Ffotogallery, the national development agency for photography and lens-based media in Wales, presents Maybe We’ll Be Soldiers, a new exhibition of work by Cardiff-based artist Gawain Barnard. Maybe We’ll Be Soldiers is the fourth exhibition of Wish You Were Here; Ffotogallery’s summer season of exhibitions and events foregrounding emerging artists in Wales and the second in our temporary off-site venue at The Dairy in Pontcanna.
Maybe We’ll Be Soldiers is a story of realisation, self-doubt, expectations and coming of age. A young person’s sense of invincibility fades as they reach adulthood and the naivety of youth gives way to uncertainty around future plans. Barnard has captured that moment in his intimate portraits of young teenagers in Wales, juxtaposed here with images of forests, housing estates and underground passes.
The exhibition title was inspired by the artist’s memory of the armed forces coming to his school and talking only to children from the ‘middle’ to ‘lower’ classes, being the most likely potential recruits. Barnard remarks, “It just seemed odd that the decision to join or not join the armed forces should be made at an age when we have no idea what to do with ourselves and are quite susceptible.”
Barnard sees the work as partly autobiographical, evoking a time when he came to view the towns and villages he grew up in as a psychological barrier that was very difficult to see past. Being unable to drive and too young to move away, these familiar landscapes can become an obstruction to seeing a future beyond one’s immediate situation.
The exhibition takes place between 8 – 24 September 2011 - Admission Free - Ffotogallery at The Dairy, 200 Kings Rd, Pontcanna, Cardiff, CF11 9DF.
