Gareth Phillips (b.1979) may not be a native Welsh speaker, but his identity as adyn cymraeg (Welshman) could not be stronger, and, having grown up in the seaside town of Penarth, the Welsh coast forms an integral part of his life. A graduate of the University of Wales, Newport, where he studied Documentary Photography, Phillips now works as a freelance photographer, regularly commissioned by a number of newspapers and magazines. Nevertheless, he considers his photographic approach to embrace both the documentary and the artistic and he prefers not to be boxed in by any particular label. ‘Having the freedom to produce without limitations is what excites me as a photographer,’ he says.
From 2012-13, Phillips was working on a project called Y Tir Newydd (The New Land), ‘an artistic translation of the furthest points of the Welsh Landscape’. This flowed seamlessly into his current project, Hiraeth, conceived and produced for Ffotogallery’s 2014 summer showcase, Wish You Were Here, a series of exhibitions and events seeking to nurture and support the work of early career, Wales-based photographic artists.
The Welsh concept of hiraeth cannot be translated directly into English, but, loosely speaking, it is a kind of homesickness or memory tinged with sadness for that which has been lost. For Phillips, hiraeth is about the desire to find a memory of happiness in the Welsh landscape, a place that has always been his home. ‘I am nostalgic and sad at the thought of these memories, as they were so pure and calm and uncorrupted. I worry that I might never experience them again. So, my continual search for these feelings is a search for hiraeth.’ For this project, Phillips decided to walk the entire 900 miles of the Welsh Coastal Path over 70 days. He researched the route thoroughly in advance and fine-tuned his camping and bush craft techniques so as to be able to survive alone. The specifics of the photography, however, he left purposely open: ‘I didn’t have a set idea of what I was to photograph, because I wanted the landscape and experience to dictate how and what I focused on.’
A week before setting off, Phillips was mugged one night on his way home. This left him feeling somewhat apprehensive about walking for three months on his own, but the experience also fed into the project in a positive way, impelling him to talk to and photograph as many strangers as possible, almost as a way of confronting his attackers and not allowing them to continue invoking fear. Slowly but surely, these strangers would open up to him, and gradually Phillips got an idea of who would play a part in the final exhibition. Richard, for example, ‘the gentleman with the curly hair’, was a definite from the moment Phillips met him: ‘There is something about him that seems lost. He is deep in thought, fixed on something in his mind. There is a melancholy about him, a reflection of his own search for hiraeth maybe. His is an image that stands out to me, because I can relate to his search.’
Apart from the portraits of strangers, there are a few indoor shots, and the rest are taken outdoors: coves and caves, sea spray and waves, grass, hedgerows and forests. The pictures are all in black and white. ‘It’s hard to reason the choice of palette,’ Phillips says. ‘I like to use whatever tools best allow me to convey my innermost feelings and it felt like it should be this format.’
Some of the places held specific memories for Phillips, such as Llangennith, on the Gower Peninsula, where he spent his summer holidays at the age of 10. ‘It was magical for me. I surfed for the first time and my friend and I explored the dunes and coastal landscape. I think it was then that my relationship with the coast really began.’ Now, returning to these places and immersing himself in nature for extended periods of time, Phillips says he has discovered a deeper connection to it. The experience, he feels, is shared, with nature inviting and humbling, and he and his camera observing and recording. Both are bearing witness to one another in a form of symbiotic relationship.
When Phillips embarks on a project, he works intensively, engaging himself 100%. He always tries to push himself beyond his physical and mental limits. ‘Once pushed to these places, I tend to shoot a little differently,’ he explains. ‘The experience, my eye and my heart seem to work more closely together.’ He will usually shoot a number of different approaches for each subject, but once he starts editing, the images come together and the narrative is constructed out of the experience. He prefers to work in analogue, but financial constraints sadly dictate otherwise. Hiraeth, however, was shot exclusively on analogue, albeit with digital scanning, postproduction and printing.
The layout of a piece depends on how it will relate to other works in the project. ‘It’s a fine balance of visual narrative and composition,’ says Phillips. ‘I take my time in editing the work and experiment with a number of versions. I consult trusted peers and I refine as I see fit until it feels right. Then it is finished.’
Trusted peers come in the form of his MJR Photographic Collective colleagues, who he says are like family to him. ‘We honestly and critically share opinions about projects we are working on and support each other in their creation. Without them I would not have got to where I am today.’ Phillips is equally grateful for the numerous awards he has won, including the B&H Assignment Award from the Eddie Adams Workshop, New York, in 2007. ‘The awards have opened doors and allowed me to work with some of the biggest publications in the world. Without them, my pathway in photography would have taken a lot longer, although I still would have pursued it.’ After all, Phillips’ pathway in photography is his pathway through hiraeth.
– text by Anna McNay
__________
Text co-commissioned by Ffotogallery and Photomonitor as part of Wish You Were Here 2014 – Ffotogallery’s season of exhibitions and events foregrounding early career photography and critical writing.
Ffotogallery is the national development agency for photography and lens-based media in Wales. www.ffotogallery.org
For further viewing: www.garethphillipsphotography.com
