Public Preview
15th October
A Project by Huw Alden Davies
Tyisha is a large-scale, collaborative and socially engaged arts project rooted in Tumble and the wider Gwendraeth Valley. Bringing together artists, students and local communities, it explores history, place, identity and belonging through collective creativity.
At its heart is the story of Jac Ty-isha (Jack Hughes), a significant figure in the Rebecca Riots. In 1843, following an attempt to demolish the Bolgoed toll gate on the outskirts of Pontarddulais, Jac Ty-isha was arrested and exiled to Tasmania. He never returned to his native Cymru.
The Rebecca Riots remain an important part of Welsh social history and cultural memory. Merched Becca (Rebecca’s Daughters) have become enduring symbols of resistance, solidarity and community action. Tyisha revisits this history through a contemporary lens, exploring how the story of Jac Ty-isha and the communities from which it emerged continues to resonate across the valley.
At the centre of the project is a community procession through the landscape connected to Jac Ty-isha’s life, with participants dressed as Merched Becca. More than a historical reenactment, the procession becomes a living artwork: a shared act of walking, remembering and making. The landscape itself becomes a space for encounter, connecting historical events with the experiences and perspectives of people living there today.
Through photography, film, performance and creative technologies, Tyisha brings together Welsh and Wales-based artists, students and community participants. The resulting work includes contributions by:
Huw Alden Davies, Amanda Savinelli & Renata Ostiak · Paul Cabuts · Peter Finnemore · Kathryn Campbell Dodd · Kate Dunwell · Mohamed Hassan · Karl Sedgwick · Lucas Davies · Students at Carmarthen School of Art
Together, these works form a multidisciplinary archive of the Gwendraeth Valley, bringing artistic perspectives into dialogue with its history, while reconnecting its communities with its sense of place.
Rather than simply documenting the past, Tyisha invites participants to co-create a living cultural record. It honours the people and communities who shaped the valley while opening up space for new interpretations, connections and voices.
By bringing together art, activism, memory and landscape, Tyisha considers how histories of resistance, displacement and belonging continue to shape contemporary Wales, and how collective creativity can offer new ways to remember, understand and imagine place.
Coleg sir Gâr
Oriel Henry Thomas
Jobs Well Road
Carmarthen
SA31 3HY
Opening Hours:
Monday - Friday
8am - 5pm
Open Until 31st October 2026