A Commentary on Women Creating Spaces in Welsh Visual Culture

Abstract

Women’s histories provide a vivid and perhaps drastic example of the reconstitution of history through the opening up of a new and different space of knowledge. The field is not simply expanded by the intrusion of hitherto excluded knowledge. Its borders are interfered with; its ontological status is problematized, reorganised and redefined (Peim, 2005, pp. 30-31).

This commentary questions the neglect of women artists in the major surveys of Welsh visual culture (Lord, 1998, 2000). To explain the exclusion of women it is necessary to look closely at Welsh society and its gender roles, and to understand that in contrast to the surveys, Welsh women have always found a space to design, and create their own visual culture as an alternative to the dominant culture’s arts and crafts. While hidden and undervalued by the mainstream, the visual tradition of the 19th and 20th century is one that many contemporary Welsh women artists draw upon for inspiration and confirmation of a trajectory of Welsh women’s roles as visual artists. This commentary explores Welsh women’s creative spaces, their lives, and their visual culture traditions with a focus on four Welsh artists: Laura Ashley, Mary Lloyd Jones, Claudia Williams, and Shani Rhys James.