KEN GRIFFITHS – PATAGONIA
2011-08-08In 2001 and 2002 photographer Ken Griffiths set out on three expeditions to the Argentine province of Chubut, the heartland of Welsh Patagonia. Ken visited Chubut in different seasons of the year to follow the trails blazed south and west by intrepid young Welsh pioneers. Between 1870 and 1900 they travelled the interior of the country and reached the Andes along what is now the Chilean frontier.
Ken decided that he wanted to avoid all the clichés of photo-journalists who travel to Gaiman for a day or two, visit a Welsh tea-room, and come back. Instead he was determined to set out to record, in image, the entire scope of the Welsh achievement in that part of the New World. Ken’s family left Wales for New Zealand and he has now made England his home for several decades. As an immigrant himself, Ken was moved from the outset by the quest of the Welsh for a home where they could preserve their culture and their language.
Opposite – Charging Horses, Dolavon, 30th April 2002
Exhibition runs through to August 27th, 2011
Michael Hoppen Gallery
3 Jubilee Place
London
SW3 3TD
