Clean Slate

Often, young and early career creatives struggle to get the opportunities, platforms and support to create work of good quality. Many young people are raised (in schools and at home) with the common misconception that a career in ‘the arts’ is hardly a career at all, which can foster a reluctance to pursue your creative calling, professionally. Data gathered from a study by OnePoll, from 1,000 respondents across the UK, found that 50% of 16-25-year-olds surveyed wanted to pursue creative careers, but nearly two thirds do not feel they receive adequate guidance to do so by teachers or career advisers. Thus, it’s important to create and promote a stable and flourishing industry for people to enter, in order to demystify this issue.

Creatives: Tia Zakura Camilleri & Cara Walker

The exhibition can be viewed at Wales Millenium Centre Stwdio Scratch until late March.

Because of the stigma and lack of appreciation for the arts, it becomes a privilege to be able to take time to refine your craft. For me, full dedication means sacrificing other ‘more stable’ work and working for free in the creative industry. This isn’t always possible for those who come from working class backgrounds, which can form a barrier to accessing the sector. The artist residency space trusted Cara and I and financed our time, so we could focus on our practice and do what we love to do without having to worry about missing out on wages.

In efforts to solve this problem, the Wales Millennium Centre recently opened an artist residency space as part of their Creative Learning programme. This is a studio space given to selected artists, who are young people and/or from the local community, for one month with expenses for materials/time provided. Creatives have complete artistic freedom with no expectations of developing a finished product at the end of it. The thinking around the scheme was explained by one of the producers at Creative Learning; ‘During the consultation around our new spaces for young people, we learned that the absence of space to experiment and create had a serious impact on emerging artists’ chances to develop their work. Such spaces are often costly, and material costs on top of that make it unattainable for many. As demonstrated through our many creative courses at the Centre, we feel that it is important to allow the creation of art to be as accessible as possible. As such, we recognised the need to support diverse, young and community artists to develop their individual craft, being vitally important in creating a vibrant and diverse arts scene in Wales.’

In efforts to solve this problem, the Wales Millennium Centre recently opened an artist residency space as part of their Creative Learning programme. This is a studio space given to selected artists, who are young people and/or from the local community, for one month with expenses for materials/time provided. Creatives have complete artistic freedom with no expectations of developing a finished product at the end of it. The thinking around the scheme was explained by one of the producers at Creative Learning; ‘During the consultation around our new spaces for young people, we learned that the absence of space to experiment and create had a serious impact on emerging artists’ chances to develop their work. Such spaces are often costly, and material costs on top of that make it unattainable for many. As demonstrated through our many creative courses at the Centre, we feel that it is important to allow the creation of art to be as accessible as possible. As such, we recognised the need to support diverse, young and community artists to develop their individual craft, being vitally important in creating a vibrant and diverse arts scene in Wales.

Most recently, the artist residency space housed 19 year old Cara Walker (artist) and 18 year old Tia-zakura Camilleri (writer/poet). The two young creatives are members of the WMC Youth Advisory Board, which aims to give a voice to young people to inform aspects of the Centre, ensuring it is accessible. During their residency, they decided to create an RnD exhibition; the exhibition called ‘Clean Slate’ launched on February 3rd, focussing on the Black and Welsh identity in a modern and historical context.

‘It’s so easy for people to overlook you because you’re younger, people don’t take me seriously or listen to what I have to say; Pair that with being of Black/Asian heritage and a woman and you feel practically muted. So, to be given this platform in a building with such kudos, amplifies our voice to those who need to hear it’ …… Cara Walker.

Do You Feel Welsh?

The WMC is the national arts centre in Wales, so when we were offered the space, we knew we wanted to explore the idea of ‘Welshness’. Granted, this topic has been poignant in recent years, but Cara and I have had millions of conversations discussing the more ‘taboo’ side of ‘Welshness’ being non-white and non-Welsh speaking. WMC actually informed our exhibition quite a lot; its locality in the heart of a bustling, diverse Butetown, juxtaposing with its proximity to buildings like the Senedd, represented the dichotomy we often discussed. In one of many chats, we were enlightened by the history of the slate industry. Welsh slate is something we are often taught to be proud of but a lot of people are unaware of its connection to slavery. It was a lightbulb moment for us. Not only did it feel like a great mechanism to explore identity, but to uncover this hidden history in a building covered in slate (next to the Senedd which is also covered in slate) was so powerful.

Once we had the topic, we had to find ways to merge our two very different art forms. We operated in a way where we responded to each other’s work with our own work. Lots of my poetry aided Cara’s artwork and vice versa. It was beautiful to be able to collaborate with another likeminded creative, and we quickly realised we wanted to use this chance to showcase an exhibition. We wanted to demonstrate the value of young Black artists and tell our own stories. Though Cara has been featured in exhibitions before, this was the first either of us have curated of our own. The process wasn’t all smooth sailing but every setback lent itself to the final result. As an RnD, we found it really important to expose this ‘up & down’ journey to everyone and not shy away from the complexities of creating an exhibition.

So, we had a ‘journey wall’ which explained the steps we took to get here, including how we sourced the slate, what our inspiration was etc. There were two other integral features to our exhibition: 1. The public art - for all visitors to contribute to, responding to the question ‘Do you feel Welsh? Why?’, 2. Feedback box - all aspects of the exhibition were incredibly introspective, my poems really forced me to unpick each thread of my identity, so we really wanted to evoke the same introspective thought for those experiencing.

We were really proud of what we created and hope to expand it further. We are grateful to be given this opportunity and both recognise the vital part it has played in kickstarting our career. - Tia-zakura Camilleri.

Visitors review:

‘Incredible work. I wish I could have experienced this when I was a child - it would have had a huge impact on me growing up mixed in Wales’

‘The use of materials in the art is completely beautiful’

‘This exhibition is amazing! Arddechog! Dylech chi gyd bod yn falch o’eich gwaith!’

For further reading: