The Screen
Adele Vye Ephemeral Coast
04 April - 21 May 2017
This video was made as part of a series of actions responding to the Ephemeral Coast project. Filmed in shifting weather conditions and contexts, the actions use the environment as an integral part of the work. The body of new work, Attempts above and below sea level, includes actions at Kenfig dune system and pool, above the supposedly buried and submerged town and extends to plans for attempting to cover up with black fabric the ‘beached’ concrete whale at Aberavon.
During Drift Factor the artist attempts to cover and protect the sand dunes in impossible conditions, near the Sandfields council estate which was built on the dunes and where Vye grew up. Through the act of trying to shelter and conceal, this film reveals the futility of the action and documents the forces at play. Filmed during storm Doris, the work embodies an act of transformation. The sense of foreboding and loss echo the metamorphosis of the coastline and days gone by. In acts of grief and hope; memory and forecast, the artist grapples with what is past and what is ahead, but perhaps most poignantly what is happening right now.
Adele Vye grew up in Port Talbot, South Wales and studied Fine Art at Oxford Brooks University. Vye is based from her studio in Swansea as well as working out in the field. Her site-specific explorations respond to the artists timely questions and take the form of documented actions. Vye was awarded the John Brookes Memorial Prize for Fine Art in 2005 and Welsh Artist of The Year for Time Based Media in 2009.
Image: Attempts above and below sea level: Drift factor, Adele Vye, 2017
Gwnaed y fideo yma yn rhan o gyfres o weithredoedd yn ymateb i brosiect Ephemeral Coast. Wedi ei ffilmio mewn amodau a chyd-destunau tywydd newidiol, defnyddia’r gweithredoedd yr amgylchedd yn rhan anhepgor o’r gwaith. Mae’r corff newydd o waith yma, Attempts above and below sea level, yn cynnwys gweithredoedd yn system twynydd a phwll Cenfig, uwchben y tref tybiedig sydd wedi ei gladdu ac sydd yn ehangu i geisio gorchuddio’r morful ‘traethol’ concrit yn Aberafon gyda ffabrig du.
Yn ystod Drift Factor mae’r artist yn ceisio gorchuddio ac amddiffyn y twynydd tywod mewn amodau amhosib, yn agos i ystad cyngor Sandfields fe’u adeiladir ar y twynydd a lle tyfodd Vye i fyny. Trwy’r act o geisio cysgodi a cuddio, dengys y ffilm yma oferedd y weithred a dogfenna’r grymoedd sydd ar waith. Wedi ei ffilmio yn ystod storm Doris, ymgorffora’r gwaith yr act o drawsffurfiad. Atseinia’r syniad o ragdeimlad a cholled metamorffosis yr arfordir a dyddiau coll. Mewn gweithredoedd o golled a gobaith; atgof ac amcan, brwydra’r artist gyda’r gorffennol a beth sydd o’n blaen, ond efallai mwyaf pwysig beth sydd yn digwydd ar hyn o bryd.
Tyfodd Adele Vye i fyny ym Mhort Talbot, De Cymru ac fe astudiodd Celf Gain ym Mhrifysgol Oxford Brooks. Mae Vye wedi ei selio yn ei stiwdio yn Abertawe ynghyd a gweithio allan ar faes. Ymateba ei archwiliadau safle-benodol i gwestiynau amserol artistiaid ac maent yn cymryd ffurf gweithredoedd dogfennol. Fe wobrwywyd Vye gyda’r Wobr John Brookes am Gelf Gain yn 2005 ac Artist y Flwyddyn Cymru am Gyfrwng Amser yn 2009.
Ephemeral Coast, www.ephemeralcoast.com is a curatorial research project led by Celina Jeffery. It brings together artists, writers and climate change experts to explore how curating can advance consideration of coastal climate change.
Ephemeral Coast identifies the coastline as a site and indicator of the radical shifts in geography literally taking place now as a result of environmental change. It proposes that curating contemporary art is a unique process through which we may discover, analyze, and re-imagine the emotive discourses surrounding these ecological and cultural transformations.
Prosiect ymchwil curadurol yw Ephemeral Coast, www.ephemeralcoast.com wedi ei arwain gan Celina Jeffery. Daw ag artistiaid, ysgrifenwyr a gwyddonwyr newid hinsawdd at ei gilydd i archwilio sut all curadu ddatblygu ystyriaeth o newidiad hinsawdd arfordirol.
Nod Ephemeral Coast yw adnabod yr arfordir fel lleoliad a dangosydd newidiadau daearyddol eithafol sydd yn cymryd lle o ganlyniad i newid amgylcheddol. Mae’n amcanu fod curadu celf gyfoes yn broses unigryw lle efallai gwnawn ni ddarganfod, dadansoddi, ac ail-ddychmygu’r cwestiynu emosiynol sydd yn amgylchynu’r trawsffurfiad ecolegol a diwylliannol yma.
Download a map to accompany this series of exhibitions here:
Ephemeral Coast: South Wales Exhibition Map - English
Ephemeral Coast: South Wales Exhibition Map - Welsh
