Book Description
Paradise Park lies at the centre of the Townhill Estate in Swansea. Once a planning utopia for popular housing, the estate became a by-word for car and other criminal activity in the late eighties and early nineties. Now, with EU money it is being regenerated. It is a story of decline and renewed civic pride that is being repeated across the UK. Famous for its panoramic views of Glamorgan and Carmarthenshire - the socialist planners intended to elevate the blue-collar residents above the rest of Swansea: Paradise Park is once again striving to live up to its name.
Karen Ingham has overseen a photographic survey of Townhill by seven professional photographers and the people of the estate themselves. Striking images of a place and its people leap from the pages of this beautifully produced book. The variety of styles is enormous, from the colourful and painterly to the grittily documentary monochrome: this is Wales as it has never been presented before. The photographs are accompanied by specially commissioned text by prize-winning essayist and poet Robert Minhinnick, who has produced his own picture in words of life on the hilltop estate. Paradise Park will be the subject of an exhibition at the Glynn Vivian Gallery in Swansea from 25 March to 14 May, before touring Wales and the rest of the UK. 50 colour photographs. 210mm x 260mm
From the Publisher
Displaying a perfect balance between art and documentary, this groundbreaking book represents the growing interest in visual culture in Wales - a movement led by Seren with its recent publications of contemporary Welsh art books and critical texts.
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