yn ffenestri’r siop lyfrau a ffotogaleri y gofeb / in the windows of the bookshop and ffotogaleri
on 1 July during non-essential retail closure we raised the blinds on our first walk-by bookshop window exhibition of Glenn Denes’ work made in the ITUnit at Y Fenni Hospital - see below.
Just before the present lockdown we opened our second walk-by window exhibition above - more to see here
Marian Delyth has just reviewed Behind the Mask for
O’r Pedwar Gwynt
access Ffoton Wales’ interview with photographer, Glenn Dene, here
“The public were on lockdown and although we’d had a trickle of patients enter the hospital, with elective operating ceased and most people ‘scared’ to attend, the hospital entered a rare phase of quiet and calm. We wondered if the wave would ever hit us. We didn’t want it to as we’d seen the pictures from Italy of how badly their hospitals had been smashed, but equally we were poised, trained and ready to give our best if it hit, when it hit. And it hit”
Machynlleth War Memorial and, either side, the two windows where people can safely view the exhibition any time of day (or night) throughout July, August and September 2020
On 1 July we raised the Bookshop and Ffotogaleri blinds on Glenn Dene’s heartfelt and impressive photographic work produced for
‘BEHIND THE MASK’
since that date hundreds of people, locals and visitors, have viewed the window exhibition. With too many appreciative comments on Glenn’s work and the exhibition itself, we thought that this one sums up its impact and meaning right now
“Beautiful book, I’m a recently fully qualified GP and the pictures in your gallery window took me back to times and experiences when working in hospital and A&E as a junior.
They really captured the essence. ”
Behind the Mask (published by Graffeg, 2020) Photographs by Glenn Dene (Operating Department Practitioner); Words by Consultant Dr Ami Jones MBE and the staff of the Nevill Hall Hospital, Bwrdd lechyd Prifysgol Aneurin Bevan, Abergavenny
The book is a unique and moving personal insight into the NHS response to COVID-19 from some of those on the frontline available direct from Penrallt Bookshop at the special exhibition price: £12, 96pp., almost 100 illustrations - pbk (21 x 21 cm) - order here.
Royalties in aid of NHS Charities including Wales Air Ambulance.
Once we became aware of the book, and the quality and importance of Glenn’s photographs, an exhibition became an ambition, it was exactly the sort of photographic work that we would prioritise, with its social significance and originating in Wales.
We quickly realised that we had the potential to show the photographs in advance of opening our bookshop and ffotogaleri safely to the public again by using the window spaces we had at our disposal. Once we had solved the technical issue of how to display the photographs in a way that would do justice to the quality and importance of the work, things moved on rapidly and, with Glenn’s and Graffeg’s blessing we forged ahead and the photographs are now on display, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with texts from the book as background information.
This has to be a unique exhibition. Given the privileged access to his subject that Glenn has, the chances of having a book published so quickly with the hospital and staff’s blessing, and the unlikelihood of anyone being able to mount a substantial exhibition of the work with galleries closed, besides there being the political will and expertise required to make it happen, this has to be a one-off or at the very least a first for Wales and possibly beyond. Very definitely a first for Machynlleth and we’re privileged to have the option of grasping this opportunity, in the wake of the pandemic and on behalf of all the NHS staff who have put their lives on the line, in particular those who are no longer with us.
So many people have given their time, their energy and even their lives in our wider community it was the least we could do.
Diane & Geoff, Pen’rallt, June 2020