Tigers & Dragons: India and Wales in Britain 23.05.25 - 02.11.2025

Kathryn Campbell Dodd, Cragen Beca.

Campbell Dodd's Cragen Beca project draws on the 19th-century Rebecca Riots, where men dressed as women protested unjust tolls in rural Wales. Campbell Dodd's film documents her performance. It features the costume, Nelly, which combines references to working women's clothes in 19th century Wales.

Kathryn Campbell Dodd, Cragen Beca.

Mae prosiect Cragen Beca gan Campbell Dodd yn tynnu ar Derfysgoedd Beca yn y 19eg ganrif, lle bu dynion wedi'u gwisgo fel merched yn protestio yn erbyn tollau anghyfiawn yng nghefn gwlad Cymru. Mae ffilm Campbell Dodd yn cofnodi ei pherfformiad. Mae'n cynnwys y wisg, Nelly, sy'n cyfuno cyfeiriadau at ddillad merched oedd yn gweithio yng Nghymru'r 19eg ganrif.

Image courtesy of the artist

Bridging Cultures: Sir William Jones and the India–Wales Connection

Hadi Baghaei-Abchooyeh is a specialist in English and Comparative Literature. This talk explores the remarkable life and legacy of Sir William Jones (1746–1794), the Welsh-born jurist whose work in late-18th-century Bengal forged enduring intellectual ties between Wales and India.

This talk explores the remarkable life and legacy of Sir William Jones (1746–1794), the Welsh-born jurist whose work in late-18th-century Bengal forged enduring intellectual ties between Wales and India. We’ll trace his early bilingual upbringing and classical education in Wales, his pioneering role as a judge who championed legal pluralism in Calcutta, and his ground-breaking hypothesis linking Sanskrit and Persian with Greek, Latin, and Celtic languages—an insight that launched modern comparative linguistics. Along the way, we’ll consider how Jones’s dual identity as a Welshman and a colonial official shaped his empathy for both Celtic and South Asian traditions, and how his scholarship still resonates in contemporary debates on cultural revival, postcolonial identity, and the politics of heritage.

Mae Hadi Baghaei-Abcooyeh yn arbenigo mewn Saesneg a Llenyddiaeth Gymharol. Mae’r sgwrs hon yn archwilio bywyd ac etifeddiaeth arbennig Syr William Jones (1746-1794), arbenigwr cyfreithiol a anwyd yng Nghymru yr oedd ei waith ym Mengal ar ddiwedd y 18fed ganrif wedi ffurfio cysylltiadau deallusol parhaus rhwng Cymru ac India.

Mae’r sgwrs hon yn archwilio bywyd ac etifeddiaeth anhygoel Syr William Jones (1746–1794), arbenigwr cyfreithiol a aned yng Nghymru. Bu ei waith yn nhalaith Bengal ar ddiwedd y 18fed ganrif yn gyfrifol am feithrin cysylltiadau deallusol parhaus rhwng Cymru ac India. Byddwn yn olrhain ei fagwraeth ddwyieithog gynnar a’i addysg glasurol yng Nghymru, ei rôl arloesol fel barnwr a fu’n hyrwyddo plwraliaeth yn Calcutta, a’i ddamcaniaeth arloesol a wnaeth gysylltu Sansgrit a Pherseg ag ieithoedd Groeg, Lladin a’r gwledydd Celtaidd – dealltwriaeth a lansiodd ieithyddiaeth gymharol fodern. Wrth wneud hynny, byddwn yn ystyried sut llywiodd hunaniaeth ddeuol Jones, ac yntau’n Gymro ac yn swyddog trefedigaethol, ei empathi tuag at draddodiadau Celtaidd a thraddodiadau De Asia, a sut mae ei ysgolheictod yn dal i ddylanwadu ar drafodaethau cyfoes am adfywio diwylliannol, hunaniaeth ôl-drefedigaethol a gwleidyddiaeth treftadaeth.

Modron, Threads

24.05.2025 - 2.11.2025

We are proud to present the outcome of the Threads project, featuring the personal responses of group members to the work of acclaimed artist Adeela Suleman, guided by associate textiles artist, Menna Buss.

Threads: Glynn Vivian Community Textiles Group has been experimenting with textile-based techniques and materials. As the project has developed, the slow, repetitive nature of textile processes has encouraged social interactions and connections. This slowed-down approach has allowed for the development of a shared sense of purpose celebrating how the threads of our diverse lives are inextricably woven together in our community.

Rydym yn falch o gyflwyno canlyniad prosiect Threads, sy’n cynnwys ymatebion personol gan aelodau’r grŵp i waith yr artist adnabyddus Adeela Suleman, dan arweiniad Menna Buss, yr artist tecstilau cyswllt.

Mae Threads, Grŵp Tecstilau Cymunedol Oriel Gelf Glynn Vivian, wedi bod yn arbrofi â thechnegau a deunyddiau sy’n seiliedig ar decstilau. Wrth i’r prosiect ddatblygu, mae natur araf, ailadroddus prosesau tecstilau wedi annog rhyngweithio a chysylltiadau cymdeithasol. Mae’r dull arafach hwn wedi caniatáu i ni feithrin ymdeimlad o ddiben cyffredin, gan ddathlu sut mae elfennau ein bywydau amrywiol yn cydblethu’n annatod yn ein cymuned.

AND then there were Dragons?

If India was the Jewel in the Imperial Crown, could we argue that Wales was England’s first colony? What do the Tiger of India and the Welsh Dragon share? This talk will focus on “Tigers & Dragons: India and Wales in Britain”but unlike the more research-based talks she has given so far, this one by Zehra will come from a curatorial perspective; giving insights into the collaborative curation of the show with Glynn Vivian’s Katy Freer.

Os India oedd ‘yr em yn y goron ymerodrol’, a allem ddadlau mai Cymru oedd trefedigaeth gyntaf Lloegr? Beth mae Teigr India a Draig Cymru’n ei rannu? Bydd y sgwrs hon yn canolbwyntio ar “Teigrod a Dreigiau: India a Chymru ym Mhrydain” ond yn wahanol i’r sgyrsiau mwy seiliedig ar ymchwil y mae hi wedi’u rhoi hyd yn hyn, bydd y sgwrs hon gan Zehra yn dod o safbwynt curadurol; gan roi cipolwg i ni ar y modd y curadwyd yr arddangosfa hon ar y cyd â Katy Freer o Oriel Gelf Glynn Vivian.

Tigers & Dragons: India and Wales in Britain. A Glynn Vivian Art Gallery exhibition, 2025.

Artworks courtesy and copyright the artists. Photography Polly Thomas.

Tigers & Dragons: India and Wales in Britain. A Glynn Vivian Art Gallery exhibition, 2025.

Artworks courtesy and copyright the artists. Photography Polly Thomas.

Tigers & Dragons: India and Wales in Britain. A Glynn Vivian Art Gallery exhibition, 2025.

Artworks courtesy and copyright the artists. Photography Polly Thomas.

Tigers & Dragons: India and Wales in Britain. A Glynn Vivian Art Gallery exhibition, 2025.

Artworks courtesy and copyright the artists. Photography Polly Thomas.

Tigers & Dragons: India and Wales in Britain. A Glynn Vivian Art Gallery exhibition, 2025.

Artworks courtesy and copyright the artists. Photography Polly Thomas.

Tigers & Dragons: India and Wales in Britain. A Glynn Vivian Art Gallery exhibition, 2025.

Artworks courtesy and copyright the artists. Photography Polly Thomas.