiniau sefydliadol yn Faengoch gan Gweni Llwyd a Re-becaayb gan Esyllt Angharad Lewis; y line-up aml-ieithog, aml-bopeth o ganu & dawnsio & chwerthin & datgan dicter & solidariaeth ym mharti (go iawn) agoriadol Eimear Walshe yn Chapter: bythgofiadwy. MVPs arall 2025: podlediad Gwleidydda, storis instagram Ronnie Angel Pope, Radio Sudd.
Kayley Roberts
Mae’n rhaid i fi gyfadda mod i’n eitha newydd i fyd y celfyddydau ac efo lot o waith dal fyny o’m mlaen. Dwi’n meddwl yn ôl dros be sydd wedi ysbrydoli ac aros efo fi yn 2025, ac mae sawl artist wedi creu argraff. Yn benodol dwi eisiau talu teyrnged i berfformiad Re-becayyb Esyllt Angharad Lewis yn oriel Mostyn, a’r gynulleidfa yn sefyll yn syrfdan gan wylio hanes yn cael ei adrodd ac ail-adrodd mewn ffordd mor grefftus, pwerus, a theimladwy. Daf Owain yn Ymarfer Byw yn Fyw yn Galeri Caernarfon, o flaen cannoedd o bobol, yn rhannu ei deimladau yn amrwd, yn ddewr, ac yn uno’r stafell yn ei daith arbennig ac emosiynol. Rhes o ddynion yn canu a chwara offerynau, yn teimlo a profi galar, tristwch, cariad, gobaith, cefnogaeth, o flaen llu o ddieithriaid – a rhai ffrindiau. Perfformiadau sydd, yng ngeiriau Swnami, wedi uno, cydio, tanio, nid yn unig fy nychymyg i, ond y gymuned maent wedi creu.
There was a fabulous exhibition at Sploj, Machynlleth recently, organised by Ennyn with a team of local young people curating the show. They did an auction as a fundraiser alongside a series of poems from kids in Gaza from the Hands Up Project, and Giraffe Sheds Thousand Paper Birds project. We had a poetry reading with three young poets based in Palestine (Zeina, Joud and Hala). There was then some sharing from the young people at Sploj of the works theyd made for the fundraiser. It was a rare and beautuful opportunity, to be able to talk directly with people in Palestine, and to watch two groups of teenagers discussing why art making is important for them. I also want to celebrate the crew at Chapter—Sim, Nicole, Claire and Will—who were absolutely fantastic, kind and generous people, and felt very nourished by their support. I also thought Anthony Shapland’s show at Aber Arts Centre was very moving and it has stuck with me since.
Angela Davies
2nd June 2025: Anthony Shapland’s film A Setting, 2007, which forms part of his major solo show LIAR LIAR at Aberystwyth Arts Centre.
Mediating Liar Liar
Curious and in awe of scale and set
Signals and signs
Ports of navigation provide routes
I follow my son to a constructed room in the corner of the gallery. The space draws us in for an intimate screening, locates us in to — A Setting.
A caravan framed by the valleys.
From a distance the light interior quietly illuminates an aged figure
I am transported back to Shapland’s sharing of the film during an online artist talk for Carn during the pandemic. Isolated by the contemporary moment, and feeling grief in its rawest state. Once more, I draw parallels to personal loss felt deeply. Choked. Episodic or a lasting memory.
Like rolling film stock,
The flickering of a candle, the light descends,
A slow departure.
24th October 2025: A performance as part of Artes Mundi 11 launch at Mostyn by Palestinian artist Jumana Emil Abboud, with Lindsey Colbourne, Lowri Hedd Vaughan and Emily Meilleur.
Artists as water diviners weave stories of fresh water springs in north Wales. Weaving myth, heritage, rhythms and flows
finding passages to interconnect.
Water cupped and passed from the hands of one diviner to another through gentle non-verbal invitation. Moved by the acknowledgement through touch and a sense of shared connection, the political and the personal.
1st December 2025: I’m still thinking about Anushiye Yarnell’s VENERATION of ORDINARY MYSTERIES, written and performed as part of beside/gerllaw.
Darya Williams
I slipped on a meal deal in Seven Sisters station in November. The worst part was that when I met the floor with a massive bang, London didn't even flinch. During my walk (and cry) home, I called Aberdare, explaining my frustration at this sometimes harsh city. Dad told me a story of how my Gransha had the same experience (minus meal deal) 40 years ago. The only person who turned and helped him up was a Welsh bloke. As anecdotal as this sounds, it really helped treasure the chance encounters with other creative Cymry in 2025.
Holly Slingsby
At the start of this year, I visited St Cadoc, Llancarfan, for its extraordinary medieval wall paintings. These large murals depict a variety of imaginative scenes including Death and the Gallant, the Seven Deadly Sins and George and the Dragon. They speak not only of a different world view to our own, but also another way of making and experiencing art: communally. After lying in wait for over 400 years, these images have been painstakingly revealed from under at least 20 layers of lime wash. They are perhaps surrounded by others yet to be uncovered: protagonists waiting to be reanimated.
Manon Awst
Ers clywed y newyddion hynod o drist ddechrau’r mis, dwi di mynd ati i ffurfio englyn teyrnged i Iwan - artist, athro a ffrind sydd wedi arwain cenhedlaeth o artistiaid yma’n y Gogledd. Iwan Gwyn Parry (1970-2025):
Eto heno daw tonnau dylanwad
i lenwi ein waliau
dros y wlad. Dy beintiadau
yw’r rhodd a fydd yn parhau.
Lal Davies' Several Stages of Purification is a rich and tender body of work spanning films and installations that speak to history, empire and assimilation within the context of India-Wales. It is supported by Lal's unravelling of her own family history - of her grandmother who was raised in Wales, under the care of a white Welsh woman. As British-Asians, assimilation has been a concious and painful tool to separate us from each other, see ourselves as a hyper-monolith and make us forget what we share.
British-Asian women have been diligently making art in Britain for nearly a century, investigating, mending and reconnecting us to each other. I am greatful for yet another one of their gifts, in which Lal has allowed us to understand our own history through her practise. In 'Padmarag', Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain describes the main character Siddika as 'a poem herself'. In my mind, this phrase is intimately linked to a memory of staring at each image of Lal's grandmother in a sari, in a dress, in a coat. I resisted the urge to reach out and try to hold their hands.
Dr Kathryn Ashill
As school Summer holidays approached it dawned on me I might be starved of the connection to culture I needed to thrive. I was embarking on six weeks of intense caring and deep dives into Italian Brainrot and Roblox throughout the summer months. In a madcap attempt to grasp at art and culture I dropped my sons off to clwb brecwast for 8am and jumped on the National Express to London. I headed straight for the Leigh Bowery exhibition at Tate Modern: I needed the camp, the sequins and the reminder that different bodies can excel. I was struck by how small Bowery’s costumes were—I’d imagined a mountain of a person, but they were dainty. This wasn’t my main reason for the four-hour bus journey. I had long been seeing the sensational hype of watching Rachel Zegler play Eva Peròn to bystanders during the run of Jamie Lloyd's acclaimed version of Evita. This musical has been the backdrop to my life: if you'd asked 14yo Kath in Alltwen what they were going to be, I would hands down have said Evita, I'm going to be Evita. My obsessions with history and pop culture meant that Evita peaked my interests as a teen. Few people remember that Che Guevara is Argentinian and not Cuban, him being the other main character in Evita, and his timeline alongside Peròns fascinated me. Then Eva's body going missing and being found, embalmed on a dining table in a garage thirty years after her death became another obsession of mine. I made the pilgrimage to be one of the descomisados (shirtless ones) lovingly looking up at Evita on the balcony. I dragged my Welsh artist friend, Gwenan Davies, along. She was incredibly confused but enthusiastic to play along with me. At 8:30pm a crowd had started to amass outside the balcony of the London Palladium, everyone was chatting, and there was a buzz and excitement at knowing we were going to become part of a show (the audience and the song are live fed back into the theatre for the theatre-going elite to watch.) At 9pm, cameras came out to the balcony, then the chorus joined us on the streets to be actual singing descomisados. At 9:05pm, Zegler appeared like an angel or fairy, her jewelled necklace was blinding under the intense, filmic spotlights. She sang 'Don't Cry For Me Argentina' to each of us and made intense eye contact with each of us. Her voice, poise and performance was mesmerising and it was like I was under a spell. As she screamed "for all of us” I felt part of the collective, as though I was watching that infamous speech at the Casa Rossava in 1951, and I cried as we, the descomisados, chanted “Evita, Evita, Evita.” And then she was gone, hurried off to the second act inside the theatre. The crowd took a while to reawaken and return to their present. Me and Gwenan chatted to people who had travelled far to see this moment. The chat was needed as a way of processing the unusual collectivity of it all. I raced back to Victoria, back to the National Express bus and back down the M4 to make it back to Wales in the early hours. By 8am I was back at clwb brecwast dropping my sons off for one of their last days of school.
Angharad Williams
[from Wales, in Zurich]
2025 was just a year. A year of hard work. It was hard. There were highlights. I went to Japan for the first time, which was extraordinarily profound… but in general, I’m just glad it’s over. One of the things I like about my life is that it’s subject to change. I like that the years are different, and that something surprising often takes place. I work as a teacher on the MA in Fine Art in Zurich. In March, while meeting a new student, Camille Lütjens (Swiss, from the French-speaking part of the country), I was sitting in her studio when she excitedly handed me a copy of Welsh with Ease, published by W. J. Jones in either the 1970s or 80s (we can’t pin the date down). I laughed my head off. Pwy sa’n meddwl? It is her grandmother’s book, and it is completely brilliant — beautifully designed and an incredible resource for understanding the basics of Welsh culture and the language. We’re discussing making a facsimile and reprinting it. What do you think?