Wales As Is – a new collection of work by Magnum photographer David Hurn – offers a meditation on the national character of Britain’s smallest country. His subject is the geography, topography, history and landscape of Wales which he presents with unsentimental clarity, in his signature documentary style. The collection gently interrogates Wales’s propensity for self-mythology and romanticism, capturing the bathos and humour prevalent in everyday life, juxtaposing the spirit of the landscape with the demands made on it by industry, housing and transport. Richard King’s accompanying essay examines the position of the landscape and its idealisation within Wales’s conception of itself. His words give lyrical context to images which are by turn arresting, troubling, thought-provoking and joyful.
