A review on
Y Tir Newydd | The New Land
By Georgia Roach
When first entering Gareth Philips’ exhibition in the Third Floor Gallery, it surprised me how the atmosphere shifted quickly from a relaxed hallway into a dark room with intense, mainly large scaled, images. I was immediately captivated by the surreal looking pieces that hung on the black walls and was very aware of the uncomfortable environment it created. Aside from the fact the images are very detailed I think, them being in Black and white, aids this uneasy quality they bring to the onlooker.
Philips is successful, in my opinion, when he describes his pieces as “An imagined world collides with abstract reality”. These pieces are obviously nature based as they contain natural looking surfaces and patterns which I think reflect upon the location where the images were taken as Wales is naturally beautiful. 
I noticed the images gave the impression of being symmetrical which gave them their abstract quality, almost like looking at reflections. On closer inspection of individual images I became conscious of the fact in many of the images face and body shapes had emerged through the intricate details, almost staring back at me. This element had an unnerving effect on me as I think it is something you wouldn’t expect to see in beautiful displays of nature but perhaps more likely in nightmares.
When observing other viewers in the exhibition I noticed that many of them bypassed the smaller images, I thought this perhaps may be the result of mixing large scale images, which the viewers feel drawn towards, with the quite minute images in comparison. The layouts of the smaller images were quite intriguing as they seemed to be placed to almost replicate the patterns in the images that appeared to be climbing upwards.
Overall, I enjoyed this exhibition and thought it successful in grabbing the viewers’ attention. It made them really need to pay attention to the images and understand how the photographer wanted them to see his pieces and focus them in his point of view to make their own opinions of the work. 
[All images shown in this review are photographed from Gareth Phillips’ exhibition: “Y Tir Newydd | The New Land” and are Gareth Phillips’ images]
GeorgiaRoach 