Talk to Myself is a 2002 film by Yingmei Duan, duration 5 minutes 42 seconds.

This film depicts a melancholic autumn garden scene. Behind bare trees and brambles, Yingmei, a woman with black hair and a simple black fabric headband wearing a checkered white and blue shirt with light jean overalls and work boots, restlessly sweeps leaves from the ground with a rake in uniform movements, while talking to herself in her mother-tongue.

Her words delivered in a sombre tone are translated through English subtitles at the bottom of the screen.

The transcript is as follows: “I saw these machines again yesterday. Every time I see these machines, I have to laugh.

I want to be an invisible person. I always want to see other people, but for them not to see me. That would be lovely!

I want to be an invisible person. I want to! I want to know more about the world. I want to be able to fly all over the world, to see how people live.

Are all the people on earth sad? Is it true? Why are they like that? (Sigh) I don’t know.

Yesterday I saw a funny little dog. Perhaps he had never seen a Chinese woman before? He was so sweet! (Laughing), I always have to laugh when I think of this dog.

Leave me alone! Let me go, or else I could die. Open the window right now! I want some fresh air! Or give me a hole to jump into.

I don’t want to hear these noises any more! It is so bad, oh so bad!

Yesterday I was so beautiful, more beautiful than on other days.

Perhaps it was because of my new clothes. I felt all the people on the street were looking at me. Was I really so beautiful?

Little birds, dogs and cats are so happy. They are not sad. Why does a child have to grow up?

Why do people think? Why? I don’t know. What is good? What is bad? What is right? What is wrong? Why do I still not know?

Why do friendships make me feel so tired? What kind of a person am I? Am I happy? (Sigh) I have no idea! Why am I so diligent every day? Why? Why do I have so much to do every day? Perhaps I will die tomorrow, or just not wake up. Everything passes me by. Nothing is there any more! (Sigh) I want to stop the clock. I want to stop all the clocks!

Laoxiong (a dog of mine) Where are you? I thought about your eyes again.

When I see your eyes, I always want to cry. Why are you always so sad? Why are you always scared I will leave you?

Why do you always breathe so heavily? I have always cooked so much food for you! I think your life is much better than mine, but you are never satisfied.”

In the end she sings a Chinese nursery rhyme “Looking for Friendship”.

She seems consumed by her thoughts.

Of the work Melanie Martin, said: “A mysterious threat seems to hang in the air. Some of her thoughts and feelings cannot be put into words, she asks hopeless questions to which she cannot receive answers. However her naive view of the world cannot avert disaster. She has a childlike insouciance, but the whole world seems to weigh heavily on her. She exclaims a cry for help, but we are unable to come to her aid.”

Yingmei Duan was born in 1969 in Daqing, China.

Duan’s individual performance practice takes the body as its central medium and is dedicated to the ongoing exploration of the language of performance art, unfolding through experimental practices across diverse spatial contexts.

Her individual and collaborative performance works span a wide range of fields. In her collaborative projects, people remain at the core of the work; she has long focused on how individuals and groups articulate identity, experience, emotion, memory, thought, and consciousness, and on how these experiences are shaped by and situated within political, social, historical, and cultural contexts, forming the basis for sustained and in-depth artistic collaboration.

Ffilm 5 munud a 42 eiliad o hyd a wnaed gan Yingmei Duan yn 2002 yw Talk to Myself.

Mae'r ffilm yn dangos golygfa hydrefol brudd mewn gardd. Y tu ôl i goed a mieri moel, mae menyw â gwallt du a phenrhwymyn du syml, sy'n gwisgo crys siec gwyn a glas, oferôls jîns golau ac esgidiau gwaith, yn rhacanu dail o'r ddaear yn aflonydd drwy symudiadau unffurf, wrth siarad â'i hun yn ei mamiaith.

Mae ei geiriau, sy'n cael eu cyflwyno mewn tôn brudd, wedi’u cyfieithu drwy is-deitlau Saesneg ar waelod y sgrîn.

Mae'r trawsgrifiad fel a ganlyn: “Gwelais i’r peiriannau hyn eto ddoe. Bob tro y gwela i’r peiriannau hyn, mae'n rhaid i fi chwerthin.

Hoffwn i fod yn anweladwy. Hoffwn i bob amser weld pobl eraill, ond heb iddyn nhw fy ngweld i. Byddai hynny'n hyfryd!

Hoffwn i fod yn anweladwy. Hoffwn i! Hoffwn i wybod mwy am y byd. Hoffwn i allu hedfan ledled y byd a gweld sut mae pobl yn byw.

Ydy pawb ar y Ddaear yn drist? Ydy hyn yn wir? Pam maen nhw’n drist? (Ochenaid) Dydw i ddim yn gwybod.

Ddoe, gwelais i gi bach doniol. Efallai nad oedd ef erioed wedi gweld menyw Tsieineaidd o'r blaen? Roedd e'n hyfryd! (Chwerthin) Rhaid i fi chwerthin bob amser pan fydda i’n meddwl am y ci hwn.

Gadewch lonydd i fi! Gadewch i fi fynd, neu gallwn i farw fel arall. Agorwch y ffenestr ar unwaith! Hoffwn i gael awyr las! Neu rhowch dwll i fi neidio i mewn iddo.

Dydw i ddim eisiau clywed y synau hyn mwyach! Mae mor wael, mor wael!

Ddoe, roeddwn i mor hardd, yn fwy hardd nag ar ddiwrnodau eraill.

Efallai mai fy nillad newydd oedd y rheswm. Roeddwn i’n teimlo bod pawb ar y stryd yn edrych arna i. Oeddwn i wir yn hardd iawn?

Mae adar, cŵn a chathod yn hapus iawn. Dydyn nhw ddim yn drist. Pam mae’n rhaid i blentyn dyfu i fyny?

Pam mae pobl yn meddwl? Pam? Dydw i ddim yn gwybod. Beth ydy da? Beth ydy drwg? Beth ydy daioni? Beth ydy drygioni? Pam nad ydw i’n gwybod eto?

Pam mae perthnasoedd â ffrindiau’n fy mlino? Pa fath o berson ydw i? Ydw i’n hapus? (Ochenaid) Does dim clem gen i! Pam rydw i mor weithgar bob dydd? Pam? Pam mae’n rhaid i fi wneud cymaint bob dydd? Efallai y bydda i’n marw yfory, neu fydda i ddim yn deffro o gwbl. Mae popeth yn digwydd er fy ngwaethaf. Does dim byd yno mwyach! (Ochenaid) Hoffwn i atal y cloc. Hoffwn i atal pob cloc!

Laoxiong (fy nghi), ble rwyt ti? Meddyliais i am dy lygaid eto.

Pan fydda i’n gweld dy lygaid, rydw i eisiau crio bob tro. Pam rwyt ti bob amser yn drist? Pam rwyt ti bob amser yn ofnus pan fydda i’n dy adael?

Pam rwyt ti bob amser yn anadlu’n drwm? Rydw i bob amser wedi coginio llawer o fwyd i ti! Rydw i’n meddwl bod dy fywyd di’n llawer gwell na fy mywyd i, ond dydych chi byth yn fodlon.”

Yn y diwedd, mae’n canu hwiangerdd Tsieineaidd am chwilio am gyfeillgarwch.

Mae’n ymddangos bod ei meddyliau’n drech na hi.

Am y gwaith, meddai Melanie Martin, “Mae’n ymddangos bod bygythiad dirgel yn yr awyr. Ni all fynegi rhai o’i meddyliau a’i theimladau ac mae’n gofyn cwestiynau anobeithiol nad oes modd eu hateb. Fodd bynnag, ni all ei barn ddiniwed am y byd atal trychineb. Mae ganddi ddihidrwydd plentynnaidd, ond mae’n ymddangos bod y byd ar ei hysgwyddau. Mae’n crio am help, ond ni allwn ddod i’w hadwy.”

Ganed Yingmei Duan ym 1969 yn Daqing, Tsieina.

Y corff yw cyfrwng canolog arfer perfformio unigol Duan, sy’n ymroddedig i archwilio ieithwedd y celfyddydau perfformio’n barhaus, drwy arferion arbrofol ar draws cyd-destunau gofodol amrywiol.

Mae ei gwaith perfformio unigol ac ar y cyd yn cwmpasu amrywiaeth eang o feysydd. Yn ei phrosiectau cydweithredol, mae pobl wrth wraidd y gwaith o hyd; mae wedi canolbwyntio ers amser maith ar sut mae unigolion a grwpiau’n cyfleu hunaniaeth, profiadau, emosiynau, atgofion, meddyliau ac ymwybyddiaeth, a sut mae’r profiadau’n hyn yn cael eu llywio gan gyd-destunau gwleidyddol, cymdeithasol, hanesyddol a diwylliannol, gan greu’r sail am gydweithrediad artistig manwl.

Paso del Quindío II is a 1999 film by José Alejandro Restrepo, duration 32 minutes 51 seconds.

The film is a reconstruction of the last ‘carguero’ - human carriers who originally assisted European travellers cross the difficult mountainous jungle terrain. Restrepo’s work considers the complex power relations this act of carrying signifies.

In the film, a central male figure quietly persists as he carries a female on his back, seated on a chair made of guadua (a kind of bamboo), his back at a 60° angle to the ground. The chair is secured to him with a piece of fabric wrapped under the seat and around his visibly sweaty forehead.

The middle-aged man is a person of colour with black short hair and a bald patch, barefoot, wearing white shorts and a discoloured grey t-shirt, holding a long thin wooden stick for balance. The seated woman is also a person of colour with short black hair, wearing a black shirt with multicoloured pattern patches, shorts and black muddy wellington boots.

Restrepo said: “One of history’s great games is about who manages to elude the laws of representation and interpretation.”

In 2007, Displaced, Contemporary Art from Colombia, was curated by María Clara Bernal and Karen MacKinnon and presented at Glynn Vivian Art Gallery. Alongside other outstanding works, Paso del Quindío II was pivotal, both for the power of its post-colonial position and its engagement with the politics of cultural identity.

This work was purchased through the Contemporary Art Society’s Acquisitions Scheme for Glynn Vivian Art Gallery in 2010.

José Alejandro Restrepo, is a Colombian artist born in 1959. He studied visual arts at the Universidad Nacional de Bogotá and the École des Beaux Arts in Paris in the early 1980s, drawing inspiration from the works of Bill Viola and Gary Hill.

Over the decades, he has explored the power dynamics of visual representation through the interplay of video, sculpture, and the archive. His work examines histories of oppression and resistance that shape life in Latin America, seeking new meanings from prescribed narratives, asking which visual archives are used to create history—and why.

The first iteration of this work Paso del Quindío I (Quindío Way I) (1992) marked a landmark moment in his career. Featuring 17 monitors arranged on various levels of a pyramidal structure, the work displayed footage of the artist’s 1991 hike up a mountain pass in the Andes. He recorded the journey from different elevations; some images show a calm pace, while others capture the agitated movement of someone at the summit. His ascent reconstructed the journeys of 19th-century European explorers such as Alexander von Humboldt and Max von Thielman. Unlike those explorers, who presented their work as objective, Restrepo acknowledged that despite his historical research and first-hand experience, his project offered “just one more interpretation in a long chain…just copies of copies.”

Ffilm 32 munud, 51 eiliad o hyd a wnaed gan José Alejandro Restrepo ym 1999 yw Paso del Quindío II.

Mae'r ffilm yn ail-greu'r ‘carguero’ olaf – pobl a oedd yn cario teithwyr Ewropeaidd drwy'r jyngl fynyddig anodd yn wreiddiol. Mae gwaith Restrepo yn ystyried y cysylltiadau pŵer cymhleth sy'n gysylltiedig â'r weithred hon o gario.

Yn y ffilm, mae cymeriad gwrywaidd canolog yn dyfalbarhau'n dawel wrth iddo garo menyw ar ei gefn; mae hi'n eistedd ar gadair ‘guadua’ (math o fambŵ) ac mae ei gefn ef ar ongl 60 gradd i'r ddaear. Mae'r gadair wedi'i chlymu wrtho â darn o ffabrig wedi'i lapio o dan y sedd ac am ei dalcen chwyslyd.

Mae'r dyn canol oed yn berson o liw ac mae ganddo wallt byr du a llecyn moel. Mae'n droednoeth ac yn gwisgo trowsus byr gwyn a chrys T llwyd sy'n colli ei liw, gan ddal ffon bren denau hir er cydbwysedd. Mae'r fenyw sy'n eistedd hefyd yn berson o liw a chanddi wallt du byr ac mae'n gwisgo crys du â darnau patrymog amryliw, trowsus byr ac esgidiau glaw mwdlyd du.

Meddai Restrepo, “Mae un o weithgareddau gorau hanes yn ymwneud â phwy sy'n llwyddo i osgoi deddfau cynrychioli a dehongli.”

Yn 2007, cafodd arddangosfa Displaced, Contemporary Art from Colombia ei churadu gan María Clara Bernal a Karen MacKinnon a'i chyflwyno yn Oriel Gelf Glynn Vivian. Ochr yn ochr â darnau neilltuol eraill, roedd Paso del Quindío II yn ganolog, oherwydd pŵer ei ymagwedd ôl-drefedigaethol a'i ymgysylltiad â gwleidyddiaeth hunaniaeth ddiwylliannol.

Cafodd y gwaith hwn ei brynu drwy gynllun caffael y Gymdeithas Celfyddyd Gyfoes ar ran Oriel Gelf Glynn Vivian yn 2010.

Mae José Alejandro Restrepo yn artist o Golombia a aned ym 1959. Astudiodd y celfyddydau gweledol yn Universidad Nacional de Bogotá a'r École des Beaux-Arts ym Mharis ar ddechrau'r 1980au, gan gael ei ysbrydoli gan waith Bill Viola a Gary Hill.

Dros y degawdau, mae wedi archwilio deinameg pŵer cynrychiolaeth weledol drwy gyfuno fideos, cerfluniau a'r archif. Mae ei waith yn archwilio hanesion gormes a gwrthsefyll sy'n llunio bywyd yn America Ladin, gan chwilio am ystyron newydd mewn naratifau gosod, a gofyn pa archifau gweledol a ddefnyddir i greu hanes – a pham.

Roedd fersiwn gyntaf y gwaith hwn, Paso del Quindío I (Bwlch Quindío I) (1992), yn garreg filltir yn ei yrfa. Gan gynnwys 17 o sgriniau wedi'u trefnu ar lefelau amrywiol adeiledd pyramidaidd, dangosodd y gwaith ddeunydd o heic yr artist i fyny bwlch mynydd yn yr Andes ym 1991. Recordiodd y daith o uchderau gwahanol; mae rhai lluniau'n dangos cyflymder tawel, ond mae eraill yn cyfleu symudiad cynhyrfus rhywun ar y copa. Drwy'r esgyniad hwn, ail-greodd deithiau fforwyr Ewropeaidd y 19eg ganrif fel Alexander von Humboldt a Max von Thielman. Yn wahanol i'r fforwyr hynny, a gyflwynodd eu gwaith o safbwynt gwrthrychol, cydnabu Restrepo, er gwaethaf ei ymchwil hanesyddol a'i brofiad uniongyrchol, mai dim ond dehongliad arall mewn cadwyn hir, llawn “copïau o gopïau”, oedd ei brosiect.

Flags over Solva / Fflagiau Dros Solfach is a 1992 film by Tim Davies, duration 3 minutes 16 seconds.

This black and white film documents a site-specific event from the hills above Solva, Pembrokeshire, across the quay from The Gribin.

In the centre of the windy overcast scene are five metal and wood flag poles, each a monumental 15 feet high, positioned next to each other in a group. The view of the village Solva in the background across the quay.

The flags tussling and rippling in the wind and crashing into one another with each gust.

Each flag is a long thin symmetrical triangle shape, with two central light-coloured flags surrounded by darker flags on either side. The flag poles are secured to the ground just under halfway down with supporting rope that creates a tripod like form, attached to the ground with white pegs.

In the making of Flags over Solva, Davies had created the flag poles in parts so that they would be ready to assemble as needed and spent a week introducing them into the Solva landscape in a variety of configurations. Having spent part of his childhood in Solva, staying with his grandfather, it is a place well known to him.

Using flags as monument, he explored the notion of land ownership as temporary, claiming a site for the duration of each intervention. From the innocent connotation of flags as a plaything for children marking sandcastles, reclaimed by the tide, to the implications of the moon landings; to lamenting the loss and disempowerment of local ownership in relation to Welsh cultural identity, the work references contested land ownership and the object as a signifier of site.

The core of Davies’ work is rooted in working time- and site-specifically, using 2- and 3-dimensional and performative media. His practice also explores the written, spoken and visualised word.

Born in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire in 1960, Davies studied Fine Art at Norwich School of Art and completed an MA in Issues in Art & Architecture at the University for the Creative Arts in Canterbury.

He has worked in a range of media over the last 30 years, exhibiting and making work in Wales, the UK and internationally. He has received many awards, including the Mostyn Open prize, the Gold Medal in Fine Art at the National Eisteddfod and a major Creative Wales Award. He was the first European artist shortlisted for the Artes Mundi Visual Arts Prize and represented Wales in a solo show at the Venice Biennale in 2011.

Flags over Solva was acquired in 2005 through the Wakelin Award, an annual award given to an artist living and working in Wales, whose work is purchased for the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery’s permanent collection.

Ffilm 3 munud ac 16 eiliad o hyd a wnaed gan Tim Davies ym 1992 yw Fflagiau Dros Solfach.

Mae'r ffilm du a gwyn hon yn dogfennu digwyddiad penodol i safle’r bryniau uwchben Solfach, Sir Benfro, ar draws y cei o'r Gribin.

Yng nghanol yr olygfa gymylog wyntog y mae pum polyn fflag metel a phren 15 troedfedd anhygoel o uchder wrth ymyl ei gilydd mewn grŵp. Mae pentref Solfach i'w weld yn y cefndir ar draws y cei.

Mae'r fflagiau'n bwrw yn erbyn ei gilydd bob tro y mae'r gwynt yn chwythu.

Mae pob fflag ar ffurf triongl cymesur tenau hir ac mae dwy fflag olau ganolog wedi'u hamgylchu gan fflagiau tywyllach ar y naill ochr a'r llall. Mae rhaff ategol yn clymu'r polion fflag yn sownd ychydig yn llai na hanner ffordd tuag at y ddaear, gan greu rhyw fath o dreipod wedi'i glymu yn y tir gan begiau gwyn.

Wrth wneud Fflagiau Dros Solfach, roedd Davies wedi creu'r polion fflag fesul rhannau fel y byddent yn barod i'w cydosod yn ôl yr angen, a threuliodd wythnos yn eu rhoi yn nhirwedd Solfach mewn amrywiaeth o gyfluniadau. Ar ôl treulio rhan o'i blentyndod yn Solfach gyda'i dad-cu, mae'n hen gyfarwydd â'r lleoliad.

Gan ddefnyddio fflagiau fel tirnod, archwiliodd y syniad fod perchnogaeth tir yn rhywbeth dros dro, gan hawlio safle am hyd pob ymyriad. O arwyddocâd diniwed fflagiau fel tegan i blant sy'n marcio cestyll tywod, sy'n cael eu llyncu gan y llanw, i oblygiadau glanio ar y lleuad, i edifarhau colli perchnogaeth leol ar hunaniaeth ddiwylliannol Cymru, a'r diymadferthedd sy'n deillio o hynny, mae'r gwaith yn cyfeirio at anghydfodau ynghylch perchnogaeth tir a'r gwrthrych fel dynodwr lleoliad.

Mae craidd ei waith yn benodol i amser a lleoliad, gan ddefnyddio cyfryngau perfformio dau a thri dimensiwn. Mae ef hefyd yn archwilio'r gair ysgrifenedig, y gair llafar a'r gair ar ffurf delwedd.

Ganed Davies yn Hwlffordd, sir Benfro ym 1960. Astudiodd Gelfyddyd Gain yn Ysgol Gelf Norwich a chwblhaodd MA mewn Materion Celfyddyd a Phensaernïaeth ym Mhrifysgol y Celfyddydau Creadigol yng Nghaergaint.

Mae ef wedi gweithio mewn ystod o gyfryngau dros y 30 mlynedd diwethaf, gan arddangos a chreu gwaith yng Nghymru, y DU ac yn rhyngwladol. Mae ef wedi ennill llawer o wobrau, gan gynnwys gwobr cystadleuaeth agored Mostyn, y fedal aur mewn Celfyddyd Gain yn yr Eisteddfod Genedlaethol ac un o brif wobrau Cymru Greadigol. Ef oedd yr artist cyntaf o Ewrop i gyrraedd rhestr fer Gwobr Celfyddydau Gweledol Artes Mundi a chynrychiolodd Gymru mewn sioe unigol yn Biennale Fenis yn 2011.

Cafodd y ffilm Fflagiau Dros Solfach ei chaffael yn 2025 drwy wobr Wakelin, a roddir bob blwyddyn i artist sy'n byw ac yn gweithio yng Nghymru ac y prynir ei waith ar gyfer casgliad parhaol Oriel Gelf Glynn Vivian.

Join us for this talk with Charlotte Bolland, Senior Curator, Research and 16th Century Collections at the National Portrait Gallery. Charlotte will discuss the recently opened exhibition Lives in Motion: Stories of Migration from the 11th Century to the Present Day.

Dr Charlotte Bolland is Senior Curator, Research and 16th Century Collections at the National Portrait Gallery. Her role combines responsibility for the acquisition, research and interpretation of portraits dating from the sixteenth century, with co-ordination of research activity across the Gallery. She has curated a number of exhibitions, including ‘The Real Tudors: Kings and Queens Rediscovered’ (2014), ‘The Encounter: Drawings from Leonardo to Rembrandt’ (2017), and ‘Six Lives: The Stories of Henry VIII’s Queens’ (2024). She has also worked on a number of touring exhibitions with the Gallery, including ‘Faces of Change: Nature’s Champions’ (2019) and ‘Tudors to Windsors: British Royal Portraits’ (2019-20).

Ymunwch â ni ar gyfer y sgwrs hon â Charlotte Bolland, Uwch-guradur Ymchwil a Chasgliadau’r 16eg Ganrif yr Oriel Bortreadau Genedlaethol. Bydd Charlotte yn trafod yr arddangosfa Lives in Motion: Straeon Mudo o’r 11eg Ganrif hyd Heddiw a agorwyd yn ddiweddar.

Mae Dr Charlotte Bolland yn Uwch-guradur Ymchwil a Chasgliadau’r 16eg Ganrif yn yr Oriel Bortreadau Genedlaethol. Mae ei rôl yn cynnwys bod yn gyfrifol am gaffael, ymchwilio a dehongli portreadau sy’n dyddio o’r unfed ganrif ar bymtheg, a chydlynu gweithgarwch ymchwil ar draws yr oriel. Mae hi wedi curadu nifer o arddangosfeydd, gan gynnwys The Real Tudors: Kings and Queens Rediscovered (2014), The Encounter: Drawings from Leonardo to Rembrandt (2017), a Six Lives: The Stories of Henry VIII’s Queens (2024). Mae hi hefyd wedi gweithio ar nifer o arddangosfeydd teithiol gyda’r oriel, gan gynnwys Faces of Change: Nature’s Champions (2019) a Tudors to Windsors: British Royal Portraits (2019-20).

Kyffin Williams enjoyed a long association with the Glynn Vivian. Rian Evans, writer and critic, who has written extensively about this iconic Welsh artist, will look at how the Kyffin’s in the gallery’s holdings offer a fascinating perspective that differs from the usual assumptions about the course of his career.

Roedd gan Kyffin Williams gysylltiad hir ag Oriel Gelf Glynn Vivian. Bydd Rian Evans, awdur a beirniad sydd wedi ysgrifennu’n helaeth am yr artist eiconig hwn o Gymru, yn edrych ar sut mae casgliad o waith Kyffin yn yr oriel yn cynnig persbectif diddorol sy’n wahanol i’r rhagdybiaethau arferol am ei yrfa.

Image/Llun: Snowdon from Near Harlech, Kyffin Williams

06 Cychwelyd i'r Cylch by Glynn Vivian Art Gallery - On Air

05 Gormes by Glynn Vivian Art Gallery - On Air