Visions of Welshness
A new exhibition at Glynn Vivian Gallery in Swansea pairs work by two of Wales’ up and coming photographers with portraits from the National Portrait Gallery – and the result is a rich exploration of Welsh identity, writes Jenny White...
WELSH identity is the core theme of a new exhibition at Swansea’s Glynn Vivian Gallery which features 10 photographic portraits from the National Portrait Gallery, London, alongside work by from two of Wales’ most exciting photographers – Mohamed Hassan and Megan Winstone.
Organised in partnership with the National Portrait Gallery, the exhibition aims to explore identity, representation and the contemporary relevance of portraiture.
“It reflects Glynn Vivian Gallery’s long-term goal of ensuring that the gallery collection represents the talent and strength of the local community,” says Karen Mackinnon, curator, Glynn Vivian Art Gallery.
“This commitment to reinterpreting the gallery’s permanent collection began years ago with Conversations With The Collection, a series of projects in which artists, curators, communities and historians are invited to work with the gallery’s permanent collection in ways that allow us to reassess its value and usefulness in contemporary society, telling new stories and sparking new conversations.”
The National Portrait Gallery works in the show highlight well-known Welsh people including The Bevans (Aneurin Bevan, Jenni Lee, Karol Keres, Pietro Nenni) by Henri Cartier-bresson, singer Shirley Bassey by Mike Owen and actor Richard Burton by Irving Penn.
“When choosing images from the National Portrait Gallery’s collection, we wanted to find individuals who had left a national and international impression on what Welsh identity is,” says Mackinnon.
“We wanted to illustrate our diverse and multicultural nation, a nation which has produced the founders of the NHS, has shone on stage and silver screens for the entire world and writers and musicians who defied their humble beginnings to reach the stars.”
The accompanying works by Mohamed Hassan and Megan Winstone depict people in Wales today, framing the gallery’s goal of championing the icons of tomorrow, who may fall outside the celebrity status.
“However, there may be people who are important to the visitors to the exhibition who are not in this selection,” adds Mackinnon.
“Throughout the duration of the exhibition, the
Glynn Vivian Learning team will be working with young people in Swansea to explore contemporary Welsh identity, to look at who is missing, to ask who are the cultural icons of tomorrow and to consider whose portraits would be significant for the collection in the future.
“This will lead to ten new portraits being photographed by Mohamed and Megan and commissioned for acquisition by the Glynn Vivian Collection.”
Hassan and Winstone are two bold and distinctive voices. Hassan’s work is inspired by Wales and its landscape, people and communities. He uses his portrait photography to “challenge some of the stereotypes and judgements that people make about other people”.
“It is my hope that the viewer of my portraits asks: Who is this person? What is their story? Is this person the person I think or believe they are?” he says.
Winstone’s playful portraits are inspired by punk culture and feminist theory. She uses her work to challenge and disrupt societal expectations, whether it be about the female body or the south Wales Valleys, where she grew up.
Winstone works across the fields of fashion, beauty and documentary photography. She’s had work featured in magazines including Vogue and has worked on campaigns for several major fashion brands.
“During my teens, I was obsessed – I still am – with the music magazine Kerrang! and would line the walls of my bedroom with clippings from each issue,” she says. “Waking up to these every day was exciting and formed my vision for how I approach photographing people today.”
Her work covers many themes, but it is characterised by feminist narratives and subtle Welsh referencing.
“My Welsh heritage and the Valleys landscape is a constant influence in my work,” she says. “I reference Charlotte Church in any fashion work I do – I think she’s gorgeous and so rebellious. The cover Church did for the Face magazine in 2003 certainly inspires me.”
Hassan grew up in Alexandria in Egypt, where he became aware of the power of images at an early age. His father was a well-known professional photographer and at one time he had several photographic studios across the city. He worked mainly as a wedding and portrait photographer and later on as a videographer.
We wanted to illustrate our diverse and multicultural nation, a nation which has produced the founders of the NHS, has shone on stage and silver screens for the entire world
while studying to be a fitness instructor.
In 2011, he bought his first digital camera, mainly to take images of travels around west Wales and holidays – and everything changed.
“From that moment I was hooked,” he says. “My childhood knowledge came flooding back to me. I just wanted to put it all into practice.”
Next came an evening course at the local college and in 2014 he went to Carmarthen School of Art, graduating in 2016 with first class degree in photography. He started a masters in documentary photography at USW in 2021.
“Living and studying in Wales has been pivotal to my journey as an artist,” he says. “When I first arrived, I felt as if I were in a dream and as I discover and explore more of Wales I find inspiration all around.
“Whether I am packing up my camera and trekking up the Carmarthenshire Fans or taking a gentle walk on a Pembrokeshire beach, I feel blessed to experience and photograph these incredible landscapes and people in Wales.”
He credits his dad and iconic photographers such as Man Ray, Michael Schmidt and Irving Penn as influencing his style.
Hassan has had some significant milestones in his career so far, including exhibiting an image at the National Portrait Gallery in London in 2018 as part of the Taylor Wessing Photographic exhibition and in 2022 having several photographs included in the National Gallery Responding to Rembrandt Masterpiece Tour at Oriel Davies.
“The exhibition at Glynn Vivian is so amazing for me – the curators and team have done a fabulous job creating it,” he says.
He adds that the launch event was a surreal moment for him because he had a piece exhibited right alongside an Irving Penn photograph. This had a special poignancy for him because, back in the autumn of 2014, on a trip to Venice, he had visited the Irving Penn retrospective exhibition at the Palazzo Grassi.
“I had grown up with photography, had picked up a camera again and started experimenting and was in the first year of my degree course,” he says. “That exhibition was a lightbulb moment for me, it really opened my eyes to the true artistic power of images and especially printmaking – just amazing to see his body of work up close.
“Back then, I couldn’t ever imagine that, eight years later, I would have the good fortune to be exhibiting in the same gallery, let alone alongside such prestigious photographers. It’s such a great honour.”
Winstone agrees: “I’m so proud of this show,” she says. “The curation has been incredible, it’s a mighty challenge to put my work with classic portraiture from the National Portrait Gallery.
“I’m certainly in good company. It’s been a long ambition of mine to work with Glyn Vivian Gallery