Heniaith Yn Y Tir was being exhibited at Y Capel in Llangollen, September/October 2015 with Alison Craig.

Alison and I first met through the Regional Print Centre in Wrexham in 2006 (where I was doing a residency) and later worked together as co-ordinators of Le Chiele (a printmaking project that toured South Australia and was exhibited in Wales and Ireland). Through working together we discovered a common link in our work with an interest in the landscape, where the past lies buried but close to the surface, waiting to be discovered. The work for this exhibition responded to the poem Aros Mae by John Ceiriog Hughes, of the preceding generations who lived in a different land and left their mark there; listening to the languages which remain in the land even when they are minority languages or no longer living tongues. For the exhibition we took 20 words developed from the sentiment of the poem and used them as a starting point for individual paintings reflecting our feelings about the land, the language and the culture from which we came and the land, language and culture in which we are now living.

 Aros Mae

Aros mae’r mynyddau mawr

Rhuo trostynt mae y gwynt

Clywir eto gyda’r wawr

Gân bugeiliaid megis cynt

Eto tyf y llygad dydd

O gylch traed y graig a’r bryn

Ond bugeiliaid newydd sydd

Ar yr hen fynyddoedd hyn

Ar arferion Cymru gynt

Newid daeth o rod i rod

Mae cenhedlaeth wedi mynd

A chenhedlaeth wedi dod

Wedi oes dymhestlog hir

Alun Mabon mwy nid yw

Ond mae’r heniaith yn y tir

A’r alawon hen yn fyw