Dragons Warriors Dreigiau Rhyfelwyr

I have put together a Photo Exhibition and Photobook highlighting the Homeless World Cup which took place in Cardiff over the summer of 2019.

After raising funds for this exhibition and local charities, the aim now is to raise more money for charities associated with the Homeless World Cup.

The exhibition aims to reflect at its core and represent a cross section of homeless people in South Wales and how they are all, despite their differences, trying to overcome the isolation they can feel from the rest of society and how preparing for and taking part in the Homeless World Cup gives them a sense of empowerment that they are part of something that is bigger than themselves.

The plan was to have a smaller touring versions of the exhibition travelling around South Wales before I hold a 3 week larger version of the exhibition at the Cynon Valley Museum in Aberdare to be held in April 2020. But because of Covid-19 restrictions the exhibitions has been postponed 3 times and only now has had it's go ahead for Jan-Feb 2022.

I hope that visitors seeing the exhibition will cease to think of the stereotypical guy/girl on the street in doorways asking for money, but see that there are many different ways that people are classed as homeless, different stories behind the individuals and to understand that there are ways people can change their situation for the better.

My goals for the exhibition are;

• To highlight the Homeless World Cup and promote associated charities.
• Raise money to fund the charities by showing the public different ways  to donate.
• Encourage the use of easyfunding to raise money every time you shop without costing you a penny.
• To have exhibitions in areas of the country that past and present players have lived and especially experienced homelessness in.

Themes/inspiration

Homelessness, football, social inclusion, community. Empowerment of the homeless and socially excluded through the sense of being part of something bigger than themselves on the much larger football stage.

More about me

I am a freelance street/documentary/travel/landscape photographer based in South Wales and further afield. I am currently studying for my MA in Photography at UWTSD and before that I studied for my BA (hons) in Design for Interactive Media at UWIC. I was a mechanic in the Royal Navy, volunteered on a Kibbutz in Northern Israel and travelled around Europe and the Middle East.

I also studied documentary photography under renowned Polish photographer Michal Iwanowski (Go Home Polish) at Ffotogallery in Cardiff.

My influences range from photographers trying to hold a candle up to issues that have inspired them like John Conn “Signs of the Homeless”; Kevin Carter - Pulitzer prize winner and Eddie Adams - Pulitzer prize winner, to artists who use a variety of mediums like Dave McKean an English illustrator, photographer and comic book artist:  and even  Banksy for his socio political aspirations and his ability to get his work noticed and issues talked about.

I hope that my work will engage people and encourage them to learn more about the issues highlighted.