Porth Annwn Variations

Stephen Green

Stephen Green on ‘Porth Annwn Variations’

I work in series of related images. They are sometimes related by theme, sometimes variations on an idea. In this set of images the materials, carbon on paper, are constant. The configuration of the image and the format are the variations.

For a long time my main interest was the landscape — I live in the mountains of North Wales, near some of the world’s biggest slate quarries. They used to supply roofing slate to the world. They are now mostly abandoned. Over the years I became more interested in the way that the local people were influenced by the landscape and vice-versa.

I was aware of the history of slate quarrying when I moved to my present home. An early interest was the shapes left behind after the rock had been extracted. From that, my interest shifted to stone objects that had been placed deliberately in the landscape. This coincided with my growing knowledge that Wales is home to one of the oldest cultures in Europe.

These stones include Megalithic monuments and standing stones — there are many, spread widely across North Wales; boundary markers and slate fences — a particular feature of North Welsh quarrying areas, made from quarry waste; and Twentieth Century Ordnance Survey markers. I was…