Jon Gower

Many of the multi-media works by Neil ap Cymru on show at Swansea’s Elysium gallery reference Welsh historical figures, underlining the way in which they are too often overlooked or neglected.

One of these is Alfred Russel Wallace, born in the village of Llanbadoc in Monmouthshire. Wallace was a veritable Renaissance man – an anthropologist, naturalist, explorer, geographer, and illustrator who independently conceived the theory of evolution.

Then there is Amy Dillwyn, the novelist and pioneering industrialist and Oliver Evans, the American son of Welsh settlers who invented the modern refrigerator. And there are many, many others referenced in the exhibition.

Uncelebrated

Ap Cymru suggests that “All Welsh heroes are appallingly uncelebrated in Cymru’s gallant and fractured history. I have long called for an ‘Academy of Excellence’, ‘The Welsh Hall of Fame’ where the tortured souls of Cymru should be brought to beautiful and powerful life for the children, the young of Cymru, the adults and interested world-public.

“By learning about the lost, forgotten and unknown Welsh icons in all professions we are inspiring, empowering and enlightening a lethargic people about their true contribution to the world.”

Harmony and balance

Neil ap Cymru clearly enjoys working with a range of media. Are there artists who work in a similar way who inspire him?

“No I cannot think of inspirational people in that regard but from a very early age I adored harmony, beauty, balance and respect. Sadly that influence came from other nations around the world.

“Just as when I was given the Hamlyn Encyclopaedia for Children at the age of 12 I thought I could see English, Irish and Scottish but we were not there. That stayed and I was unable to respect the ‘Father of English landscape painting’ or the ‘Father of Classical English Architecture’, both of whom were Cymros. Why were we denied that by our own people?

“I have realised since my teens that we should stop blaming the English for what we produce and teach and right it ourselves: the Welsh have been painfully slow in correcting the appalling neglect in culture and education.”

Welsh Not

One of the most powerful symbols featured in ap Cymru’s work connects with a shameful passage in Welsh history, being the Welsh Not, a token used by teachers to discourage children from speaking Welsh at school by marking out those who were heard speaking the language. The most common form was a piece of wood suspended on a string that was put around the child’s neck to seemingly shame them out of the habit.

The work in ‘Evolvicism’ seems to be political in many senses, with overt references to modern-day figures such as Kamala Harris and Donald Trump and in the subtler way the entire show acts as a clarion call for more Welsh national confidence and historical awareness.

Neil ap Cymru says that his art expresses “A wish for social citizenship excellence standards; the moral, ethical, educational and cultural standards of an independent nation, that of Cymru. We have to go through politics to make deeply imperative changes just as that genius and ‘Icon of Cymru’, the late, great Dr Richard Price advocated that government should be there for the people.

“In pursuing particularly the interest of our country, we ought to carry our views beyond it. We should love it ardently, but not exclusively. We ought to seek its good, by all the means that our different circumstances and abilities will allow; but at the same time we ought to consider ourselves as citizens of the world, and take care to
maintain a just regard to the rights of other countries.”

Ap Cymru suggests that “Nothing is more important than dignifying the lives of this and generations of Welsh youth.”

Young artist Ellie Harries works at the Elysium gallery, having previously studied for a surface pattern design degree. Wandering around the exhibition she admires “The composition of the collages, using historical photos and then adding new materials. And then the composition as an exhibition as a whole works well together.

“The books are amazing and then the books go along with the pieces on the wall as well. So he’s brought in text and then he’s layered different images and then more text, I think explaining who they are. And then photography, but then it’s kind of enclosed in a wooden frame. So they all link. You watch the video and then read the pieces and then I like the projector images as well. There’s lots of different materials joining in together and you can see how they work as a whole.”

Neil ap Cymru is Cymru’s first Cosmopolite-Culturalist-Educator and has voluntarily offered his services to progressive, educational & cultural projects on the ‘Icons of Cymru’. He returned to ‘The Land of his Mothers & Fathers’ in 2000 in order to inaugurate culturally enlightening and ethical projects for today’s youth and tomorrow’s children via the ‘Greats of Cymru Project’. He has called for the whole-scale implementation of Cymraes a Cymros iconography into the educational system and has contributed progressive historical & identity ideas to BBC Wales, HTV, S4C and BBC Wales Radio.

The New Art Movement of ‘Evolvicism’: ‘Icons of Mother Earth’ by Neil ap Cymru runs at the Elysium Gallery, Swansea until May 17.

The gallery is open Weds – Sat, 11am – 7pm

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