Now The Hero / Nawr Yr Arwr was a major part of the final year’s programme for 14-18 NOW, the UK’s arts commission for the First World War centenary – and also launched the Swansea International Festival. Together with the associated mini festival Now for More it involved 228 artists, 137 community performers, over 300 volunteers, 25 delivery partners and drew 18,000 visitors.
November 2018 // Commissioned by 14-18 NOW / Arts Council Of Wales. Produced by Taliesin Arts Centre
Now The Hero / Nawr Yr Arwr was a promenade, multi sensory experience, where the audience were guided over two and half hours from the stunning open expanse of Swansea beach to the intimate surroundings of The Brangwyn Hall.
Rees’s bold production through three interweaving stories of war were brought to life with a counterpoint of peace and hope. He took his inspiration from an ancient epic poem, an intimate portrait of a serving Swansea soldier and the British Empire Panels by Sir Frank Brangwyn.
At the heart the performance was a Requiem with a libretto by BAFTA-winning writer Owen Sheers and sung by Polyphony, Stephen Layton’s world famous choir. The music was composed by Owen Morgan Roberts, realised from an original collaboration with the late, Oscar-nominated Jóhann Jóhannsson.
Breathtaking requiem for the fallen The Guardian
A truly soul-searching reflection on war and man’s hope for the future
NOW THE PRINTMAKERS
Frank Brangwyn and Käthe Kollwitz were accomplished multidisciplinary artists, both lived and worked through World War 1, and both excelled in the medium of printmaking. Drawing inspiration from the wealth of print media in which they worked, including etching, woodcut and lithography, Swansea Print Workshop’s exhibition will respond to the rich visual wealth of the sumptuous Brangwyn panels and the recent Glynn Vivian Art Gallery exhibition of Käthe Kollwitz prints.
Opening on Friday September 21 | 5.30 – 8.00
Exhibition open September 22 – 30 EXCEPT Monday 24 | 10.30 – 4.30
Opening Friday 21st September with an evening party, this well-established hidden gem is exhibiting original prints as part of “Nawr Yr Arwr / Now The Hero” inspired by World War 1 artists Frank Brangwyn and Käthe Kollwitz with work by artist members alongside three featured Welsh printmakers:
Rose Davies / Rosie Scribblah (Swansea), monotypes and etchings from “The Warrior”, a series from her 10 year working relationship with Captain David Williams, a serving soldier and life model, who also features in Nawr yr Arwr.
Andrew Baldwin (Trefeglwys, Powys), etchings and mezzotints inspired by the World War 1 battlefield
Andrew Baldwin | etching, aquatint and Mezzotint
Andrew Baldwin | In Flanders Field | mezzotint
John Abell (Cardiff), woodcuts from “Diary of a Dead Officer” published by Old Stile Press
Exhibition curated by Rose Davies
The Diary of a Dead Officer by Arthur Graeme West | with linocuts by John Abell handprinted at the Old Stile Press
Copies of this amazing book were on view and available to purchase at the Workshop during the exhibition.
Over the past four years there have been all sorts of events to mark the horrors of war in Europe between 1914 and 1918. It was to have been the war to end all wars and writers, painters, sculptors expressed this wish in many ways. The Diary of a Dead Officer was first published after the end of the war to demonstrate how a young man, Arthur Graeme West, had moved from support for a just war as a solution to the problems between nations and a total rejection of fighting. This book is surely the sort of reminder we must have when there are any thoughts of organised aggression between nations. There can be no justification but only a yet stronger need for discussion and diplomacy in pursuit of a peaceful means of sharing this planet.
The powerful writing both as poet and diarist moved a pacifist painter and printmaker, John Abell, in the 21st century to create expressive images of a kind which are not easy to see because both these men responded to the violence and horror of the battlefields of 1914-1918.
Where is reason and humanity in such a world.
Workshops at SPW | Rose Davies | Three colour monotype
