Photograph by David Bailey, untitled print from 'The Valleys Project', gelatin silver print, 1985

A black and white unmounted photograph showing an industrial view including a smokestack and a mine conveyor belt.

The Royal Photographic Society Collection at the V&A, acquired with the generous assistance of the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Art Fund

The Valleys Project: David Bailey, Mike Berry, John Davies, Peter Fraser, Ron McCormick, Francesca Odell, Paul Reas, William Tsui, Roger Tiley, Wally Waygood

Ffotogallery originally established the Valleys Project in 1984, as a unique undertaking to document what has to be one of the most captivating yet industrialized landscapes of Northern Europe. During the five years of the project to 1990, it has drawn together the work of photographers resident in Wales and from further afield, to create a contemporary visual record and social commentary encompassing a broad geographical spread of the South Wales Valleys.

The first commissions initiated in 1985, enabled two well known UK photographers, Ron McCormick and Paul Reas to produce bodies of work which focused on the changing topographic landscape and the partial introduction of new technology into a latter day industrial wasteland. During the same year, John Davies, an artist synonymous with landscape photography, was commissioned by Rumney District Council to record the demise of the massive mining infrastructure, and its impact on the people and character of the Rhymney Valley.

Later in 1985, David Bailey visited the valleys to produce a portfolio of seductive black and white images which reflected an outsider’s detached sense of bewilderment when faced with the austere geographical and social conditions of this fascinating region. In 1986 the work of Mike Berry, Francesca Odell, Roger Tiley and Peter Fraser, each very distinctive picture makers, featured in an exhibition and accompanying publication. This particular project sought to deal directly with the communities of the Valleys, and in particular the resonance of the Miners’ Strike, although the inclusion of Peter Fraser within this context proved to be something of a departure, as his contribution, the first series in colour, contradicted mainstream documentary modes, by utilizing oblique photographic depictions.

Ffotogallery established even broader parameters for the Valleys Project, when the artist Walter Waygood, a local of Merthyr Tydfil, was commissioned in October 1989 to create a unique Billboard hoarding artwork on a site at Dowlais top, Merthyr. The 20’x10’ work, combining photographic image and text, explored the theme of the South Wales Valleys and the demise of its heavy industries in a post-industrial society.

In 1990, the last contributor to the Valleys Project in its present form, William Tsui was awarded a major commission to document the Upper Afan Valley in general and some of the personalities in the wind swept village of Aber/Blaengwynfi in particular.

Many other satellite activities have sprung up as a result of these major photographic initiatives, which have embraced historical research and archival gathering, workshops with local community groups, and courses and classes in schools exploring regional heritage and identity. Photographs from the project have been shown in a wide variety of venues: schools, community centres, art galleries and museums.

The collection forms an extraordinary portrait of areas in South Wales laden with history. All photographs made for the Valleys Project, over 450 in all, which forms part of Ffotogallery’s archive is available for loan and research to schools, colleges, community groups and gallery members

David Bailey - The Valleys Project, 1985

The Valleys Project presented a challenge to David Bailey, a photographer obviously more used to subjects of glamorous proportions.

When questioned as to why he particularly wanted to work on this project, his answer was that he had for a long time been interested in photographing the urban landscape; indeed he had been doing just that for himself, but he felt he needed a focus for an idea to intensify his concentration by working within a very disciplined context. Bailey had no preconceptions when he began working, and his visual responses to this particular environment are significant, given his emotional perception of the area, which was, on the whole pessimistic. In this set of photographs, with a few exceptions, Bailey has made reference to the past and his is not so much a precise and lucid description of significant fact, but utilising austere printing methods, an attempt to load his subject matter with a dark narrative alluding to the area’s history.

Source: Ffotogallery archive, from their website

RPS.2252-2022