An unpublished blog

BigLittleCity:Cardiff  The Old Library Hayes until June 2011

Following a fun opening last Thursday night, which I jealously heard about, I took the recommendation to see this new exhibition on Saturday 16 April.

Up the sea of stone steps you are asked to pause and contemplate how your ancestor may have stood just there before gaining knowledge in the Library. As half of my family are Cardiffians it did led me to wonder if my father was the first generation freed from the long hours of the bakery to be the library fanatic he is now and has raised me to be.

Thinking of that early photograph of Wells’ cathedral steps I first see the glass plates of Cardiff Castle and the animal wall. These are wondrous, really crisp in the detail and yet so smoky that you have to peer making seeing them a more intense experience. Somehow it enlivened childhood memories of the place like flicking through an old family album.

There are representations of people in the indoor market, portraits of them with their stalls and a photomontage of Queen Street and its shoppers and people from Butetown taken in spotlight. Also there are caricatures of city people, some you may recognise as the characters of our streets. Here is a genuine representation of yes the diversity of Cardiff, this is something you can prove statistically, but here you also get a sense of how Cardiffians are.  Proud to be who we are and happy to get to know you and accept you as you are. It makes Cardiff a rich and welcoming place.

This exhibition has many interactive elements, real projects you can engage with and these will run until the close in June. There are still animals from the Castle wall to claim and animate, you can recreate the City’s coat of Arms, vote on the gate design for Bute Park, write about what makes Cardiff special to you and stick it on the wall, scribble on the whiteboard visitor book or submit artistic items of your own.

Whilst I was there I was excited to see not only Charles Byrd’s work but the man himself. A living legend surrounded by young artists who asked him many questions that he with pleasure and patience answered and they hung on his every word.

There are famous names and locally known artists.  Stained glass art by Angelina Hall who is showing an animated view of the bay from Penarth, Paintings and Prints of local scenes by Helen Lush, beautiful paper cut work by Rehanna Chaudri.  Also there are Graffiti Murals by NerveArt and a wall of skateboard designs.

These elements will change every five weeks and there is already a range of work here to interest all. The space has been used remarkably well; it’s like a modern labyrinth with constant interest and diversions. I am so happy it shows what I have always said about my city, it has an interesting history, a cosmopolitan present and a bright future.

I certainly intend to visit here regularly; hope to see you and maybe your work there too.

Jennifer Pearce for Llanover Hall

More info:  http://www.biglittlecity.com/news/