DAFYDD WILLIAMS | ART PREVIEW
Elysium Gallery, Swansea
Until Sat 26 May
Whilst he was still in sixth form, Dafydd Williams was awarded the Saatchi/Telegraph Young Contemporary Artist Of The Year 2012. He went on to graduate from Swansea College Of Art, and soon after became the Artist In Residence in Photography, before moving to the Art & Design residency, in which he is currently. Through the medium of mostly black-and-white photography and oil portraitures, Williams explores sexuality and gender; previously, he’s focused on issues concerning his own sexuality, including homophobia and relationships.
More recently, the emphasis has been on the historical context of homosexuality. Through documentation, he brings to light how homosexuality is inextricably linked to the past; by looking at bygone attitudes, we can better understand issues pertaining to sexuality and gender in the present. Recent works have highlighted the irony of artists such as Michelangelo, whose paintings of highly masculine, sensual male bodies were bound up with the religious. Taking this idea, his photography mimics the gestures of the figures in these paintings, and he develops it further in moving image with {Malum}. It will be intriguing to see how, or if, Dafydd will continue with this theme, what direction his opportunity at Elysium will take him and what he will produce at the end of the residency.
Admission: free. Info: 07980 925449 / www.elysiumgallery.com
words CATHERINE JONES