God of Small Things - installation at Gaia 2024

Delivered my installation contribution, entitled GOD of SMALL THINGS to the wonderful Gallery Gwyn in Aberaeron for their Gaia 2024 group exhibition, opens Nov 30 2024.

This recent mixed media based studio explorations investigate poetic universal qualities and juxtapositions within the everyday and the overlooked. Drawing on the language of Zen Asthetics, minimalism and the politics of British austerity.

I will update more information in a few weeks about detals of the show.

Llewyrch Y Lle/Silvers of Space Exhibition & Talk

A Big thankyou to Capel Nazareth (Pontiets / Pontyates), Rhiannon Mair, Arts Council Wales - Llais Y Lle / Voice of Place, an initiative to engage with Welsh language audiences) on giving me the opportunity to share my artwork and ideas amongst the community that it was created within.

The work presented included experimental international contemporary art and placed within a rural Welsh Valleys setting. The exhibition included past archival projects of place and current studio related projects & processes; refereing to ideas about the interconnections between the local & global, historical issues and current international events.

Support and interest by the local community and from the community of photographers who attended was much appreciated.

One Day Exhibition
Llewyrch Lle/Silvers of Space

The vestry of Nazareth Chapel in Pontiets on Saturday October 5th will host a unique one day only exhibition with a 2pm afternoon talk (Welsh language) by Pontiets photographic artist Peter Finnemore. This exhibition & event is free and suitable for everyone. All are welcomed to attend to view the artworks and talk to the artist.

Cynhelir arddangosfa undydd yn festri Capel Nazareth Pontiets ar ddydd Sadwrn Hydref 5ed, gyda sgwrs am 2pm yn y prynhawn (yn y Gymraeg) gan yr artist ffotograffig o Bontiets, Peter Finnemore. Mae'r arddangosfa a'r digwyddiad hwn yn rhad ac am ddim ac yn addas i bawb. Mae croeso i chi ddod i weld y gwaith ac i sgwrsio gyda’r artist.

Teitl / Title – Llewyrch Lle/Silvers of Space

Cyfeiriad / Address – Capel Nazareth, 8 Heol Nasareth, Pontyates, SA15 5TB,
Dyddiad / Date – Dydd Sadwrn Hydref 5ed 2024 // Saturday 5th October 2024

Amser / Time – 10.30am – 5 pm

Sgwrs Gyhoeddus / Public Talk – 2pm – (Cynhelir y sgwrs yn y Gymraeg/The talk will be in Welsh, suitable for Welsh Learners

For More Information

llwybraupontyates@gmail.com

Oriel Gelf Gyfoes Genedlaethol Gymru
National Contemporary Art Gallery for Wales -

Fel aelod o fwrdd Oriel Celf Gyfoes Genedlaethol Cymru, roeddwn yn hapus i gymryd rhan yn y drafodaeth panel Casgliadau, Comisiynau a Churadu a gynhaliwyd yn ddiweddar yn Y Lle Celf ar 6 Awst ym Mhontypridd. Yma, bûm yn trafod fy rôl ar y bwrdd, potensial y prosiectau a’i agweddau cadarnhaol.

As a board member of the National Contemporary Art Gallery for Wales, I was happy to participate within the recent Collections, Commissions and Curating panel discussion held at The Eisteddfod’s Y Lle Celf on Aug 6 in Pontypridd. Here I discussed my role on the board, the projects’ potential and its positive aspects.

Other Panel Members included Mandy Williams-Davies Chair of the Project Board, National contemporary art gallery for Wales / Ffion Rhys Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Gallery Network / Gwyn Jones, Oriel Plas Glyn y Weddw / Carys Tudor, Lead Partner Museums Wales / Jen Abell Commissioner discussing the Eisteddfod Commission for Geraint Ross Evans.

Casgliadau, Comisiynau a Churadun - Collections, Commissions and Curating

Byddaf yn cymryd rhan yn y drafodaeth banel a fydd y yn edrych ar y gwahanol ffyrdd mae’r Oriel gelf gyfoes genedlaethol i Gymru yn cefnogi artistiaid a sefydliadau celfyddydol i gyrraedd
cynulleidfaoedd newydd a chreu gwaith newydd. Gan edrych ar enghreifftiau diweddar o arddangosfeydd sydd wedi’u curadu ar y cyd, ffyrdd newydd o gael
mynediad at y casgliad cenedlaethol, a chomisiynu gwaith newydd ar gyfer yr Eisteddfod Genedlaethol yn Rhondda Cynon Taf, bydd y panel yn edrych ar sut
mae’r fenter yn gweithio ledled Cymru i ddod â phobl at ei gilydd i brofi, archwilio a mwynhau celf gyfoes.

I will be participating in this panel discussion which will look at the different ways the National contemporary art gallery for Wales is supporting artists and arts organisations to reach new audiences and create new work. Bringing with them recent examples of co-curated exhibitions, accessing the national collection in new
ways, and commissioning new work for the Rhondda Cynon Taf National Eisteddfod, the panel will look at how the initiative is working across Wales to bring people together to experience, explore and enjoy
contemporary art.

AUG 6 - 11.00 12.30 am
Y LLE CELF, Maes yr Eisteddfod, Pontypridd

LLais y LLe
Gweithdy Cyanoteip

Dros y flwyddyn nesaf, cynhelir gweithdai a digwyddiadau diwylliannol ym Mhontyates gan Rhiannon Mair a Peter Finnemore. Mae hyn yn rhan o brosiect 'Llais y Lle' gan Cyngor Celfyddydau, sy'n gronfa i gefnogi celfyddyd drwy'r Gymraeg mewn gwahanol ardaloedd o Gymru. Fel rhan o’r prosiect, rydym yn cynnig gweithdai Cyanoteip rhad ac am ddim yn festri Capel Nasareth, Pontiets

Gweithdy 1- (oedolion) 11.00 – 1.00 pm

Gweithdy 2- (oedolion) 1.30 – 3.30 pm

Gweithdy 3- (teuluoedd / Plant) 3.45 pm – 6.45 pm (sesiynau galw heibio)

DEWCH Â Blodau sych / dail / llystyfiant neu ddeunyddiau tryloyw

LLEOLIAD Festri Capel Nasareth, 8 Heol Nasareth, Pontiets, SA15 8TB

DYDDIAD DYDD GWENER MEHEFIN 21, 2024

ARCHEBU A GWYBODAETH llwybraupontyates@outlook.com

Dualism and the ‘I Am’

I recently attended a talk by the Potter, writer and thinker Rupert Spira, he articulates ideas with clarity and wisdom notions of dualism as a means of understanding the nature of being and ‘the self. Exploring the self’s relationship to external appearances and the collapse of separation between the ego mind and the world. These are also core ideas developed in my book Looking For Signs, where through snapshots and their lyrical sequencing become a form to visualise the dynamics of dualism, the nature of the self and possible transcendence within the world of fleeting dramas and appearances of ‘the ten thousand things’.

One of the key entry points into this books contextual meaning is the image of the ‘I Am’ graffiti. The affirmation of "I Am" is a concise but deeply meaningful phrase that touches on concepts of existence, identity, divinity, and self-awareness across different contexts. It is not an easy book to consume. It intentionally makes concentrated demands of the viewer. It reveals itself slowly and is more enjoyable for that.

https://rupertspira.com/

https://peterfinnemore.com/Looking-for-signs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cl7_2VUjd1M

The Valleys

National Galleries and Museums Wales, Cardiff, Wales
May 25th - Nov 3rd 2024

I’m happy to be included in this survey show, which represents artwork made in the geography of the historic South Wales coalfield.

As a parallel project to Gwendraeth House, Iv been photographing the landscape and culture of the Gwendraeth Valley as it relates to its history of coal culture, from deep mining to open cast for 35 years. I’v been working on an expressive book sequence of these diverse images that links together both documentary and explorative styles. However it is not these images that will be shown but a series of performative and filmic work – Base Camp, which is housed in the NGMW collection.

‘The Valleys showcases the work of some of the artists from the national collection to highlight the stories of this distinctive areas. With over 200 artworks in a wide range of media including painting, photography, film and applied art, the exhibition reveals how the lives and landscape of the Valleys and the people who lived and worked there were transformed by iron and coal, and how these communities made a vital contribution to the modern world.

The exhibition profiles work by over 60 artists including Tina Carr and Annemarie Schöne, Robert Frank, Josef Herman, and Ernest Zobole as well as introducing the work of collier artists and makers including Nicholas Evans’.

https://museum.wales/cardiff/whatson/12263/The-Valleys/

According to the Laws of Chance

Kathleen O. Ellis Gallery
Light Work - 316 Waverly Ave, Syracuse, NY 13210. USA
May 31–August 16, 2024

Reception: Friday, July 26, 5-7pm

According to the Laws of Chance is a subtitle included in many works by the Dadaist painter Jean Arp that describes his systematic yet chance-driven method of creating his simple and playful paintings. Arp would let torn pieces of paper fall to the floor to determine his painting or collage compositions. Although the outcomes are wildly different, Arp’s ethos can be found in the work of the photographers selected for this group exhibition at Light Work. These photographic artists are using and defining chance as a core element of their largely divergent practices.

Included in this group exhibition are the works of Cheryl Miller, Claire A. Warden, Jaclyn Wright, Josh Thorson, Kyle Tata, Louis Chavez, and Will Stith, as well as works from Light Work’s collection by Cecil McDonald, Jr., James Welling, Peter Finnemore, and Rita Hammond. Each artist uses chance as a way of generating new and unexpected images. In some cases, chance means an encounter with a stranger or situation; in others, chance is employed by surrendering to the optics and mechanics of the photographic process. In all cases, the outcomes are the fixed result of a premeditated roll of the dice.

https://www.lightwork.org/archive/according-to-the-laws-of-chance/#:~:text=Each%20artist%20uses%20chance%20as,mechanics%20of%20the%20photographic%20process

Gwendraeth House Project

The 30 year long Gwendraeth House project’s B&W negatines are slowly getting digitlised. Thankyou to all at USW photo department for their assistance in my Fellowship capacity.

Its an enjoyable process reassessing negatives that i originally passed over. The notion of time is a key compoment in this project.The photograph as a dissolved document in time is also something that I’m interested. The fading residue of something undefined and disappearing, is something in the back of my mind and inspires me as well. The early photographic experiments of trying to materially capture / preserve images is an inspiration – im thinking of the Sir William Herschel’s experiments and his letters that on the same page contain texts and dissolving photographic images. Also, a big inspiration is the album of fragile photo experiments by Hippolyte Baynard. Subject to time and its entropic forces these dissolving images become celebrations of trace, story and memory.

Nothing Matters / Silvers of Space Research Lecture

It was an enjoyable experience sharing the development of my photo art, ideas and processes to the ECDR research environment at USW, where i’m currently Visiting Research Fellow.

The presentation explored existential ideas of dissolution, transformation and non material ‘appearances’. This was followed by an illuminating Q&A session.

https://photographic.research.southwales.ac.uk/

Nothing Matters / Silvers of Space - press release

Peter Finnemore’s photo-artwork revolves around the idea of ‘making visible’. In this informal presentation he will be discussing the evolution of a range of core photographic ideas that inform his practice.

Finnemore is a unique and significant presence in the arena of contemporary fine art photographic practice. He is noted for his long-term photo art projects on the human condition, generational memory, home, nature, culture, history and post-industrial landscapes.

His working practice combines a fluid exchange between the language of photography and fine art sensibilities. These artworks are manifested as photographs (analogue & digital), video art, installations, the artist’s book, text art, performance and assemblages on canvas

Finnemore's artworks belie a singular vision which occupies an alchemic, mytho-poetic territory between matter-of-fact documentation and lyrical transformation / magic realism. Marked by critical intelligence, visual dexterity, pathos and trickster humour, his images operate simultaneously on a number of levels, subjectively examining cultural and historical forces, whilst occupying the wide emotional and intellectual spectrum from the profound to the absurd. His recent photo-art book project – Looking For Signs, set in India is an ambitious 300-page subjective psycho-geographic mapping of self and place.

A graduate from the Glasgow School of Art and the University of Michigan, Finnemore represented Wales at the 1997 Venice Biennale. His artwork is in a number of public collections, including; Arts Council Collection, Princeton Museum of Art and Chrysler Art Centre. He lives and works in Wales and is currently Research Fellow at USW.

Shaping Art in Wales

A big thankyou to Dr Ceri Thomas for including my artwork in his new hardcover book Shaping Art in Wales, a hybrid book, part biography, part art survey, that outlines the impact of two curators from Swansea’s Glynn Vivian Art Gallery and Museum - David Bell and Kathleen Armistead. Whose vision of art and curation in Wales from 1945 to the 60’s is intrinsic to the cultural memory of the nation.

Two of my photo-art pictures are included in the chapter - Postscript 1970’s and Beyond, hich includes my installation / intervention with Ivor Roberts Jones’ bronze bust of painter Sir Kyffin Williams. Shown in the Brought to Light Exhibition (Oriel Mostyn) and in the Sight and Sound exhibition (National Galleries and Museum of Wales). I am appreciative that Ceri has included a substantive quote from my artist statement about the ideas behind these artworks and installations. Which examines the David Bell and Iorwerth Peate debates of taste, class and value of Academic and Vernacular art.
Published by Ali Anwar of the H’mm Foundation

https://nation.cymru/culture/shaping-art-in-wales/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjFKY7ZwIbc

National Contemporary Art Gallery Wales - project

I’m happy to announce that I am participating as an Independant Project Board Member on this exciting venture of phase 1 of the National Contemporary Art Gallery Wales project. I will be offering my experience as an artist in the shaping its goals, especially around the needs and expectations of the professional artists community.

Phase 1 involves the disperesal of the collections of the National Museums and Galleries Wales & Lyfergell Genedlaethol Cymru - National Library of Wales to 9 project partner galleries in Wales, including :
Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Aberystwyth
Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea
Mostyn, Llandudno
NewWork is also underway to find a potential anchor galleryport Museum & Art Gallery, Newport
Oriel Davies, Newtown
Oriel Myrddin, Carmarthen
Plas Glyn-y-Weddw, Pwllheli
Ruthin Craft Centre, Ruthin
Storiel, Bangor

This is a nation building project and work is also underway to find a potential anchor gallery.

https://www.museumsassociation.org/museums-journal/news/2023/07/wales-unveils-plans-for-dispersed-national-contemporary-art-collection/#

Photie Man

Wonderful to meet up with Tom Wood again at Liverpools’ Walker Art Gallery. Where he is exhibiting Photie Man: 50 Years of Tom Wood

20 May 2023—7 Jan 2024

A new major photographic exhibition from Tom Wood, showcasing 50 years of the artist’s work. Classic photography on display as well as a number of his videos, which are exhibited for the first time.

A few years back, I worked with Tom, editing, sequencing and designing three books - The Irish Work , The Welsh Work and Merseyside. Whilst these were not published, it did provide me extensive contact with the range of Tom’s work, many of which are on display in the exhibition.

https://steidl.de/Books/Landscapes-0112212529.html?SID=qpW0VzO04cb6

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2023/may/23/photie-man-50-years-of-tom-wood-review-walker-art-gallery-liverpool

The Married Life of Atoms

The Married Life of atoms is an exhibition and seminar that is a celebration and tribute to the photographic work of my old friend Harry Kerr and curated by Martha McCulloch.

The Married life of Atoms Exhibition opens at Fort Dunree, Inishowen County Donegal, ROI at 6-8pm on December 2nd (which would have been Harry’s Birthday).

I will be participating is a semnar in the gallery on Sunday Dec 3rd. The seminar line up will include -

Calum Angus McKay
Amanda McKittrick
Anthony Haughey
Christina McBride
Peter Finnemore
Paul McGuckin
Frank Mcelhinney
Panel discussion led by Martha McCulloch

The launch of the Harry Kerr Memorial bursary will also be launched to support emergin photographers.

https://www.artlink.ie/whats-on/

Imagens do Real Imaginado

A big Thankyou to the organisers of ESMADS - Photography, Film and Multimedia (international seminar) Politecniado Porto for inviting me to present images, ideas and the development of my Gwendraeth House Project at the Evocations International seminar, held at the impressive venue of the Vila do Conde, Municipal Theatre, Porto.

Other on the day speakers included - Alfredo Cunha and Mark Durden.

Nov 9th 2023

https://www.esmad.ipp.pt/noticias/imagens-do-real-imaginado-3

Celf ar y Cyd

A big thankyou for Fern Thomas for chosing to respond to my series of films held in the National Galleries and Museums Wales in her comissioned experimental and poetic writing piece for Canfas for the Celf ar y Cyd website.

https://celfarycyd.wales/cynfas/article/2444/Walking-with-Light-the-long-term-thinking-of-the-films-of-Peter-Finnemore/

Gwendraeth House book goes on Euro tour

A mini European art performance and pilgrimage, creating juxtapositions and generational conversations between overlooked marginalised histories and deep time culture and civillisations.
September / October 2023

Filmic Document of book Looking For Signs

A big Thankyou to Tipi Booshop in Brussel, Belgium for making a wonderful video of my book Looking For Signs available on UTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cl7_2VUjd1M

300 page book of photographic and art text content, developed and sequenced over a period of three years.

Included here is also an art studio experience of the book.

https://vimeo.com/839261447

Looking For Signs
Purchase & info link

Limited edition of 300.
A 300 page book of photographic and art text content, developed and sequenced over a period of three years.

https://peterfinnemore.com/Looking-for-signs

Raisonné - Craig Wood

Craig’s new book Raisonné is a collection of his artwork made between 1987 - 2018. This substantive volume includes some examples of collaborative posters we did for the Dylan Thomas centenary (2014), which were inspired by the scripts Thomas wrote for post war reconstruction for a better fairer Britain organised by the Ministry of Public Information.

Heni Publishing Aug 2023

Ninnau - North American Welsh Newspaper

I recently contributed an article to the new issue of NInnau, the North American Welsh newspaper about my MFA educational experiences at the University of Michigan. This educational opportunity was only made possible by the generosity of the Thomas and Elizabeth Williams Scholarship.

Vol. 48, No. 3 May-June

2023http://www.ninnau.com/index.html

Looking For Signs -Installation Ffotogallery

filmic document of the installation and exhibition of my One Person Exhibition - Looking For Signs at Ffotogallery, Cardiff, Oct 2022.

https://vimeo.com/841450903

MU - Elysium Art Gallery

MU is the latest exhibition from the distinct art practice of Peter Finnemore. Without a set narrative or singular theme, this installation explores the pluralistic language of photography in relation to materiality, installation, painting, video, and 3D works. MU is a Zen term that explores the space between conventional and dualistic meanings. It is a creative and expansive potential opening between an assortment set of complex binaries - of space and time, yes and no, between logic and the irrational. This playful exhibition examines a series of unexpected visual relationships and the creative overlaps between diverse bodies of artwork.

Elysium Art Gallery, Swansea, Wales
Feb 7 - 18 March 2023

A filmic document of the installation and exhibition of my One Person Exhibition - Looking For Signs at Ffotogallery, Cardiff in Oct/ Nov 2022.

https://www.elysiumgallery.com/events/event/peter-finnemore-mu/

Ffotogallery Book Fair

This Join us on Saturday 15 October for a day of events celebrating the photo book. We will be starting at 11am with a special welsh language artist talk from Peter Finnemore and later on from 2pm he will be joined in conversation by Alejandro Acin, an artist, designer and educator, and founder of IC Visual Lab in Bristol.

Between 12 – 3.30pm we have an exciting line-up of stalls for you to browse with holders including Offline Journal, Nawr Magazine, 103 Books, iPigeon, Ffotogallery and more – plus you will be able to get your hands on some Ffotogallery publications at great prices.

Schedule

11.00 - 11.45am Peter Finnemore Artist Talk (Welsh medium)

12.00 - 3.30pm Doors open to general public and book fair starts

Confirmed stallholders include Offline Journal, Nawr Magazine, 103 Books, Ailienated Magazine, I Pigeon Publishing Ffoto Newport, Roger Tiley, Universityb of South Wales.

12.30 - 1.30pm - Book Dummy Show & Tell in the library with Tudor Etchells & University of South Wales

2.00 - 3.00pm - Peter Finnemore in conversation with Alejandro Acín

Looking For Signs, Ffotogallery Exibition

This exhibition is an extensive translation of my book and its expanded ideas into mixed media exhibition form.

Ffotogallery, Cardiff, Oct 6 -Oct 20 2022

https://ffotogallery.org/programme/looking-for-signs

Book review -Offline Journal #009

Thorough and insightful review of my book Looking For Signs by Ells McDonald in the magazine - Offline Journal #009, Community.

October 2022

https://www.offline.wales/journal-009

Looking For Signs

My new photo art book Looking For Signs. This is a distinct photographic and text project, made and inspired from two trips to India in 2017 & 2018.

This book communicates ideas of movement and its picturing. It is a travel companion, a portable guide map and talismanic almanac to navigate both physical and symbolic spaces of India. Narrated here are pictures of the fleeting, overlooked transitional points within the unfolding of appearances. They denote pictorial landmarks within a journey that is both physical and abstract. These are subjective photographs of travel made in the mind.

This book is an unfolding of time and narrative through the flow of appearances, created by
the expressive frame of a handheld camera. Snapshots are brief moments of time with a distinct visual language: imperfection, randomness and spontaneity. Snapshot photography is devoid of artistic hierarchies and pretensions. These incomplete, open-ended visual fragments are sequenced to give a comprehensive narrative experience that is complex and durational, akin to the time-binding experience of literature and immersive cinema.

The complexity of appearances, their forms and representations is explored alongside the universal conventions of photography. Including: its democratic versatility, its technology, its role within modernism and capitalism, collective memory, historical remembrance and story telling. Like memory, the physical materiality of the medium – its images, technology and craft are subject to disuse, erosion and dissolution.

40x240mm

Case Bound / Exposed Spine
6pp Cover, Monotone printing and debossed.
304 pp, 150 gsm Silk paper
200 B&W plates plus 40 silver duatones.
Photographs: Peter Finnemore
Editing: Peter Finnemore & Alejandro Acín
Design: Alejandro Acín
Translations: Joseff Govinda Howells
Printing: Taylor Borthers
Published by Peter Finnemore in collaboration with ICVL Studio.

Gwendraeth House, 2022
ISBN 979-8-88680-470-6

https://peterfinnemore.com/Looking-for-signs

Chinese in Wales Association - Swansea

Alongside the exhibition Journey To The Moon and Sun -Photography From China, Qiuwen Zhang and myself led a Workshop & Lecture with the wonderful Chinese in Wales Association. It will be great to work with this community again in the future.

College St Gallery and Studios, Elysium, Swansea. Nov 3 2022

https://vimeo.com/865262999

https://chineseinwales.org.uk/

Jouney To The Moon and Sun - Photography From China.

The photography on show presents different regional and cultural perspectives upon the idea of landscape in relation to rapid development and change in China. Most of the photographs were taken in the cities where the artists live or the hometown where they were born. They offer personal and poetic observations of their daily landscapes. They are records and reflections of social change, as well as expressions of the land and the world.

This is a project initiated by visiting scholar Zhang Qiuwen under the guidance of Professor Mark Durden and Peter Finnemore at the University of South Wales. For this show Qiuwen has invited nine artists from different provinces of China, who are both university teachers and independent artists. This is the first time that these artists and their works will be exhibited in Wales.

Participating Artists:

Chen Yineng, Fan Xiaoying, He Yusheng, Li Suqing, Li Yihao, Niu Xue,
Ren Ting, Wang Peibei, Zhang Qiuwen

College Street Gallery and Studios, Elysium, Swansea.
28 Oct – Nov 12 2022

https://vimeo.com/865262999

Swansea School of Art Artists, From the Collection

A display of artworks from the gallery’s permanent collection from both art school alumni and lecturers, including works from Irene Bache, Glenys Cour, James Henry Govier, Alfred Janes, Ceri Richards, Jane Phillips, Will Robertse. Included, is my photo Koan Exercises, part of my Zen Gardener project.

Glynn Vivian Art Gallery and Museum, Swansea.
Sept 24 - Jan 8 2023

Gaia Exhibition at Gallery Gwyn, Abereiron

Thankyou to Helen Duffee for inviting me to exhibit at the Gaia group exhibition.

Heatwave my laser cut textile installation is one of my paricular favorite personal artworks of mine.

Sept 30 - Dec 2 2022

Thinking Green

My Runner Bean Harvest image from the Zen Gardener project (part of permanent collection of Glynn Vivian Art Gallery collection) was include in the eclectic Thinking Green exhibition curated by Owen Griffiths. The exhibition housed in the Atrium imagines the differing roles of garden spaces as sites of social change.

8 April 2022 - 18 September 2022

Carnifal New Book

I’m happy to have participated in Huw Alden Davies Carnifal (Carnival) book project. This is a celebration of Gwendraeth Valley culture and in particular Tumble village Carnival. This book is a collaboration with many wonderful photographers who have produced memorable images and have added to the visibility of the Gwendraeth Valley as a rich source of culture and history.

Featuring the work of ten photographers, including Huw Alden Davies, Peter Finnemore, Mohamed Hassan, Dan Staveley, Abby Poulson, Jason Thomas, Jaz Guise, Sal Nordan, Dorian Caba and Gwyn Edwards. Comes with a free poster designed by Karl Sedgwick featuring a poem by Jane Manley

The book is published by Gomer Press and available through I pigeon, designed by Abby Poulsen and has a contributing essay by Paul Cabuts.

Visiting Fellowship at the Universty of South Wales

I have been awarded a Visiting Fellowship from the Faculty of Creative Industries at the University of South Wales in Cardiff. This is an exciting opportunity for me to develop, complete and share a number of personal projects that I’m currently researching. It’s an exciting personal development and I look forward to collaborating with the research team and students at USW on both national and international creative research.

https://www.southwales.ac.uk/research/

The Shadow (gold and mud) - My story in Ffoton

FFoton is a photographer led community that seeks to celebrate creative talents across Wales.

Here on the FFoton website, I share the story and interpretation behind one of my most popular images – The Shadow (gold and mud) an image from the early part of my Gwendraeth House project. Recorded in June 2021.

https://www.ffoton.wales/one-image/peter-finnemore
https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/ffoton-interviews/peter-finnemore-part-1-8XiOqNdIAQT/

The Making of Looking for Signs

Book work in progress….In collaboration at Gwendraeth House with Alejandro Acin of IC Visual lab in Bristol. Design and sequence discussion of my forthcoming limited edition artist photo book, Looking for Signs. A Psychogeographic journey through the idea of India; a complex blurring of mind, place, culture, autobiography and history. Sequencing and editing began in 2017. The book will be available in early 2022.

https://icvl.co.uk

Interview with Ffoton

My interview with Ffoton’s Emyr Young, undertaken in June 2021; is now out live on their website. This was an enjoyable conversation – so good that it comes out in two parts.

FFoton seek to promote the diverse photographic practice across Wales.

https://www.ffoton.wales/interviews/2021/09/peter-finnemore-1
https://www.ffoton.wales/interviews/2021/09/peter-finnemore-2

Acquisition Glynn Vivian Art Gallery and Museum

It’s an honour to have three large scale images from my Zen Gardener project to have been accepted into the permanent collection of the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery and Museum, Swansea. This will be a perfect home for the photographic works

https://www.glynnvivian.co.uk/collections/collection-highlights/

Film work at Argos (Belgium)

Argos is an institution and resource center for the distribution, production, restoration and study of critical audio visual arts based in Brussels, Belgium. They contain a vast library of audio visual contemporary film material. I donated a number of films for them a while back. You can check out information on these films on this link.

https://www.argosarts.org/artist/ef3668d2a4ed44e5b2b8300a8f3f4e4c

The Family, by Then There Was Us Magazine.

Some of my Gwendraeth House photographs and a wide ranging interview with myself is currently published in Issue 3 – The Family, by Then There Was Us Magazine.

https://www.thentherewasus.co.uk/about/

Visual Spaces of Change : Designing Interiority – Shelter, Shape, Place Atmosphere

A set of my interior photographs are discussed the essay Light Catcher by Prof. Mark Durden in the journal – Sophia Peer Review Journal.

Sophia Journal is both a print and online journal that explores critical texts in relation to image, in comprehending the worlds of design, photography, film, video, television and new media in relation to theory

This issue is titled, Visual Spaces of Change : Designing Interiority – Shelter, Shape, Place Atmosphere. Volume 5, Issue 1: 2020

https://www.sophiajournal.net/sophia-5-light-catcher
https://www.sophiajournal.net

Celf ar yr Cyd - ‘The Potato Eaters’ film is my contribution to Celfarycyd.

Organised by the National Museum of Wales, this an online voting opportunity for the public to choose which artworks they would like to see displayed at National Museum Cardiff , and in galleries around Wales.
Go to @celfarycyd on Instagram to vote for your favourites using the Like button. The most liked artworks will be exhibited at National Museum Cardiff.

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CF5HWcAgP74/?igshid=5y557n2kwrzj

Electric Lleidi Land by The Hepburns

Very happy to contribute photographs and a drawing to the 16 page booklet that accompanies The Hepburns new pandemic concept album - Electric Lleidi Land, stories about Llanelli.
Booklet and CD design by Karl Morgan.
https://thehepburns.bandcamp.com/album/electric-lliedi-land

Na / Ie -HDR Print from the series Public Information.

Collaborative work by Peter Finnemore and Craig Wood, 2014. Included in art auction as part of Plaid Cymru digital conference.

https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/plaid2016/pages/10457/attachments/original/1601643872/Arwerthiant_Celf_Art_Auction_final.pdf?1601643872

Yr Lle Celf

Due to the pandemic, this years National Eisteddfod of Wales art exhibition / Yr Lle Celf has been repositioned as a virtual event. Entitled Epona, from which Epynt derives its name; after the Celtic goddess Epona, who is associated with the local roaming wild horses.

The theme of this years exhibition is the mythical and recent histories of Mynydd Epynt, Wales. In June 1940 Mynydd Epynt) was occupied by the War Office. The 400 Welsh people who farmed the mountain and the surrounding seven valleys were dispersed and turned the area into an army firing range. To this day much of the hills remain in Ministry of Defense control and are closed to the public.

I will be exhibiting two distinct bodies of work which refer to both land and cultural anxieties.

https://www.walesartsreview.org/exhibition-national-eisteddfod-epona/

In memory of Colette Harkings, who sadly, passed away on 9.04.2020.

Individual Stabalisation Award

A big thankyou to the Arts Council of Wales for awarding me an Individual Stabilisation Award to support a new research enquiry project – Silver of Space. A creative and organic undertaking with multiple outcomes, which, both adds and reimagines personal archives through digital, analog and material processes.

This project was made possible through funding from the Arts Council of Wales’s National Lottery Fund.

Cefnogwyd y cynllun yma gan arian y Loteri Genedlaethol drwy Gyngor Celfyddydau Cymru

Thanks to National Lottery players, £40 billion has been raised for more than 565,000 good causes across the UK since 1994.

Diolch i chwaraewyr y Loteri Genedlaethol am y £40 biliwn at 565,000 achos da ar draws Prydain ers 1994.

@celfcymruarts @nationallotterygoodcauses #artscouncilofwales #gwendraethhouse

Post Colonial Conversations

I will be presenting ideas and discussing Wales / Photography and Colonialism in relation to photographic project made in India, entitled ‘Looking for Signs’, This is a digital zoom conference entitled Post Colonial Conversations , between South Asia and Wales, organized by Glynn Vivian Art Gallery. is funded by the British Art Network and supported by Tate and the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art.

Seminar 1 Speakers include : Peter Finnemore, Shiraz Bayjoo, Nikhil Chopra, Dr Cleo Roberts and Zehra Jumabho

https://www.glynnvivian.co.uk/whats-on/imperial-subjects-seminar-series/

https://www.youtube.com/watchv=euasIapWup4&list=PLWit3Ug-16HTJ6JSvZvYsaDOYzrG4cxxV

JoCA issue 4

As a celebratory launch of JoCA issue 4, there will be an exhibition of my photographs at the wonderful Filet Gallery, 103 Murray Grove, London.
The exhibition will be opened by Rut Blees Luxemburg11.12 2019 6 – 9.30pm

https://www.lyncharchitects.com/news-reviews/launch-joca-4-filet-gallery/

Journal of Civic Architecture – Issue 4

A series of my Gwendraeth House photographs and an accompanying essay - by Patrick Lynch will be featured in Journal of Civic Architecture – Issue 4. Published by Canalside Press. Issue four of the JoCA brings together a series of essays and visual essays that consider the theme of Home, or more precisely, the role of "dwelling" in architecture

https://www.canalsidepress.com/issue-4/

Closer We Are Exhibition

I will be exhibiting a series of Photobooth inspired photo and mixed media artworks in Swansea’s Elysium Gallery’s - The Closer We Are Exhibition. This group of international group of artists explore the theme of togetherness in current adverse time

Exhibitors include Peter Finnemore, Kath Ashill, Geraint Evans, Sarah Poland, Sean Vicary, Christine Laquet, Anne-Mie Melis, Janire Najera, Stefan Bottenberg, Pascal Michel-Dubois

November 22nd – Dec 28th 2019

Artists Talks – 23 Nov. 2020 – 3 pm

http://www.elysiumgallery.com/events/event/the-closer-we-are/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HC0L57YMr2Y

National Museums of Wales collection

My recent mixed media artwork – Ancient Ruler Worship, 2020 has been acquired into the National Museums of Wales collection and now on display at Imagine a Castle: Paintings from the National Gallery, London and National Museum of Wales.

National Galleries and Museums Wales, Cardiff. Jan 28 - May 10th 2020.

https://museum.wales/blog/2020-02-18/Imagine-a-Castle-The-problem-of-castles-in-Wales/

https://www.picuki.com/media/2234368332827803218

Imagine a Castle: Paintings from the National Gallery, London and National Museum of Wales.

To celebrate London’s National Gallery acquisition of Bernardo Bellotto’s impressive 18th century painting ‘The Fortress of Königstein from the North, it is being toured throughout Britain alongside other master works featuring castles. The National Galleries of Wales will be presenting these paintings alongside representations of castles that are in their collection, which include my artworks from the series Lesson 56 - Wales. These will provide a contemporary context to the cultural / historical politics of castles in Wales and their depiction.

National Galleries and Museums Wales, Cardiff. Jan 28 - May 10th 2020.

https://museum.wales/blog/2020-02-18/Imagine-a-Castle-The-problem-of-castles-in-Wales/

https://museum.wales/news/?article_id=1161

https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/about-us/press-and-media/press-releases/castles-paintings-from-the-national-gallery-london

Swansea Stories – from Monet to Maradona

To Celebrate Swansea’s 50th anniversary as a city, Glynn Vivian will display the largest selection of the gallery’s permanent collection ever displayed.

Artists include – Peter Finnemore, Gwen John, Richard Billingham, Rut Blees Luxemburg, Patrick Heron, Nickolas Evans, Richard Calvert Jones, Barbara Hepworth etc.

Glyn Vivian Art Gallery and Museum, Swansea
26.09.19 – 15.03.20

Tumble 2019 carnival

Invited by Huw Alden Davies to photograph this years Tumble 2019 carnival. With the intention of creating a unique document that celebrates the spirit of a small community in the Gwendraeth Valley. Enjoyed reconnecting with repotage street photography again.
https://jwrnal.com/y-jwrnal/2019/7/7/ffair-ffablau-by-huw-alden-davies

Diffusion Festival 2019

Diffusion Festival, Sound and Vision 2019. 2 hour world wide Audio Broadcast to accompany my exhibition installation of The Groove at Millennium Centre, Cardiff, June 2019
https://diffusionfestival.org/programme/the-groove

Jaipur Photography Festival 2018

Invited to be a part of the Wales Delegation to Jaipur Photography Festival 2018.
An accompanying catalogue – Dreamtigers is a FFotogallery publication that documents this collaboration between Welsh and Indian photographers
https://ffotogallery.org/channel/dreamtigers

Diffussion Festival 2017

Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff, Wales, , a site specific installation as part of Diffusion International Photography Festival, The Zeitgeist.

01.05.17 – 30.07.17

https://2017.diffusionfestival.org/exhibitions/between-the-lines

The laughable Enigma of the Everyday. Billboard

Billboard of a film still ‘Gnats and Smokie’ advertising at the Arquipelago, Centro de Artes Contemporâneas, Azores, Portugal. 2017 The Laughable Enigma of the Everyday

https://elephant.art/the-laughable-enigma-of-ordinary-life/

The Laughable Enigma of the Everyday. Films

Exhibiting a showreel of films at the The Laughable Enigma of the Everyday exhibition at the Arquipelago, Centro de Artes Contemporâneas, Azores, Portugal. 2017

https://elephant.art/the-laughable-enigma-of-ordinary-life/

Black & White Photography Magazine

Gwendraeth House images featured in Black & White Photography, Magazine, April 2017, with essay by Vicki Painting

Double Take

Double Take, Art and Comedy, Bluecoat Gallery, The Centre for Contemporary Arts, Liverpool, June 2016. With Guardian review.

https://corridor8.co.uk/article/review-double-act-art-and-comedy-the-bluecoat-liverpool/

Nature Boy

Nature Boy exhibition at the Millennium Court Arts Centre, Portadown, N. Ireland

http://millenniumcourt.org/peter-finnemore-nature-boy-4-july-13-august-2014

Photography Today, A History of Contemporary Photography

Its an honour to be included in a major volume - Photography Today, A History of Contemporary Photography edited by Mark Durden and published by Phaidon, a survey of influential international contemporary photography. ISBN-13 : 978-0714845630

https://collectordaily.com/photography-today-mark-durden/

Ach I Fi, a play for Vices

Ach I Fi, a play for Vices, curated by Peter Finnemore and Russell Roberts, National Library of Wales, Aberystwth,

1 – 28 th July 2014

https://vimeo.com/101383882

Public Information Night 1

Public Information Night 1, an experimental multi media, collaborative, performance and musical event. Volcano Theatre, Swansea. Curated by Peter Finnemore and Craig Wood. (Dylan Thomas Centenary Festival commission) 7/12/13

https://vimeo.com/162250833

Diffusion Photography Festival 2013

Installation preparation of Structures of Feeling, The photographs of Geoff Charles, the Tramshed, Cardiff, curated by Peter Finnemore and Russell Roberts at Diffusion Photography Festival 2013

https://www.photomonitor.co.uk/geoff-charles

The Silent Village, Exhibition, DOX, Prague, Czech Republic. 2012

https://www.academia.edu/805839/Review_of_The_Silent_Village_exhibition_and_publication_ffotogallery_Cardiff

We Build Monuments to Forget, Symposium, DOX, Prague, Czech Republic, 10/3/12

https://www.cornerhousepublications.org/publications/the-silent-village/

Sandfield Festival of Ideas 2012.

Guerilla Gardener performances for Veg Vetch – an urban utopia growing revolution (site of Swansea City’s Vetch home ground). Sandfield Festival of Ideas 2012.

http://www.vetchveg.co.uk/
http://www.sustainableswansea.net/vetch-veg.html

Graduate exhibition 2012, Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff. A survey of arts graduates in Wales. Curated by Peter Finnemore

Curation of Heb Eiriau / Without Words, the photographs of Geoff Charles, curated by Peter Finnemore and Russell Roberts, National Eisteddfod of Wales, Wrexham, 2011

http://peterfinnemore.blogspot.com/2011/08/geoff-charles-installation-wrexham.html

Oriel Mostyn, Llandudno. Wales, The Silent Village, 2011

https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/wales/entries/8e39650f-9eac-3285-aed0-e805259b20fd

Guardian Review of Silent Village, 2011

https://vimeo.com/151243511

Photography and Culture, review of Silent Village exhibition, March 2011 by Paul Gough

Source Quiz – Curators v Photographers

http://www.source.ie/main/quizflyer.html

Veil and Voids, exhibition at St David’s Hall, Cardiff 2010

https://vimeo.com/31616207

Transgressions Symposium, Riverside Theatre, Newport, 2009

Artnet, review, NY, USA, review of Project Jedi Show, 2006

51st International Art Exhibition, Venice Biennale - Somewhere Else , Wales Pavilion, The Ex Birreria, Giudecca, Venice, Italy, 2005

Gallery 40000, Chicago, USA, joint exhibition with Thomas Rapai

http://www.thomasrapai.com/

Guardian Review of Gwendraeth House, 2001

Gwendraeth House, invite, Ffotogallery, Cardiff, Wales. 2000

Inheritance Exhibition invite, Streetlevel Photography Gallery, Glasgow, Scotland. 1993

Im happy to be included in this vast survey show about art made in the South Wales Valleys. The Gwendraeth Valley, the last valley of the South Wales coalfield, is often omitted in such art surveys and even on geographic maps of the S W coalfield. The above image gives a glimpse of the book work sequence iv been working since pandemic times. This book project shapes together disperate bodies of photo work I made since the 1980’s which pictures the landscape, history and culture of the Gwendraeth Valley. These images are not included in the show but a sequence of films called Base Camp, which were mad

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Commissions

Peter Finnemore