Visual art exhibitions and events with a platform for critical writing
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Richard Powell, ‘Moth’, gold drawing on 325 dibond panels, 510x270cm, 2005.
Photo: Marc Arkless. Courtesy: Ffotogallery Wales.
Ffotogallery, Penarth
26 November – 8 January
Reviewed by: Debra Savage
Drawing from a new body of work developed during a 2002 Cywaith Cymru/Artwork Wales residency at Cardiff International Airport, ‘Moth’ examines the impact of low-cost travel and the slick, impersonal architecture of airports. Designed as a point of departure from our ordinary lives to a place of relaxation and enjoyment, these constructed spaces transport us beyond the physicality of our everyday selves.
Split over two levels, the exhibition is an eclectic mix of work that responds to a number of ideas developed during the residency. Notions of commercialisation and the homogenisation of national identities create a sense that, for a travel industry led by budget flights, the final destination is of little importance in comparison to a more saleable dream of cheap holidays and easily definable cultural packages.
This soulless view of the travel industry appears in Powell’s work through the opposition of the controlled structure of the airport environment against the limitlessness of the sky. Multiple images of empty spaces within the airport, punctuated by the occasional appearance of airport staff retreating behind closed doors, are contrasted by images of empty skies interrupted only by the occasional vapour trail; a disembodied voice continually making airport announcements is accompanied by the unfettered sound of bird song.
Within this context, the airport is a non-space. By photographing its empty maze of corridors, we become trapped in a place at odds with its physical purpose, which is to encourage the transient flow of human traffic. Powell uses the imagery of the Minotaur to create a metaphor for the airport maze, dressed in a handcrafted copper suit made from locks, straps and other discarded impersonal possessions. Shown as an artefact and as a video piece, a spinning figure is trapped forever in the airport’s cold corridors, fed by the metallic scraps left by those passing through.
Writer detail:
Debra Savage is a freelance writer and arts administrator based in Cardiff.
Venue detail:
Ffotogallery
Turner House Gallery, Plymouth Road, Penarth CF64 3DM
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