Dwi’n caru Llyn Tegid. I love Bala Lake. It’s the birthplace of one of my favourite Cymraeg myths that tells the story of the origins of Cymru’s greatest mythic poet, Taliesin. It’s told that a powerful witch, Ceridwen, lived here. In a great cauldron of Awen (inspiration), she made a potion to transform her son into a great shapeshifter, but instead the magic accidentally transferred to a stable boy, Gwion Bach, who was enlisted to stir the potion for a…
Walking the land of north Wales I’m reminded of how normal it feels to be surrounded by castles, when of course this isn’t the case. Many of the castles across this region were built by King Edward I of England in the thirteenth century as a way to subdue the indigenous Welsh peasants, to squash any further uprisings as, led by rebels such as Owain Glyndŵr, the Welsh battled for their freedom from English rule. Still the echoes of Edward’s…
I have so many memories of this place. I used to walk barefoot for miles around here while the mind spilled out across the landscape. This was the first time I became obsessed with collecting litter. I want to tell you that I’d always been litter conscious but that wouldn’t be true. There was a very specific moment that changed me: over those months I’d hiked up & down Dinas Bran, there were so many times I couldn’t see where…
You can adore your family & love to travel. You can support others & still go in search of the truth of your heart. There are so many days in a life: allow them to repeat & watch them flood past you like rain, thin & unsatisfying, until a paralysis takes over the soul, until no new dreams can manifest. Learn to step outside of this. Here, I will teach you to fold time: fill your days with meaning; allow…
Sometimes it’s the simplest thing. A hot day, a too-shallow river; and then a slight bend where the water deepens so that I can swim in circles. Start by pushing up into the current, then flip on my back to be swirled like an autumn leaf downstream, when I hit the bend flip again to power upstream, then flip to shimmy down; repeat, repeat, repeat; smile, grin, smile. ? @andyrgarside ??? …
Returning to Cymru, the land of my birth, has been a different experience this time around. We’re better at travelling in the van. Old skins have been sloughed off, new dreams have been forged in other lands; but still Cymru calls. I am surprised at how she catches me off guard, how deep this soul-filled love for one relatively small part of our expansive earth is. There is something special in the people here, in their generosity & openness that…
Photos: Andy GarsideWords: Sophie McKeand This week I’ve been working with Pete from Culture Colony on a film about my work for Arts Council Wales Creative Wales. He knows north west Wales so well and found some amazing locations. Here’s a sneak peek of some of the locations and what we were up to. It’s been wonderful reconnecting with this beautiful land of my birth in this way. [rl_gallery id=”1756″]…
The water is a cloud of swifts detonating against body. Feet grip the stone fortress as an army of bubbles shatters time into skin. I am at peace here, immersed in the white noise. Every day the world is reborn so that we might start over. You cannot step into the same day twice. The water swallows me whole. I emerge moments, or lifetimes later, older, stronger, wiser: letting go of the woman I was, the water pushes me towards…