Perthyn/Belonging

An installation sound film and digital artwork

Though I feel a 100% Cymraeg, I have always been aware of my Italian ancestry, as I retain an Italian surname as a direct descendant of my Great-Grandfather Emiddio Rea, the first to migrate here, with my Great-Grandmother Santa. They travelled from an impoverished life in rural Arpino, in the district of Frosinone in Southern Italy, initially to London, eventually settling in Tonypandy in the South Wales Valleys at the turn of the 20th Century.

I am curious to investigate what influence this migration has had and continues to have on our culture. We all know of the ‘Bracchis’; the cafes and Ice cream parlours that proliferated in the Welsh Valleys in the late 19thCentury and early 20th Century, and the many who came originally from Northern Italian town of Bardi, which is widely known. It’s no surprise that The Amici Val Ceno Galles, is still going strong today.

But what about the families from other parts of Italy we know less about, who were they, what are their stories, and what is my family’s place in this wider history? I have spent the past eight months meeting and speaking to those who live in this unique community, also those, like me, who are descendants. By blending original recordings based on first-hand accounts, with abstract soundscape, music and film, I Perthyn is an auto-ethnographic, artistic realisation of my journey into the Welsh Italian Campanilismo.

My encounters have raised suggested a range of modalities, or frequencies of belonging and of language, identity and community, and by giving voice to the Welsh-Italian diaspora, both new and old, my wish is to present the immersive sound film as a communal experience; alongside a digital iteration of the work which will act as a legacy. I see this as a modern ‘monument’, but online rather than physical and representing a community.

I see this journey as an attempt to discover their story, and the part of me I barely know.

Website: www.perthyncymru.com

Press: ITV News The art installation sharing the stories of Welsh people with Italian heritage and their impact here

“Excellent, not just a document also an immersive experience that tells a story of Wales not often heard.”

— Giovanni Orsi – Owner of Café Royale, Pontypridd

“Very emotional, Absolutely love the film – a lovesong not just to the Italians who migrated here, but to how they shaped Velleys life and culture. The voices were a music. Bendigedig!”

— Clare Potter, poet and writer