In the second of three blog posts, Caer Heritage Project Lead Artist Paul Evans looks back on three creative projects that he was involved in co-curating for the AHRC Connected Communities Festival 2014.
Photos and Iolo is a CAER Heritage Project exhibition format that was developed and co-produced by artist Paul Evans with pupils from Glyn Derw High School, National Museum Wales staff Loveday Williams, Owain Rhys and Ian Daniel, and CAER Heritage Project directors Dave Wyatt and Oliver Davis.
Consisting of a series of re-usable pop-up banners (the very essence of a ‘pop-up’ exhibition in fact), Photos and Iolo is an interactive experience that encourages viewers to get involved with the images on display by searching for the bard Iolo (or Ian Daniel) – cunningly photoshopped into images of Caerau and Ely that were taken by local residents. Once the participants have found Iolo then they are encouraged to take part in a riddle competition (similar to that which takes place in JRR Tolkein’s The Hobbit).
The Riddles in our competition were created by pupils from Glyn Derw High School during a workshop led by Paul Evans and Mel Julian-Jones.
As a reward for getting the riddles correct participants are given either an Iolo t-shirt, carrier bag or a copy of the specially produced booklet featuring images from Caerau and Ely’s recent past. Many of these images come from Nigel Billingham’s remarkable Barnardos project which took place in the 1980s. During this project Barnardos had a Photographer in Residence who worked with local people to create an archive of locally made images.
There are still a few of these beautifully produced publications available – please contact us if you live in Caerau and Ely and would like a copy.
CAER Heritage Hidden Hillfort 