Xennial: Dreaming in Colour
Huw Alden Davies
Xennial: Dreaming in Color is an attempt to create a new perspective of Welsh-ness at the dawn of a Metamodernist era while providing a rare and detailed insight into one of Wales' lesser explored and culturally rich communities.
The project is set on the periphery of a small ex-mining village in the Gwendraeth Valley, South-West Wales. Xennial is a multimedia collaboration project exploring cultural identity, nostalgia, and technological determinism while recording a generation born on the verge of a digital revolution.
In addition to this larger encompassing series, Separation of Symmetry, a new installation film, is a retro-futuristic gaze on the uncharted generation that bridges the gap between two eras, described as Generation X and Millennials. Celebrating the wonder of childhood while pulling at the seams of the past, this is an abstract that recognises a post-industrial Wales beyond the coal face and its promised land.
Biography
Born and raised in Carmarthenshire, Wales, documentary photographer Huw Alden Davies explores the lines of visual and written narratives, studying concepts such as sense of place and cultural identity. His work has been widely published, and featured in a large number of international exhibitions, with selected works in the permanent archives of the National Library of Wales, National Museum of Wales, and The National Portrait Gallery, London.
Lured by the single frame and its ability to tell the grandest tales, Davies turns his attention largely to his homeland to tell its story. This has seen his photographs selected by renowned Magnum photographer Martin Parr, The Association of Photographers, and The National Museum of Wales. Supported by the Arts Council of Wales, British Council, and Ffotogallery (the national agency of photography), Davies’ work has recently gone on to represent Wales in a number shows including Many Voices One Nation (Senedd), Imagining the Nation State (Chennai), and previous delegation in India.