Shooting the dragon: How visual representations of Welshness in photography have developed and are changing

Abstract

For decades, the natural landscape and industry have been the central tropes of visual Welshness. But the decline of industry and its prolonged traumatic effects on the landscape have rendered some of the key established visual images of Wales redundant, particularly in a contemporary context. This article traces the relationship between photography and Welsh national identities, examines the role of institutional gatekeeping in Welsh photography and highlights the innovative use of online collecting and commissioning of photographic images which is shifting the discourse around what, and who, constitutes photographic Welshness in the twenty-first century. In doing so, it contributes to the paucity of literature on the topic of photographic institutions and archives within Wales and hopes to raise awareness around the growing diversity of new Welsh photography and its contribution to more contemporary and dynamic Welsh identities. This article is the result of a doctoral thesis that represents a transdisciplinary inquiry into expressions of national identity present in photography generated in and of Wales.