The Faculty Divine is a site-specific installation by photographer Fergus Thomas, taking place between the 18th - 22th of November 2022 at St. Tudor’s Church (Mynyddislwyn).
William 'Islwyn' Thomas was a poet and Methodist minister who lived in Cwmfelinfach of the Sirhowy Valley until his death in 1878. He has been described as one of the greatest Welsh language poets of the 19th century. His best-known work, 'Y Storm' (The Storm) was written after the sudden death of his fiancee in 1853. Over 9000 lines long, the poem ruminates philosophically on the inseparable relationship between God and nature. He also makes particular reference to the river's sacred animating forces that flow through the land, whilst grappling with existential questions around mourning, death and spirituality.
It was through encountering Islwyn’s work soon after moving to Cwmfelinfach, that Fergus Thomas began making images of the Sirhowy River and its surrounding area - drawing on this divine perspective of landscape, he began to produce his own visual interpretation. This encounter with the work of Islwyn coupled with the powerful presence of the Sirhowy Valley, where the marks of heavy industries have also left a telling testimony of its historical past became the works starting point. Through exploring this environment it has provided the artist with a reflective, immersive and meditative space, where one can consider nature, landscape and mortality. The following installation presents a series of large-scale works that intervene within the historic space of St Tudors Church, reconnecting the photographs with the area that they were made, whilst instigating a bridge back to the spiritual nature of Islwyn’s poetry.
William 'Islwyn' Thomas was born in Ynysddu, a small village in the Sirhowy valley, Monmouthshire (now Caerphilly) in 1832. A Methodist minister, he has been described as one of the greatest Welsh poets of the 19th century. Islwyn won four bardic chairs and two other prizes for his poetry in local Eisteddfods. Although he never had a chapel of his own, he was a regular preacher at Babel Chapel, Cwmfelinfach and was buried in the chapel’s church yard, after his death in 1878, at the age of 46.
The Faculty Divine team is; Fergus Thomas (Photographs), Isaac Blease (Curation), Alejandro Acin (Art Direction), ELKCO (Fabrication).
Both exhibitions are supported by the Arts Council of Wales, the Cwm a Mynydd Rural Development Programme for Caerphilly and Blaenau Gwent through the Welsh Government's Rural Communities Rural Development Programme 2014-2020 and IC Visual Lab.
With thanks to; Elizabeth Tomlin, Dr David Hale, Sally Williams, Father Mark Owen, Kevin Eadon-Davies, David Barnes and Sebastian Bruno.
