On Saturday, 16 April 2016, 7 p.m., art gallery ffotogallery in Cardiff will host the opening of Arturas Valiauga photography exhibition In Trust: Inhabiting Wales Histories. This series was created in 2014, during the artist’s residence with the National Trust, the largest cultural heritage organisation in the United Kingdom. In this exhibition, Valiauga explores the relationship between the private and the public sphere within four places that bear an immense historical significance to Wales: Tredegar House in Newport, Penrhyn Castle in Llandegai, Dyffryn Gardens and Plas Newydd House and Gardens.
The exhibition will be open in Cardiff until 29 May, 2016. Thanks to the cooperation between David Drake, the director of Ffotogallery, and the National Trust, the series will tour the organisation’s exhibition spaces throughout the United Kingdom.
In these works, the Lithuanian photographer Arturas Valiauga (b.1967) reveals a side of these impressive monuments that often remains unseen and hidden from the public. According to the artist, these heritage objects represent the dichotomy between the public and the private. They also showcase aspects of the historical and cultural Welsh identity, the formation and the reading of historical narratives. Perhaps unexpectedly, the National Trust volunteers, the majority of whom are retired seniors, serve as the main characters of the photographs, confidently inviting the viewer to these historical landmarks.
The exhibition is jointly organised by Ffotogallery and Kultūros Meniu. This project is supported by the Lithuanian Cultural Institute and the Lithuanian Cultural Attaché in the United Kingdom
