Escaping through art

About this work

Raymond Mason is an amateur artist living in Blackwood, between Ebbw Vale and Caerphilly. Although they may not appear so at first glance, the three pieces of artwork displayed here are reflections on both the Gwent Valleys and the wider world. He explains this in his own words below, and his final paragraph is particularly revealing.

‘I spent three years, from the age of fifteen, working on the coal face at Britannia colliery north of Ystrad Mynach. I escaped death three times and another miner asked me if I'd seen the light yet when I was sixteen. I didn't know what he was talking about so I said “no”. He replied, “you will one day”. Just before I was eighteen I met up with the same guy and informed him I had now seen the light. I was getting out of this hell-hole and joining the Royal Air Force. My father remained working at the mine, so I have an affinity with the mining industry. I left my heritage behind but did not forget it.

We keep our heritage alive through projects such as BG REACH and places like the Big Pit National Coal Museum at Blaenavon. I took a group of young Portuguese visitors down to Big Pit once, to see what it was like. They couldn't understand why people would choose to work in that environment. I told them that they were looking at part of our industrial history; without coal there would not have been an industrial awakening. After the dark industrial revolution came the light; the valleys were green once more, the rivers were clean and the sky was clear of smoke and smog. Fish returned to the rivers along with other wildlife.

The south Wales valleys are full of extremely talented people. After a hard day at the mine it's nice to relax and take up your hobby. Some are pigeon fanciers, others paint pictures, then there are those who write stories or poetry. All of it is uplifting to the soul. The paintings and writings they produce are not necessarily of the environment they live or work in. I think the connection between my artwork and the place I live in comes from a desire to move away from the look of heavy industry while maintaining my community’s industrial heritage, I like to see a colourful picture on a living room wall, so maybe there is no link between our bright pictures and verse and our dark industrial past other than to remind us to look forward to a bright and colourful future.’

This page is part of the Blaenau Gwent REACH online exhibition.

Film and audio | Creative writing | Visual art

Digital stories | The history of Blaenau Gwent | About this project