Alan Whitfield
My documentary films and photographs are a social commentary, steeped in the urban, industrial landscape of my northern British roots. I’m attempting to represent a visceral melancholy, a longing and loss. The colours I capture often conjure the emotional impact of the ravages of capitalism and time on the individual and the community.
I focus on the overlooked, abandoned, where thriving, prosperous communities have been replaced by derelict modernist architecture, concrete fragments of factories or shops that signal human endeavour, labour and loss.
My dyslexia inform my work. I use mis-registers, misunderstandings, and malapropisms to shape the flow and rhythm of my poems and performance. My poetry performances are a vulnerable, fizzing battle cry for the working class. I choose to stage them in non-arts contexts, from car parks, underpasses, caravans, abandoned houses, bingo halls, market halls to tea dances.
I want my work to be as accessible as possible, so I’m trying to find touch points that people recognise but reflect the environment back to them in a new way.
Alan Whitfield
07446449888
Qualifications and training
2011 // BA Hons. Creative Lens Media // First // Glyndwr University
2009 // HND Photography // Distinction // Coleg Llandrillo
Artistic Experience
- 2023 // National Eisteddfod, Lle Celf
- 2023 // This Street Matters, Poet in Residence (published)
- 2022 // Galeri Open
- 2021 // Wrecsam Open
- 2019 // Festival Of light, Poetry Commission, Llandudno
- 2019 // We are further North Than You, Elysium Gallery, Swansea
- 2019 // Llawn 07 DAC presents ‘Line’
- 2018 // Wrexham Open, 2018 Creative Media Prize Winner
- 2018 // Poetry Bingo Tour, A.C.W, Wales
- 2018 // LLawn 06
- 2018 // Stamp, Caernarfon, Railway Film Commission
- 2018 // ffloc, Focus Festival, Wrecsam
- 2018 // Carn, Artist in Residence, Caernarfon
- 2018 // Wales//China Festival, Pontio
- 2017/18 // Metal, Artist In Residence, Southend
- 2017 // One-Mile Radius, Oriel Mostyn
- 2017 // Hidden Hospitality, Llawn 05
- 2017 // Northern Eye Photography Festival, Colwyn bay
- 2016 // Ruled By Fear, Stamp, Caernarfon
- 2016 // Flyover Take Over, #ffloc, Liverpool
- 2016 // Humph, Llawn04, Llandudno
- 2016 // Ruled By Fear, Stamp, Caernarfon
- 2016 // I’r Newyedd, Storiel, Bangor
- 2015 // #ffloc, blinc art festival, Conwy LINK
- 2015 // Eyesdown, LLawn03, Haus of Helfa LINK
- 2015 // #ffloc, Connect 2 Residency, Aberystwyth Arts Centre LINK
- 2015 // Emerging Pathways, Bodelwyddan Castle
- 2015 // Industrial Fate, Gallery 3B Wrexham
- 2015/16 // Project Recording Artist, Commission, Bangor Museum
- 2014 // Industrial Fate, Oriel Colwyn
- 2014 // Lost Space, Ideas People Places, Llandudno.
- 2013 // Welsh Artist of the Year, St David’s Hall, Cardiff
- 2013 // RISK (Fine Focus), Sale Arts Centre, Manchester.
- 2013 // Milazzo Castle, Artist in Residence at Artigiana, Milazzo, Sicily. //Link
- 2013 // Art Vs The High Street, Blinc Digital Arts Festival, Conwy.
- 2013 // The White Wall, Llawn 01, Llandudno.
- 2012 // North Wales Open, Theatre Clwyd (second Prize), Empty Spaces
- 2012 // Blinc Digital Arts Festival, Noir Conwy Installation // Link
- 2012 // Show Me The Monet BBC2 Link
- 2011 // Lle Celf, International Eisteddfod, Wrexham. Link
- 2011 // Blinc Digital Arts Festival. Tides Projection
- 2011 // ‘Empty Spaces’, Collinge Antiques, Llandudno Junction Link
- 2007 // Liverpool Biennial Independents. Link
- 2007 // ‘Solo Exhibition’, Speakers Corner, Colwyn Bay
Work experience
- 2023 // Arts & Minds - Creative Well mental health arts with prisoner populations, NHS
- 2023 // Stand, Denbigh, Poetry Project, Lead Artist (Award Winning)
- 2023 // Mind/KIM inspire, Presatyn Workshop, Lead Artist
- 2022 // Conwy Culture film, Conwy Council, Lead Artist
- 2021 // Arts Award, Fflinshire Council,
- 2021 // Arts Award, Conwy Council, Ysgol Ddraig Coch, Lead Artist
- 2018-23 // Visual Development Arts officer, Disability Arts Cymru
- 2019/20 // Nosan Allan project, Lead Artist
- 2019/20 // Arts Award, Theatr Clwyd
- 2019 // Gisda Homeless project, Blaenau Ffestiniog
- 2018-20 // Social Scene, Tape
- 2017/18 // Project Co//Ordinator, Call, Llandudno
- 2017/23 // Lead Facilitator, Venue Cymru, Deud O/ Say It!
- 2016/18 //Creative Practitioner Arts Council Wales
- 2016-17 // Lead Community Youth Worker, Itaca
- 2015 // Fortified Beats, Arts Facilitator, Tape
- 2015 // Rhyl High School, Film making Project, Arts Facilitator, Tape
- 2014 // Click on Cymru, Conwy Youth Service, Link (Award Winning)
- 2014 // Ignite, One To One filmmaking Workshops, Tape Link
- 2014/15 // Penrhos Ave Music Video, Arts Facilitator, Tape Link
- 2013 // Ty Llewellyn Community project, Tape Link
- 2013 // Wrexham Council Business promotion Link
- 2013 // N.U.S Glyndwr University guide Link
- 2012 // N.E.E.T’s, Micheal Brennand//Wood, Ruthin, Craft Centre // Link
- 2012 // Codman’s Puppet Show, Animation, Llandudno //Link
- 2012 // Assistant Curator, Engedi, Colwyn Bay
- 2012/14 // Organiser, Photernative/Ffoto Alternative
- 2011-15 // Director, Minimal Media
2011/14 // Welsh National Opera, Wrexham Street Songs //Link