Valleys

The valleys of south Wales have undergone a profound and remorseless transition since their heyday as the industrial heart of the British empire. Now the coal industry has disappeared, communities have fragmented and the society there seems poorer. How have the people responded to this change? Photographer Tony Stokes has spent the last four years photographing what he calls "this huge, beautiful, muddled landscape" and has produced an astonishing personal view and response to living there. His collection of photographs abjures the traditional lines of terraces and blasted landscapes to focus on form and colour in the buildings of the area, and domestic taste in the contents of people's front windows. The result is a fascinating commentary on an evolving vernacular of modern expectations and fashion. The photographs serve as a record of what the place looks like today. Stokes looks at houses, shops and public buildings in and their modifications; vacant buildings, industrial sites, casual construction and dereliction; the landscape, and recent development. The people themselves appear in what they have made, or modified, to express their nature and the photographs reveal a creative sense of design and use of rich colour. The cumulative effect of these images makes a remarkable book and a rich commentary on south Wales.