My Welsh heritage is naturally embedded in my work, often drawing upon people and communities within Wales, Welsh history and notable cultural figures for inspiration. The human figure becomes a vehicle through which I can communicate, often depicted through illustration with raised, paper-based layering to bring my work to life. Often this results in the creation of papercut dioramas, a space within which I can explore more ambitious ideas. This passion for storytelling stems from my love of folk music, and I often accompany my artwork with songs that I both write and perform myself.



My inspiration for this exhibition is the history of storytelling and live music present in Pontypridd. Therefore, I was naturally drawn to one of the town’s landmarks, The Rocking Stone (or Y Maen Chwyf in Welsh). For centuries it has been a place for people to share songs and poems celebrating Welsh language and culture. This was primarily instigated by Iolo Morganwg who founded the ‘Gorsedd’, a meeting of Bards which is often associated with pageantry and druidic ceremony and has become a focal point of the modern Eisteddfod. My piece is a celebration of the history that the Rocking Stone holds. As Bards are storytellers, I wanted this to come through in my artwork, this was achieved by making a series of paper-cut dioramas inside a hollowed-out folk instrument (banjolin) taking inspiration from Celtic art to do my illustrations due to the rocks’ druidic association. This is accompanied by a song telling the history of the place. I wanted the song to be live in the open air to make it feel more in keeping with the theme of  live music. I would like to invite you to add your own verse to my song. The revised song with the new verses will then be performed and posted on social media.