Stuart Whipps

The Scenery is Very Wonderful. The Weather is Good.

Blaenau Ffestiniog is set in an elevated natural bowl on the southern fringes of Snowdonia and grew from a few isolated farmsteads solely as the result of slate quarrying. In 1951 the Snowdonia National Park was created, its borders designated on the basis of ‘natural beauty’. This action was part of a larger campaign to protect and promote British landscapes for the nation whilst securing access for predominantly recreational visits. Despite being in the National Park’s centre, the grey slate waste tips that surround Blaenau Ffestiniog prevented it from being officially included within the boundaries and as such, it is represented cartographically separate from the Park.
Through a combination of photographs and re-worked historical documentation and information, the omission of Blaenau Ffestiniog from Snowdonia national park act's as a means to examine the broader themes of myth around natural beauty, and the historic and ideological division between labour and the sublime.
Works
A transcribed letter from 1945 recommending the Clough Williams-Ellis suggestion of excluding Blaenau Ffestiniog from the park. Four large scale photographs made on a series of walks, utilizing GPS to track the boarder around the town of Blaenau Ffestiniog and Snowdonia National Park. A pair of maps removed from copies of Clough Williams-Ellis' 1945 book 'On Trust For The Nation'. On their reverse is screen printed a quote used by Wiliams Ellis defining his ideas of natural beauty. Ten archival postcards screen printed with sections of the boarder. The postcards depict swallow falls, the most popular view within the national park.

Further Reading