An exciting new exhibition of maps from the National Library opened at the Riverside Gallery, Haverfordwest, on Saturday 23 September.
The maps have been selected from the more than 1.5 million objects cared for in the National Map Collection in Aberystwyth. The exhibition ranges from the oldest map in the library to newly commissioned artworks.
Highlights include the first standalone map of Wales, a Cold War map of Pembroke Dock secretly drawn by the Soviet Union, 17th century playing cards on a map theme, and a German propaganda map quoting David Lloyd George. Brand-new artworks inspired by the map collection are also on show.
In 2023, the National Library of Wales commissioned four artists of colour to create artworks responding to the collections. Two of the projects grew from items in the map collection and focused on difficult and contested histories of slavery and colonialism. These new works by Welsh artists Mfikela Jean Samuel and Jasmine Violet Sheckleford will be on public display for the first time in this exhibition, along with the items from the map collection which inspired them. They shed new light on British colonial maps of Africa, and Welsh connections to plantation slavery in Jamaica.
Wales to the world: maps from the National Library of Wales will be in Haverfordwest until 24 February 2024.
Art commissions were funded by Welsh Government as part of the Anti-racist Wales Action Plan.
Ellie King
Assistant Map Curator
Category: Article