Description

From the start of this project I was interested in the role of artists and writers as outsiders of sorts, being detached enough to make observations about their environments. I found this exploration of a lack of belonging evident in a number of the texts we looked at: the awkward interactions of the characters in Rachel Trezise’s Fresh Apples, and Thomas’ The hunchback in the park with its shadowy, excluded figure, a metaphor for the isolation Dylan feels carrying the weight of his writing and creativity.

I was also taken by the deep sense of loss in Return Journey and Dylan’s shock at the destruction of so many of the things that gave him some sort of belonging: the buildings of his city, his former school friends, even the loss of his mother tongue, Welsh, which is alluded to in a scene present in the recorded radio version but not the printed version.

The visual image that first struck me, however, was the beached whale in Maggie Shipstead’s Seating Arrangements. The tragedy of this great animal stranded where it did not belong – a fish out of water, although, of course, it is a mammal – mirroring ocean-obsessed Livia’s sense of displacement within her own family and social circles.. Later, when we were lucky enough to be able to ask Maggie about the imagery in her book, she highlighted a scene where Livia pictures a future in which the coastal houses have been reclaimed by the sea and are inhabited by sea life. This combination of these images and juxtaposition of worlds, creating many layers, was irresistible to me, especially with my interest in diving and love of underwater life and landscapes.

Born in Swansea and brought up in Africa, Hannah Lawson’s background is in literature. She has exhibited photography, installation and multi-media and shown prints internationally.
She is a keen diver involved with various projects in underwater archaeology andmarine life surveys.