Wales in Venice: Sean Edwards

Commissioned by: Tŷ Pawb 
Organized by: Arts Council of Wales
Curated by: Marie-Anne McQuay

Edwards’ exhibition marks the ninth Biennale presentation by Wales. Edwards’ poetic inquiry into place, politics and class, intertwined with personal histories, is his first major presentation at an international biennale. The exhibition is the artist’s most ambitious and emotionally resonant to date. Sean Edwards will use the ornate surroundings of the Church and former convent to present a series of interrelated works – sculptures, film, prints and quilts – which take their starting point as the artist’s experience of growing up on a council estate in Cardiff in the 1980s. In this new body of work, Edwards is interested in capturing and translating what he calls a condition of ‘not expecting much’ into a shared visual language; one that evokes a way of living that is familiar to a great number of people; a way of making do and getting by.

The exhibition also contains a time-based sound work; Refrain is a new radio commission produced in partnership with National Theatre Wales. Refrain is a live radio commission and will be broadcast daily at 14.00