subscribe to our newsletterJames Morris – A Landscape of Wales
A Landscape of Wales takes a broad look at the contemporary Welsh landscape. James Morris challenges the tourist clichés and looks at the impact of human presence and the layers of history in the landscape. He reflects upon issues of identity, exploitation and regeneration. It is a land of beauty and of hardship where – in this post-industrial, post-rural economy – Tesco and tourism are now the major employers.
These are the contrasting realities of the Welsh landscape: that seen by the many visitors and that experienced by most inhabitants. Morris moves between tourist hot spots and the terraces and back streets where the majority of people live. The latter are often hard-bitten unpretty places. As Wales is no longer the world’s largest producer of iron, coal, copper or slate, these places have lost their historic reason and heroic status, sometimes even their raison d’etre. By contrast the tourist landscape is one of pleasure seeking and escape – this is the Wales that visitors are sold and want to see, belying the complexities of history that shaped so much of this landscape. James Morris is an acclaimed photographer of landscape and the built environment. Based in Wales, his work is in many private and public collections including The British Council; Museum of African Art, New York; Princeton University; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; the National Library of Wales. This partnership project is an Aberystwyth Arts Centre touring exhibition.