Gwydion the Shape-Shifter is the overarching title for a series of paintings Brown created on a set of utility boxes and bike rails in Newport City Centre. Commissioned by The Place and Tin Shed Theatre, the project forms part of a public art trail called the City Box Takeover. Brown was one of three selected artists for the opportunity, alongside Andy O’Rourke and Anna-Amalia Coviello.
The artists were invited to respond to an artwork of their from the CELF National Contemporary Art Gallery Collection. Brown, influenced by his work as a John Akomfrah Research Fellow at the Royal College of Art, selected John Akomfrah’s film, Vertigo Sea.
Vertigo Sea is a 3-channel audiovisual experience exploring migration, legacies of displacement, and environmental injustice. The artwork is a testament to Akomfrah’s beliefs in montage and simultaneity - bringing seemingly disparate imagery together, to highlight the stories connecting them, and their shared impacts on modern-day society.
Inspired by this critical exploration of the interconnected challenges our society faces, Brown wanted to explore this in relation to Welsh mythology. He was especially inspired by the story of Gwydion - a Welsh trickster god who can travel through time and shapeshift into different beings, entities, and parts of the natural world. Gwydion’s shapeshifting ability is a great allegory for how people should work to be more empathetic, and compassionately conscious about how we engage with the diverse yet interconnected parts of our society, environment, and history.
The artwork imagines Gwydion in modern-day Wales, shifting between different parts of our natural and human world, to better understand the challenges of our time.
Brown, having grown up in Wales making comic books and drawings of dragons, wanted this to be something his younger self would be proud of: creating art that vibrantly imagines, and perhaps inspires, more morally courageous futures.
The artists were invited to respond to an artwork of their from the CELF National Contemporary Art Gallery Collection. Brown, influenced by his work as a John Akomfrah Research Fellow at the Royal College of Art, selected John Akomfrah’s film, Vertigo Sea.
Vertigo Sea is a 3-channel audiovisual experience exploring migration, legacies of displacement, and environmental injustice. The artwork is a testament to Akomfrah’s beliefs in montage and simultaneity - bringing seemingly disparate imagery together, to highlight the stories connecting them, and their shared impacts on modern-day society.
Inspired by this critical exploration of the interconnected challenges our society faces, Brown wanted to explore this in relation to Welsh mythology. He was especially inspired by the story of Gwydion - a Welsh trickster god who can travel through time and shapeshift into different beings, entities, and parts of the natural world. Gwydion’s shapeshifting ability is a great allegory for how people should work to be more empathetic, and compassionately conscious about how we engage with the diverse yet interconnected parts of our society, environment, and history.
The artwork imagines Gwydion in modern-day Wales, shifting between different parts of our natural and human world, to better understand the challenges of our time.
Brown, having grown up in Wales making comic books and drawings of dragons, wanted this to be something his younger self would be proud of: creating art that vibrantly imagines, and perhaps inspires, more morally courageous futures.
Gwydion the Shape-Shifter | (High Street)
Gwydion the Shape-Shifter | (Bridge Street)
Gwydion the Shape-Shifter | (Stow Hill)
Gwydion the Shape-Shifter | (Skinner Street)
With thanks to the staff and volunteers at Tin Shed Theatre Co and The Place, and thanks also to Re:Make, the Hive Cafe, and Newport City Council.
For information about the project, please visit: https://www.tinshedtheatrecompany.com/city-box