P h o t o R e n g a - M a d e i n R o a t h

M a d e i n R o a t h P h o t o R e n g a

a t T h e P a r a d e v e n u e i n C a r d i f f

We were delighted to be asked to run a PhotoRenga for the Made in Roath festival at the 28 The Parade venue in Cardiff. The building has a fascinating history and retains intriguing architectural features - it was originally built for a merchant shipping company when Cardiff was one of the main global ports and was more recently used as a language school. Much of the building was transformed in to a creative project space for the duration of the festival, occupied by an outstanding selection of artists and performers.

On 9 October, participants started from the Parade PhotoRenga project space, splitting up and taking photographs for 30 minutes. After reviewing the images as a group, one image from each person's camera was chosen and passed on to another in the group. This image was used as the source or inspiration to produce a new set of photographs from which one image was selected and so on...

The results are a vibrant series of linked photo poems which both explore the area around The Parade venue and reflect the unique creative responses of the group. The participants in the Made in Roath PhotoRenga were Rose, Gordon, Camilla, Jacqui, Kate and David.

The PhotoRengas are inspired by an ancient, courtly form of Japanese poetry, in which sequences of haiku construct complex and profound poems. The aim of the PhotoRenga project is to produce a series of short, collective visual poems.

We were especially delighted to exhibit some of the Made in Roath PhotoRengas in The Parade space during the following main festival weekend. They were printed by CCQ magazine onto fabric and hung as banners to create a stunning poetic display.

PhotoRenga workshops have previously been hosted by Ffotogallery in Penarth and g39 in Cardiff and future PhotoRenga workshops will be held here and at other venues. The PhotoRengas will be produced in an eBook and as an exhibition in the future.