The “Wales, A Home from Home” exhibition began with a simple idea: invite young people, especially those from isolated communities and Additional Learning Needs (ALN) hubs to help tell the stories of migrants who have made Wales their home. What followed was a series of hands-on art workshops that resulted were striking collaged artworks created for the project.
Working with artists Craig and Adele Lewis, learners from ALN hubs in Caerphilly and Cardiff, along with pupils in the Rhondda, Merthyr and Neath Port Talbot, produced nine large-scale collages. Each piece was built from a wide mix of materials and visual styles, created with guided sessions that placed artistic exploration at the centre of the storytelling process.
These artworks were first exhibited at the Senedd Cymru, where they formed a major part of the Home from Home launch exhibition last summer. The young learners were very happy to see their artwork exhibited in Welsh parliament.
By combining visual art with recorded testimony, the children produced work that is both creative and documentary and is available using the latest technolgy
To ensure the young artists’ work remained accessible as the project continued to tour, the collages were then transformed into a dedicated virtual gallery within the wider multimedia exhibition.
The virtual space is divided into large, open rooms, each showcasing a single four-metre-high collage. Beside every artwork, short films activate to share the stories of the individuals represented.
The young learners’ pieces depict people such as:
Eva Gibbor, 94, who arrived in Wales aged 7, on the Kindertransport, after fleeing the Holocaust, Natasha and Aleksandra Bondarenko, who settled in Merthyr after leaving Kyiv when Russia invaded, hair dressing entrepreneur Laz Lazarou, whose family migrated from poverty-stricken Cyprus in the 1950 and Paul Brig Singh, the first Sikh officer in the Metropolitan police to wear a turbon.After their public showing at the Senedd, the collages were integrated into the touring version of the exhibition as a fully immersive digital experience, ensuring that the young artists’ contributions remain central to Wales: A Home from Home.
None of this would have been possible without the generosity of National Lottery Players and the Heritage fund.
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Testun Cymraeg
Mae arddangosfa Home from Home yn adrodd straeon amrywiol ymfudo i Gymru. Wrth ei chraidd mae syniad syml ond pwerus: gwahodd pobl ifanc, yn enwedig y rhai o gymunedau mwy ynysig a chanolfannau Anghenion Dysgu Ychwanegol (ADY), i helpu i adrodd y straeon hyn drwy’r celfyddydau mynegiannol. Yr hyn a ddilynodd oedd cyfres o weithdai celf ymarferol, a arweiniodd at greu gweithiau collage trawiadol ar gyfer y prosiect.
Gan weithio gyda’r artistiaid Craig ac Adelle Lewis, cynhyrchodd dysgwyr o ganolfannau ADY yng Nghaerffili a Chaerdydd, ynghyd â disgyblion yn y Rhondda, Merthyr a Chastell-nedd Port Talbot, naw collage ar raddfa fawr. Cafodd pob darn ei adeiladu o gymysgedd eang o ddeunyddiau ac arddulliau gweledol, drwy sesiynau wedi’u harwain a roddodd archwilio artistig wrth wraidd y broses adrodd straeon.
Cafodd y gweithiau celf hyn eu harddangos am y tro cyntaf yn y Senedd, lle buont yn rhan ganolog o arddangosfa lansio Home from Home. Roedd y dysgwyr ifanc wedi’u syfrdanu wrth weld eu gwaith yn cael ei arddangos yn Senedd Cymru. Er mwyn sicrhau bod gwaith y artistiaid ifanc yn parhau’n hygyrch wrth i’r prosiect deithio, cafodd y collage eu trawsnewid wedyn yn oriel rithwir bwrpasol o fewn yr arddangosfa amlgyfrwng ehangach.
Mae’r gofod rhithwir wedi’i rannu’n ystafelloedd mawr, agored, gyda phob un yn arddangos un collage pedwar metr o uchder. Wrth ymyl pob gwaith celf, mae ffilmiau byrion yn cael eu hactifadu i rannu straeon yr unigolion a gynrychiolir.
Mae gweithiau’r dysgwyr ifanc yn portreadu pobl megis:
Eva Gibbard, 94 oed, a gyrhaeddodd Gymru’n 7 oed ar y Kindertransport ar ôl ffoi rhag yr Holocost; Natasha ac Aleksandra Bondarenko, a ymgartrefodd ym Merthyr ar ôl gadael Kyiv pan oresgynnodd Rwsia; entrepreneur trin gwallt Laz Lazarou, y bu ei deulu’n ymfudo o Cyprus dlodi-strychnog yn y 1950au; a Paul Brig Singh, y swyddog Sikh cyntaf yn Heddlu’r Metropolitan i wisgo twrban.
Drwy gyfuno celf weledol â thystiolaeth wedi’i recordio, cynhyrchodd y plant weithiau sy’n greadigol ac yn ddogfennol eu natur, gan adlewyrchu hunaniaeth, cof a phrofiad byw.
Ar ôl eu harddangosfa gyhoeddus yn y Senedd, cafodd y collage hyn eu hintegreiddio i fersiwn deithiol yr arddangosfa fel profiad digidol cwbl ymdrochol, gan sicrhau bod cyfraniadau’r artistiaid ifanc yn parhau’n ganolog i Cymru: Home from Home.
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