Category Archives: The Arts

Project Profile: Sleep / Walk / Listen

June 9, 2015 admin Leave a comment

Recently I caught up with Matthew Evans, who we’ve featured on the blog before. He told me about a new project he was involved with, so I sent him a load of questions on it so he could tell you all about it.

Recently you’ve started up a new business. Can you describe it for us?

Sleep / Walk / Listen is a project that is designed to create stronger connections between electronic music and visual arts. We want to explore the way that these two art forms work together and create new experiences through our output.
Each month we curate a partnership that highlights the work of music, visual and video artists. These collaborations can be experienced in full at the Sleep / Walk / Listen website – www.sleepwalklisten.com.

As well as supporting these experiences digitally through our website, we also want to lend focus to the importance of tangible arts experiences. You can own each Sleep / Walk / Listen partnership artwork in the form of high quality limited edition screen prints, available to buy from the store on our website.

What makes it different from other artists working with musicians?

From the outset of a partnership we enable the music and visual artist to discuss and develop their work closely together. We find that this gets each partner thinking differently about their output.

We also encourage freedom of expression from both music and visual artist partners, and want the end product to be inherent of this artistic freedom. These objectives have been compounded by the discussions that we are having with the artists that we work with and the way that they are approaching their work with us.

The focus on artist freedom and the co-development of each project with the artists we are working with have already led to some exciting plans for our forthcoming partnerships.

https://soundcloud.com/sleepwalklisten/swl002/s-zjXLH

What inspired you to set it up?

The initial idea for Sleep / Walk / Listen was born out of a collaborative arts project called Sleep/Walk Art Collective.

Sleep/Walk Art Collective is a project that I founded with Jack Hardwicke (visual artist partner for SWL001 and SWL002). Sleep/Walk Art Collective has grown into my collaborative visual arts studio.

Sleep / Walk / Listen formed from this initial idea, but has grown into a separate entity that allows us to celebrate our passions for music and visual arts and how they work in conjunction.

Who’s involved in it with you?

Since the birth of the concept I have worked closely with the other Sleep / Walk / Listen team members, Tom Nield and Dan Butler, to make Sleep / Walk / Listen into what it is today.

We have also been really fortunate to work with Seb Feehan and Josh Bamford of Next Door Films. They have enabled us to realise captivating video pieces in support of each partnership.

Outside of that I have to give special mentions to Dan Walters, who ensures that everything looks as it should online, and Jonny and Charlotte Akers who have helped us take our artworks from digital artwork to physical screen prints.

Which artists are you working with, coming up in the future?

We are really proud to have been able to work with Japanese house and techno legend Hiroshi Watanabe for the launch of the Sleep / Walk / Listen partnership series. Our second partnership, SWL002, saw Berlin based DJ and producer, Chymera take the reins. We are really pleased that our work at these early stages have given the project an international identity.

Jack Hardwicke has featured as the partner visual artist for these first two partnerships, his work giving us an exciting and rich visual basis to work from. His passions for electronic music have been instrumental in launching this project in the exact way we wanted to.

The Next Door Films guys and myself worked together to provide the video element of these partnerships.

Our plans for the future see us thinking in broader terms about how electronic music and visual arts can work together. Plans for our monthly partnerships are already beginning to develop in a different direction from SWL001 and SWL002, and this excites us.

What do you hope to achieve from it?

Longer term we have plans to run our own events that have an emphasis on the visual element of a club night, release our own music releases through a record label style format and even create a series of art installations in cities around the world.

As quality of output and experience are our main drivers we don’t want to rush the development of these other formats, but let them form when we know the time is right.

What are your next steps?

Having recently launched SWL002, we are still enjoying the reaction this is receiving. Beyond this, we are working towards getting everything together for SWL003, this will go live towards the end of this month.

We can’t give too much away at this stage, but we are excited about taking the project in a new direction and working with the partner artists we have in place. Keep an eye on our social pages and website to see what we have going on.

Sleep / Walk / Listen Facebook page
Sleep / Walk / Listen website
Read Matthew Evans’ previous article for We Are Cardiff

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The Arts

Cardiff A–Z V is for Vintage: Part One

June 9, 2015 Katie Witcher Hamer 5 Comments

Katie Hamer continues her A–Z series for Cardiff with a look at all things vintage. Here’s what she found…

Has Cardiff become an identikit city in the last two decades?

Far from it, I discovered, as I set out to explore the less commercialised quarters. While it’s true that the capital has it’s fair share of chain stores and big brands, I didn’t have to delve very deep to uncover its more unique enterprises. In fact, I only had to hop off the train at Cardiff Central and walk under the railway bridge to make my first big discovery…

Jacobs Market

In an old redbrick building, surrounded by modern office blocks and hotels, is one of Cardiff’s more surprising secrets; three floors of market traders selling everything from bric-a-brac to musical instruments, lighting and furniture to vintage clothing, comics and books to toys. The exterior is a little weatherworn to say the least, but the interior more than compensates with its Aladdin’s Cave of goodies. You may be surprised to know that Jacobs is far from new. In fact it became established 36 years ago and has been in its current location since the 1980’s.

In the decades since the start of the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow, it has been much harder to find a bargain; people are much more savvy these days. However, the price tickets I found, which were clearly displayed, seemed reasonable. I also got the impression just from walking around the various floors, that had I purchased something, I would also have received good old fashioned customer care from traders with many year’s experience of the business. The whole experience of shopping here felt as reassuring as indulging in your Gran’s apple crumble.

On entering the building, I became aware that this would be an experience like no other. I immediately reached for my camera, hoping to take as many photos of the place as I could, but I thought I should check the protocol first. So I approached one of the market traders on the ground floor who told me that would be no problem, had I visited before? I told her I hadn’t. She informed me that the best way to get a feel for the building is to start at the roof garden at the top and then work my way down.

Well, I hadn’t been aware of a roof garden from my research so I decided to follow her advice and go straight there. I’m glad I did, because I’d never experienced a roof top view of Cardiff before and the views are spectacular, especially of the railway station. There’s also a little conservatory where you’re invited to have your coffee and cake, purchased from the café, and relax whilst reading a magazine or a book. On occasion, they also have a roof top cinema for which tickets can be purchased on their website but be warned, as seating is very limited.

On making my way back down, I discovered the West Wharf Gallery on the top floor, which proclaims itself: ‘the home of contemporary art in Cardiff’ and ‘A contemporary art gallery which features both well established and emerging artists [with] a convenient city centre location and its friendly unique atmosphere, the gallery is Cardiff’s best kept secret. On my visit they were setting up exhibitions so I didn’t take any photos but I’m tempted to go back and explore again soon.

Next, I explored all three floors of the antiques markets. I found much to fascinate me, especially old slate mantel clocks, vintage Oxo tins, and memorabilia from the movies. I think I even discovered a plastic E.T. from the movie of the same name, but my memory may be playing tricks on me. Most memorable for me was a wall of colourful glass ornaments with a sofa and a row of electric guitars lined up in front of it. Most baffling for me were the vintage wedding dresses they had displayed in every stairwell. I’d certainly like to know the thinking behind this…

My overall impression was of a place where different eras converge in a way that is both eclectic and inspiring. Seeing people’s possessions from the thirties or earlier made me dream of what it would have been like to be young in those times, to have gramophone records etc as the latest new gadget instead of a symbol of a bygone era. A place like this really brings out the nostalgia bug in me and I know I’ll have to visit if only to experience it once again…

You can find further information on Jacobs here:

Their website

Facebook where you can also check their opening hours (They open Thursday to Saturday).

Twitter

Hatt’s Vintage Emporium

A much newer addition on the Cardiff Vintage trail is Hatt’s. Situated on Cardiff market, and run by a father and son combo, they are a true vintage men’s outfitters. I only stopped for a few minutes, but that’s all it took for me to be wowed by their sense of theatre. They provide a bespoke tailoring service as well as well as inviting members of the public to trade their vintage garments with them. They’re very attentive to their customers and all their reviews suggest that their service is second to none. I was surprised to hear that they had only become established two years ago as they have the confidence and the skills to suggest that they could have been around their forever.

You can find more information on Hatt’s here:

Facebook

Their website

Twitter

Which leads me on to my final discovery for this part one…

Hobo’s

With its rainbow skein of colours, this simply has to be the most colourful vintage shops around. It would be easy to be put off by the loud designs but after a few minutes of wandering around you soon aclimatise. There are fashions here from the sixties, seventies and eighties and, if I’m honest, the styles weren’t to my taste. Even so, I couldn’t help but be amazed by their range of vintage denim, tie-dyed t-shirts and retro bags. They provide a relaxed environment in which you are free to try things on, with or without assistance. What amused and baffled me upon visiting was that they appeared to have adapted a shower enclosure as a changing room, which I guess is, at least, a very imaginative and creative use of limited space.

You can find more information on Hobo’s here:

Facebook

Twitter

Thanks for reading.

I hope you enjoy my photo gallery:

Jacobs

Hatt’s

Hobo’s

The Arts, The People

“I get really excited about singing live” – interview with Cardiff vocalist Aleighcia Scott

June 2, 2015 wearecardiffguest Leave a comment

Aleighcia Scott is a singer/song-writer from Cardiff, whose styles include reggae, soul, R&B, hip-hop and more. We caught her at the Butetown Carnival last year and she was marvellous. Today’s interview is with the lady herself!

Aleighcia comes from a Welsh/Jamaican background and infuses these styles within her vocals and has been singing since the age of three. “I was brought up in Rumney, Cardiff, and I had a really good upbringing,” she says. “Being from a mixed race family I also got to learn about different cultures. My dad is from a Jamaican background and my mum is from a Welsh/Irish background.”

She’s always been musical, for as long as she can remember. “My grandmother comes from a gospel singing background in Jamaica so I think my vocals came from her. I’ve been singing from as long as I can remember and performing since the age of six. My family are really in to music so I’ve always been around music and always had a love for music. I was in the choir at school, too.”

As a youngster, her favourite singers were as follows: Alicia Keys, Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu, Mary J Blige, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Amy Winehouse, Bob Marley, Queen Ifrica, and Sanchez. “There was also a time when I really loved the Spice Girls”, she says!

Watch Aleighcia below:

She’s performed all around Cardiff, from the Wales Millennium Centre to opening for Maxi Priest in DC. “I’ve played loads of different sized venues around Cardiff and across the UK. Today, I’d say my main influences are Alicia Keys, Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill and Jazmine Sullivan – all vocal heavyweights!”

So what is she currently up to? “I’m working towards a couple of single releases, and working on writing and developing her music. Also working towards an EP/album, to be released sometime in the future…”

Wanna catch her live? Here’s where it’s happening…

28/05/15 – Hootananny, Brixton
29/05/15 – The George, Maindee
30/05/15 – Big Splash, Newport & Irie Shack, Cardiff
05/06/15 – Miss Jones, Cardiff
13/06/15 – Irie Shack, Cardiff
14/06/15 – Bute Lounge, Cardiff

Aleighcia’s favourite part about performing is the emotional connection with the music:

“I get really excited about performing and as I walk on stage I start to feel a bit nervous, but I love performing so much that I just get in to the zone and forget about the nerves!”

Catch her on:

Soundcloud/AleighciaScott

YouTube/Aleighcia

Twitter/AleighciaSings

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The Arts

Made In Spring! Made in Roath’s spring fling in review

May 17, 2015 admin 1 Comment

Writer Ellie Philpotts headed over to Made In Roath’s Made in Spring, to check out all the artsy happenings. Here’s what occurred!

Ah, Spring. The time of joy; lambs; staggering around after too much Easter egg consumption; exams if you’re a student; battling hayfever (if you’re a hayfever-sufferer, otherwise known as Cardiff resident thanks to the blooms everywhere, pretty as they are) and blue skies (maybe not if you live in Cardiff, like most of us readers do). Have I missed anything? Oh yes… Also the time of Spring festivals!

Sadly, maybe Spring festivals didn’t jump to my mind straightaway because they’re a bit of a rarity. However, one compensated for the general lack of street showcases – and this was Made in Spring! I think Roath has to be the Cardiff suburb with the most going on, so I wasn’t too surprised to be instantly greeted with colour, life and vitality upon wandering down to Plasnewydd Road on Sunday 3 May. One thing that straightaway caught my eye was the washing line adorned with funky little-shirts, individually spelling out ‘Made in Roath.’ I’d already seen a similar snap as the event’s Facebook cover photo, but it looked even cuter in real life. Very Instagrammable, I must say!

The whole street had put real effort into the aesthetic content, but the stall-holders and fellow browsers were what brought the event to life. Through the medium of artistic creativity, the day appealed to everyone – young or old, native Cardiffian to newbie student. For example, there were super-cool easels to throw paint over (seriously, every street should boast one of these); purple sparkly trees (ok, human interaction may have played a role in making them so glittery); Roath Local History Society informing us through maps and books of the area’s heritage; a Hangover Tent, which I partially made my own despite having only drank Victorian lemonade the previous night, mainly because it was a private solace in which to inhale my very messy (but very good) falafel burger.

One of my favourite elements was the mini mobile-home. Not only was it decked out in adorable vintage designs, but the task was to write your definition of ‘Home.’ Some were things like ‘Home is where the bra comes off’; ‘Home is laughter’; ‘Home is where the pets are.’ I’m starting to think my goal during my Creative Writing module next year should be to be more concise, because as usual I deviated from this trend, and wrote quite a long paragraph, which of course referenced that Cardiff is now my beloved home … being a newfound Cardiffian seems to be my selling-point lately! They were also giving away novels for free. Not many things are free these days, so I loved the idea of spreading the bibliophile love for very little cost!

There were also hot dogs, a vintage tea and cake stall, a project called ‘Roath, it’s time to draw the line’ and a bubbling atmosphere. Events like Made in Spring are one of the reasons I’m such a fan of Cardiff. There’s a truly welcoming vibe – this was enhanced on the day due to the papers all splashing the day-old Royal Baby’s face – of course, this engages Britain and I’m so patriotic when it comes to all things regal – but the real sense of community came from Roath residents on May 3!

Made in Roath’s Facebook page

Made in Roath website

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Ellie Philpotts is in her first year at Cardiff University studying English Literature, Journalism and Media. She is a teenage-cancer survivor; is obsessed with travelling, and her favourite cities outside Cardiff are being Sydney, NYC, Nashville and Paris. Her ‘likes’ also include general Britishness, cups of tea, exploring, attempting to write songs, journalism, Italian food, finding new places, going out for dinner and taking photos – of everything. She is not a fan of maths, mashed potato, narrow minded people, her phone constantly running out of memory for photos, or people who are mean about Taylor Swift. Follow her blog or Instagram.

All photos by Ellie Philpotts

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The Arts, Whats on

Welsh Hula Hoop Convention 2015 – WhoopC in review!

May 16, 2015 admin 1 Comment

Recently, Cardiff hosted the first Welsh Hula Hoop Convention (WHoopC!) We sent photographer Lorna Cabble along to document the day…

If you’re interested in going along to play hoop next year, make sure you join the WHoopC Facebook group for discussions of their next event.

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All photos by Lorna Cabble

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The Arts, The City, The People, We Are Cardiff Press, We Are Cardiff Productions, Whats on

We Are … Changing!

May 1, 2015 Hana Johnson 2 Comments

We Are Cardiff is five years old. Can you believe it?? In that time, we’ve published over 400 articles, racked up nearly 300,000 views and we have 30,000 followers on social media.

The Guardian chose us as one of the best city blogs in the world. We won the People’s Choice Award at the Wales Blog Awards. We made a film. We made a radio documentary. We’ve had exhibitions and a stage at Swn festival. We even have an official sister site in We Are Chester.

Now, we are changing …

We’ve already mentioned that we’ll soon be launching a small press called We Are Cardiff Press. Based on that, we thought we’d try and refine what we’re doing a bit. So here’s what we’ve decided!

The We Are Cardiff site will be split into four brand new, easy to see categories:

The People: featuring the personal stories that we’ve been documenting for five years;
The City: historical and documentary posts about the city, and local campaigns;
The Arts: reviews, interviews and all the news on music, art, photography, performance and film: and
What’s On: ever-popular events listings and previews of upcoming awesome things.

The site will continue to feature factual, ‘people-powered’ blog posts with minimal editorial oversight. We will aim to commission more work, but focused around these four categories. Helia will pretty much be in charge of all of this stuff, and Hana will still be running the Twitter feed.

The We Are Cardiff Press will publish beautiful, collectable books to showcase new creative work from Cardiff, which could be literature, art, photography or personal storytelling. It will have a stronger editorial influence to ensure that the quality of the physical end product is incredibly high. Content from the books will not be available online, only in the limited edition books, bought online or in selected retailers in the city. Hana is running the Press, which will be announcing its first publication very, very soon…

We are so excited about the future, and looking for MORE writers, photographers, historians, artists, campaigners, citizens, musicians, businesses, performers, experts and EVERYONE ELSE to feature on the site or in our books, films and everything! If you want to be featured on the website, get in touch on wearecardiff@gmail.com, and if you have any questions about the Press, contact hello@wearecardiffpress.co.uk.

We can’t wait to fill the next five years with Cardiff stories.

Big love

Helia and Hana xx

Photo by Simon Ayre — The We Are Cardiff joy monkeys, photographed by the wonderful Simon Ayre

The Arts, The City

Your Cardiff photos on our Instagram: Doug Nichols

April 28, 2015 admin Leave a comment

In January and February this year, Cardiff resident Doug Nichols has been providing some beautiful photos for our We Are Cardiff Instagram account.

Check out his pictures of Cardiff! Aren’t they lovely?

When he’s not running, Doug Nicholls likes to take travel photos. Unfortunately he doesn’t travel as much as he’d like to. So this month he’s turning his lens on Cardiff, where he lives and works, to capture his perspective of the city for We Are Cardiff.

Check out Doug’s Flickr

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The Arts

Made In Spring, Roath arts festival: 2-3 May, 2015

April 23, 2015 admin Leave a comment

One of the city’s biggest and best art festivals, Made In Roath are BACK in May, with Made In Spring!

Made in Spring will be held from 2nd – 3rd May this year, giving artists, musicians, makers and performers an opportunity to be experimental in response to the season, May Day rituals, and the political annotation of International Workers Day.

Roath residents and visitors to Roath are treated to a Spring inspired street party on a closed section of Plasnewydd Road, featuring free workshops and participatory artist led activities, and all manner of stalls and pop up cafes both related to the Roath area and from further afield. As always, Made in Spring supports local and independent enterprise.

The Red Route will be the second march along the Taff Trail from Redhouse Cymru, Merthyr Tydfil to Plasnewydd Rd in Roath, this will run over two days from 2nd – 3rd May.

For more information about Made in Spring, make sure to keep an eye on the Made In Spring Facebook event.

Know Your Groceries is an open mic radio show that will be broadcasting live from Plasnewydd Rd on 3rd May for Made in Spring, and they are looking for performers to fill in slots!

Whether you are a musician, poet, (short) story teller or just have something to say. Know Your Groceries! Open Mic Radio show. Get in touch or come along and put your name down on the day. Ltd spaces so get in touch to confirm! Email electronic.music.wales@gmail.com or post on the event page: Know Your Groceries live broadcast Facebook page

Enjoy Made In Spring – we can’t wait!

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The Arts

Cirkopolis at the Millennium Centre: fast, funny, sexy and unmissable

April 9, 2015 Hana Johnson Leave a comment

Cirque Éloize’s Cirkopolis turns greyscale to technicolour in a heartpounding performance that traverses circus, dance, comedy and theatre.

With echoes of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis and 1984, even flashes of The Hudsucker Proxy, the show portrays a drab, grey world punctuated with joy and colour. Mechanical movements and tightly-performed dance routines make way for fluid, effortless acrobatics within a few minutes and it doesn’t lose pace for the entire 90 minutes.

From an electro-swing Andrews Sisters-style juggling routine, to the solitary, mesmerising cyr wheel, the first half is incredible. It also includes the sexiest German wheel performance that you’ll ever see (I guarantee).

If it’s even possible, the second half is better. It begins with a perfect tandem trapeze routine (I’ve been learning trapeze for half a year, and I don’t think audiences really appreciate just how hard it is to make it look so easy!).

The Chinese pole performance was easily the best of the night- the twirling, fast-paced climbs and HUGE drops harvested so many gasps from the audience that I’m surprised there weren’t a few asthma attacks. The three primary performers didn’t make one wrong move, and did it all in time to banging music. This scene is worth the ticket price alone.

The finishing routine, complete with seesawing, flying acrobats is fast, perilous and fun, just like the rest of the show. None of it wears thin, and the whole thing passed in an instant because of its unfaltering magnetism.

The CGI scenery gives the set a depth that I’ve never seen on stage before – from rising skyscrapers during the handstand tower to the twisting door panels in the comedy interlude.

There is little to complain about- the performance was essentially flawless but for a few imperceptible hiccups, and the music is hit and miss.

Don’t miss your chance to see the show, which is on at the WMC until Saturday. You’ll never look at office furniture the same again…

The Arts

Paper Aeroplanes – luminescent folk, guaranteed to bring you joy: review and interview

April 2, 2015 Hana Johnson Leave a comment

Cwtching snugly between the sounds of Laura Marling, Feist and Marika Hackman, Paper Aeroplanes are easily one of the best alternative folk bands in Wales at the moment. Their fourth album, Joy, is released on 8 April, which was written and recorded in Cardiff with the help of producer Mason Neely (Cerys Matthews, Sufjan Stevens). The band are gearing up for a 30 date European tour to promote the album, which heads to France, Switzerland and Germany before returning to the UK with a date at Clwb Ifor Bach on 16 May.

Joy is a, ahem, joy. I have to admit that their comparison to Lykkie Li didn’t enthuse me about the sound of this band. But this album is not unrelentingly mournful- quite the opposite. It sweeps you up in a breeze through rolling 80s beats (Good Love Lives On) to sparkling folk (Race You Home), and from cute, dreamy pop (Books and Joy) to haunting pianos (Caravan). It soars from being shimmeringly upbeat to powerfully atmospheric, all with a surprising depth. The flourishes of synths, strings and pianos are a welcome addition to Sarah Howells’ delicate (but never weak) voice. Richard Llewellyn’s masterful guitar shines through on tracks like Race You Home with echoes of John Martyn and Bert Jansch.

This album is a joyful celebration of unconditional love, making stories and finding warmth from the cold. Steeped in the salt-tinged air of West Wales, but with the unmistakeable influence of Cardiff’s diverse music scene, Joy is guaranteed to a be a hit.

*****

We caught up with the band’s Cardiff-based guitarist Rich Llewellyn for a quick Q&A.

Q. What was the last book you read?

A. Intermission by Owen Martell. A contemplative, fictional shortish story which takes a little-documented part of the life of jazz pianist Bill Evans as its starting point. I’ve also been reading The Rough Guide to Germany so I can appear knowledgeable during our forthcoming tour.

Q. Tell us a secret.

A. I have a crush on posh BBC4 historian, Lucy Worsley.

Q. What’s your favourite place for breakfast in Cardiff?

A. For an old-fashioned hearty fry up, Café Fresco in Canton.

Q. What’s your local pub?

A. The Lansdowne – great beers, lovely staff and 2 minutes from my front door.

Q. Tell us about a hidden part of Cardiff that you love.

A. There’s a place I like to escape to when I need to clear my head, which is a very short drivefrom Canton. Countryside walk, feels like you’re miles away from the city. I can’t tell you where it is though, because then you’d go there too.

Q. If you had some friends coming to visit for the weekend, where would you take them?

A. Lilo’s Grill on city road. Great juices, tasty meze and a platter of grilled meats and rice for everyone to share.

Q. What’s the next gig that you’ll be going to in Cardiff?

A. We’re away touring a lot over the next couple of months but I’ve just seen that Chris Wood is playing in St David’s Hall in June, so I’ll definitely be getting tickets for that.

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Joy is released on 8 April on Diverse records. Photo from Paper Aeroplanes.

The Arts, The City

Cardiff wasteland: the Lamby Way landfill site

March 30, 2015 admin Leave a comment

Chances are you have no idea where your stuff gets taken when you throw it away. Photographer Peppe Iovino has been investigating, so you don’t have to. He visited Lamby Way landfill. REDUSE, REUSE, RECYCLE, PEOPLE!

Have you ever wondered about where your rubbish goes, when you throw it away?

No? Well, let’s have a journey, through Cardiff’s Lamby Way landfill general waste disposal site. Here it is!

You walk, consume, throw, so easily without wondering where your litter goes, but it can not disappear in a bin. It remains as a stain on your land. It creates a grey land, a dark material. It is highly polluting and needs to be monitored for over 60 years,

Lamby Way, on the outskirts of Cardiff, is where local litter from the past 30 years ends up. It’s a site that’s 80 hectares of land, covered by all the stuff you’ve ever put in a general bin over the past three decades.

All black bin bags, everything that’s not recyclable is picked up by council trucks and ends here in Lamby Way.

A bulldozer crosses the landfill three times a day to pack it down, day by day, bag by bag.

Periodically it is covered by different plastic layer of different kinds to isolate the waste till the area become as what you see below, a dark mud material, that is all the waste composing during the years, a live material that creates liquid and gas residuals that are highly polluting. It needs to be constantly monitored, even over 60 years after it is closed, it creates the dark land you see below…

Explore the rest of Lamby Way and see the rest of Peppe’s photographs: WasteShades

Peppe Iovino Photographer: Facebook page

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The Arts, The City, The People

Cardiff: Behind the streets

March 26, 2015 admin 5 Comments

Photographer Ben Blyth’s new project focuses on rough sleepers in Cardiff. We asked him to share his photographs and the story of the project here with us.

The project first came about when I was walking through Cardiff city centre at night and stopped to talk to a man who appeared to be sleeping rough. After speaking to him for a good 20 minutes, I had learnt so much about the harsh lifestyle the streets can offer, but I also learnt a lot about the other side, how the streets can make you a better person. I was intrigued to find out more and when I was set a project to produce a 10 photo story by my university lecturer, I knew that the two would work hand in hand. I decided to approach the project with the attitude to just carry my camera with me whenever I went out and see what stories I could uncover, this method seemed to work well.

The people I have spoken to that live on the streets are, genuinely, some of the most interesting people I have ever met. Being able to sit down next to them and see their view of Cardiff, especially at night has been truly moving.

The hardest thing about the project by far is walking away. Knowing that I’m going back to a warm room with food and water is a challenge in itself. I feel like I could sit there and talk to the subjects of my photos for hours, they really are that interesting.

Having never started a project like this before I was a little nervous, I didn’t know how people would react to having a camera placed just a few feet away from them in the middle of the night. However, as soon as I’d introduced myself to the first person I photographed I knew that the project would be more than just a set of photographs, it would be a heartwarming story. Since taking the photographs I have seen life a little different, I’ve appreciated things more and learnt that everyone has a story to tell, no matter what walk of life they come from.

More about me – I am a first year Photojournalism student at the University Of South Wales in Cardiff and enjoy taking portraits, shooting sports and many other types of photography. In my time before university I lived in Newark On Trent and worked as the official photographer for Notts County Ladies FC and also worked with the regional paper The Nottingham Post. I enjoy living in Cardiff with all the opportunities it offers both socially and photographically, I feel I’ve really made vast improvements in my photojournalistic work whilst studying here. I enjoy working with people, especially finding hidden stories and I aim to produce work that conveys those stories through the power of images.

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Thanks Ben! You can follow the rest of his project on his Facebook page: Ben Blyth photography or on his Twitter.

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A blog about Cardiff, its people, and the alternative arts and cultural scene!