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Colours of Cardiff is a new photography and documentary project by Ruslan Pilyarov
APHOTOGRAPHER has come up with a unique way to tell the stories of people living in Cardiff. Colours of Cardiff is an interactive website set up by a Russian who has called the Welsh capital his home for the past seven years.
Ruslan Pilyarov has a passion for telling people’s stories – particularly those from under-represented communities.
His latest project aims to tell stories of people from all backgrounds living in Cardiff.
It allows people to use their phones, computers or even virtual reality goggles to interact with the map.
Ruslan said: “I have a passion for media and art so I enjoy giving an artistic perspective on the work that I produce. It just gives me another way to tell people’s stories in a more engaging manner.
“The project started during the first lockdown because I suddenly had lots of time. I was inspired by other projects like Humans of New York to tell the stories of strangers.
“Everyone was isolated and people felt lonely so I thought ‘I can produce something with this 360 technology, using panoramic portraits of people from Cardiff.’
“The stories are of people from different backgrounds, ethnicities and social classes. It’s a way to show that we live in a multi-cultural society.”
Ruslan hopes his website can inspire people from all backgrounds and communities to learn about one another.
He added: “Although we all live in one city, we don’t know what’s going on in other people’s communities. As a Muslim myself, it’s also a part of my faith to learn about other cultures.
“That’s where the name came from too, I want to showcase diversity, happiness and acceptance.
“Lockdown is going to be in place for a little while longer but I hope people can use the website to explore Cardiff even while they’re at home.
“There’s so many interesting stories and we’re blessed to have so much diversity. Hopefully we can tackle loneliness and other issues people are suffering with during lockdown.”
You can visit the website by visiting http://coloursofcardiff.co.uk/
Real BWritten
Real BWritten is a singer and songwriter. He used to be a professional dancer who performed all over the UK and won the UK Championship. He became a teacher but left the industry to follow his dreams and become a singer.
He said: “I am a voice of the youth, I wanna spread a good message, spread positivity and love.
“I used to be a professional dancer, we performed everywhere and won UK Championship, I performed with Ashanti.”
Mr Shad
Originally a teacher from Pakistan, Mr Shad came to Cardiff in 1967. The 76-year-old rides horses every day and even has a pony in his own home. He said: “I came to Cardiff in 1967 and I worked everywhere I could find a job. Now, I’m retired and I ride horses.”
Stacey Blythe
“I am from England but learned Welsh.
“I am now a fluent Welsh-speaker – and this has changed my life.”
Issa An aspiring journalist, Issa was
forced to leave Syria after the outbreak of war in his country in 2011. He attended English classes and followed his dreams by studying a postgraduate course in international journalism at Cardiff University.
He said: “I am from Syria, and in 2015 I had to leave my country because of the war.
“When I came here I didn’t know the language, and had no family here.
“Everything I achieved by now is because of the warm welcome in Wales.”
Christine
Christine came to Cardiff in 2010 to study. She fell in love with the city and never moved back. “The most exciting thing that happened to me is giving birth to my children, it is a lovely heritage to add to them.”
Aisha
Aisha moved to London aged six and has returned to Cardiff after nearly 28 years. She said: “I am Welsh, but I grew up in London and just came back to Wales and I don’t miss London at all. I am so happy to be home.”
Daisuke Miura
Daisuke Miura, originally from Japan, is a ballet teacher. He has lived in Cardiff and Newport for around 12 years. Daisuke is a former professional ballet dancer. He said: “Ballet is everything to me, it is my passion, my life. I am Japanese and I see that we have lots of similarities, people are very polite.”
Julia
Julia was born in Russia and met a British man in India. They eventually got married and moved to Wales.
She said: “We are all very similar, we have different languages and cultures, but we are all humans and we want to be happy, we like tasty food and to have fun.”
You’ve been friends for more than 35 years and are now doing new podcast Joyride. What traits do you have in common?
Jim: We’re both very excitable and intrigued by things and ....
Jools: (Laughs) We’ve both got quite short attention spans.
Jim: We’re very inquisitive and I think doing the podcast helps... We do things that we like doing. I think the only way things can work well is if you enjoy doing them. Jools: Exactly. You’ve got to love what you do and love the people you’re doing it with.
Jim: When we first started doing it I don’t think we had much of any plan to be honest. You follow the trail and see where you go with it.
Guests include Bob Mortimer, Jane Horrocks and Chris Difford. How would describe the podcast?
Jools: It’s like having a chat with friends. These are people we know and love, but might see once a year in the pub or at a party and it’s great having time with and having a chat. I hope the listener feels they are at the table with us.
Jim: (Smiling) It’s eavesdropping. It’s travel and transport, but it’s really just a route to yarns and what we can prise out of guests.
Jools: In a formal chat show you get someone flogging something. Here you get people telling stories and get a sense of who they are, which is great.
Jim: I think some people were thinking it’s all about cars, but it’s not in the slightest. It’s quite the opposite to be honest. Food and travel, that’s what everyone does isn’t it, so everyone has got a story. Jools: Once people know it’s me and Jim, I think guests realise that the podcast is going to be fun and easy and relaxed.
Has it been hard staying at home because of the pandemic?
Jim: I can travel around my land, I can go a short distance in a car and go for a walk. I miss getting on a train and going places, but we’ll be back to normal before you know it. Jools has his model railway so he can travel quite some incredible distance.
Jools: Yes, I can go from my model of St Pancras onto my model Eurostar all the way across Europe to Berlin in the space of about 60ft, but I did find it bit upsetting when I realised I couldn’t do it in reality. I was re-enacting something no longer actually possible to do.
Most of my travelling, which I enjoy doing, is 98% through my work because we are travelling to shows around the British Isles and Europe. That’s my world, but we can’t do that now.
When I’m on tour I make a point of seeing sights and maybe taking an extra few days somewhere if it’s somewhere nice, so I do miss that.
What do you miss most?
Jim: The thing I probably miss most is going to a restaurant. I’m not much of a pub-goer, but I do like a restaurant so that’s me.
A year ago Bob (Mortimer) and I went on a mini tour about eight dates, eight places, just telling stories of our lives in showbusiness.
It was kind of organised because I said I’d like to go to Buxton and just have a nose around there.
We’ve done this before. I’ll be sitting in a van with Bob and will say ‘Can we go to Melton Mowbray to try the pork pies?’
That’s what I want to do. Just go somewhere and nose around. Jools: I like being on tour and sightseeing, but not everyone likes looking at stuff. There’s a great singer, Louise Marshall who sings with us, but hates travel. We’ve taken her to a lovely castle or gardens to look at or a sacred site, or a few stones from the Neolithic period in a foggy field somewhere and you never get her out the car.
We went to one of those fantastic abbeys up in Yorkshire noted to be one of the most beautiful sites in Britain. It was ravishingly beautiful and she just went ‘Urgh’ and threw a blanket over her head.
What is on your travel wish list?
Jim: I’ve been thinking about this, especially this past year. You put things on a back burner and can end up in your grave and not done anything.
I’ve always wanted to go to Yosemite National Park and I think I’ve just got to go and do it.
Jools: Yosemite is where I believe they have the gigantic redwood trees and they have an arch carved out of them.
There are photographs from 1960s of a bloke with all his family all waving out of them. I was so impressed by this that, when we built the studio where we now do the podcast, I put one of those trees there by the entrance so eventually it will grow into this great thing and you’ll be able to drive through it.
But apparently you’ll have to wait 500 years.
Jim: I went to Sequoia National Park which has the General Grant Tree which is the biggest tree in the world and it’s a sight to see. The top of it is in the clouds. It’s like 5,000 years old or something.
I’ve got a lot of places I really want to go and see before it gets too late.