Stuart Evans: Gofod/Space

Most people collect things. Our lives are filled with objects, curiosities, trinkets and gadgets. We fill our homes with all sorts of collections, items which remind us of our past, our travels, our family. Even the most minimal of homes has a collection of photographs, books or ornaments which decorate the surroundings. We like to make the place personal.

Evans collects and display objects. This is what he has done for most of his working life as an exhibition designer for Ceredigion Museum in Aberystwyth. Designing displays and juxtaposing historic artefacts in a museum context is both challenging and interesting.

‘Most of my career has been involved in designing displays and interpreting the local collection for the public. This has influenced my own artwork. I create boxed displays and make objects based on some of the real antiques. It might be a personal need to understand my world, to control a space or to make art. But they are more than this. Some of the constructions are simply beautiful to look at and fascinating in that they have a very elementary beauty.’

Evans has lived in a bilingual society all his life. Both Welsh and English are woven into his daily life. Through his own work he chooses not to express himself in either language, as a writer would. But he states that he can relate to the beauty of expression in both languages, each having its own way of communicating delicate and intimate thoughts. So instead of using either language, he combines and orders objects into a visual language and explores an alternative way of communicating ideas. The stories and memories behind these beautiful and curious objects are complemented by selected poetry by Elin ap Hywel.

But recently he has been collecting voices, interviews with academics, historians, artists and writers.  These voices express and relate personal and collective response to life and death, society and work, history and art, stories and memories. This is his first attempt at a direct collaboration on an artwork and it stems directly from his inner thought processes.

We are all searching for meaning and living life is part of that search. Interpretation is a constant journey and, whether we like it or not, understanding is an ever-moving goal.