Photo exhibition at Carmarthenshire Museum
A photograph exhibition charting the story of Welsh chapels is being held at Carmarthenshire County Museum.
The exhibition is a collaborative venture by two Open University tutors, arts tutor and photographer Phil Sky of Cardiff, and social scientist and former chair of the Carmarthenshire Antiquarians, Roy Davies of Llandeilo.
The result is a series of framed photographic images; a slide show with commentary; and an essay ‘Calfaria is Closed’, in reference to Calfaria Baptist Chapel, in Ann Street, Llanelli, which has an uncertain future.
Fifty years ago the Non-conformist chapel occupied a central role in Carmarthenshire life extending far beyond the purely religious.
Since then, the decline in chapel attendance and consequent chapel closures has been dramatic.
Former chapels converted into public houses, nightclubs and restaurants would have been unimaginable 50 years ago.
Yet chapel buildings in both old and new guises tell the story of how Wales was, and the country it has become.
This is the central theme to the exhibition running at Carmarthenshire County Council’s museum in Abergwili until October 31.
Education executive board member Cllr Gwynne Wooldridge said: “However one views the contribution of the chapel to the making of Wales for chapel goers and those who have not been in such a building, this is an exhibition that will give much food for thought.”
The exhibition is a collaborative venture by two Open University tutors, arts tutor and photographer Phil Sky of Cardiff, and social scientist and former chair of the Carmarthenshire Antiquarians, Roy Davies of Llandeilo.
The result is a series of framed photographic images; a slide show with commentary; and an essay ‘Calfaria is Closed’, in reference to Calfaria Baptist Chapel, in Ann Street, Llanelli, which has an uncertain future.
Fifty years ago the Non-conformist chapel occupied a central role in Carmarthenshire life extending far beyond the purely religious.
Since then, the decline in chapel attendance and consequent chapel closures has been dramatic.
Former chapels converted into public houses, nightclubs and restaurants would have been unimaginable 50 years ago.
Yet chapel buildings in both old and new guises tell the story of how Wales was, and the country it has become.
This is the central theme to the exhibition running at Carmarthenshire County Council’s museum in Abergwili until October 31.
Education executive board member Cllr Gwynne Wooldridge said: “However one views the contribution of the chapel to the making of Wales for chapel goers and those who have not been in such a building, this is an exhibition that will give much food for thought.”
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