National Museum Cardiff
Until Sun 4 Sept
In Aberfan, a normal Friday morning in 1966 changed into a day that devastated a nation and wiped out a generation. On October 21, 1966, a colliery waste tip slid down the hillside and engulfed Pantglas Junior School killing 28 adults and 116 children.
Scenes of the unfolding disaster were broadcast worldwide; mothers rushed to the scene, wading through the mud to try to find their children, local miners shovelled to clear the debris non-stop for 10 hours and over 2,000 rescuers worked through the night looking for survivors.
The community has been under the spotlight ever since the tragedy. For a long time, the town lay in the shadow of the slag heap that had taken so much; their own homes trapped in the memory of that day. The archives of reporting, photographs and films have meant that this little mining town will never be forgotten.
The Attraction of Onlookers: Aberfan – An Anatomy of a Welsh Village}was originally created in 2006, forty years after the disaster, to help the Aberfan community move forward from the events of that tragic day.
Shimon Attie created The Attraction of Onlookers as a video installation that hopes to give the community back its once anonymous status as one of many Welsh villages. The five channels capture a unique perspective of the town and its residents. Attie asked villagers to pose on a revolving stage in a way that reflected a professional or social role they held in the village.
The still photographs, taken in 2006, that accompany the video instillation, create a new identity for both individuals and groups in Aberfan. The portraits show groups and individuals against a stark black backdrop. They highlight the diversity of the community from the local minster and headmaster to a boxer, the male voice choir, the barman and the fish-and-chip man.
This imaginary space allows the subjects to be distant in time and space from the tragic events of that day. This means they are able to create a new identity that they have defined.
Tickets: Free. Info: 029 2039 7951 / www.museumwales.ac.uk
words ELOUISE HOBBS