Non Fiction
Category: Art and Photography, Non Fiction, Places
Number of pages: 240
ISBN: 9781781727539
Publication date: May 22, 2025
Price: £25.00
Wales As Is – a new collection of work by Magnum photographer David Hurn – offers a meditation on the national character of Britain’s smallest country. His subject is the geography, topography, history and landscape of Wales which he presents with unsentimental clarity, in his signature documentary style. The collection gently interrogates Wales’ propensity for self-mythology and romanticism, capturing the bathos and humour prevalent in everyday life, juxtaposing the spirit of the landscape with the demands made on it by industry, housing and transport. Richard King’s accompanying essay examines the position of the landscape and its idealisation within Wales’ conception of itself. His words give lyrical context to images which are by turn arresting, troubling, thought-provoking and joyful.
“A contemporary yet historical visual extravaganza from a master at work-making images to preserve memory and the collective belonging of a Nation.” – Nicky Wire, Manic Street Preachers
David Hurn
Born in 1934 and brought up in Cardiff, David Hurn is one of the leading figures in the world of photojournalism and was an early member of the prestigious Magnum Photos agency. He initially gained recognition as a freelance documentary photographer when he covered the Hungarian uprising in 1956, and over his long and varied subsequent career he has built a most influential body of work. As well as photographing cinema stars such as Sean Connery (as James Bond), Michael Caine, Audrey Hepburn and The Beatles, he captured memorable and searing images of the Aberfan disaster. He set up the Newport School of Documentary Photography in 1973.
David’s work has been published and exhibited internationally, and his impact on documentary photography remains significant. As well as his own contribution, he has donated his internationally significant collection of works by other photographers to Amgueddfa Cymru as a gift to the nation. He continues to document the world through his camera lens and a new collaboration with Richard King, Wales As Is, is forthcoming from Seren Books in 2025.
Richard King
Richard King is author of Original Rockers (2015), which was shortlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize, and How Soon Is Now? (2012), which was Sunday Times Music Book of the Year, both published by Faber. The Lark Ascending was published in 2019, and was a Rough Trade, Mojo and Evening Standard Book of the Year, shortlisted for the Penderyn Prize. Brittle With Relics: A History of Wales, 1962–1997 was published in February 2022. A new collaboration with photographer David Hurn, Wales As Is, is forthcoming from Seren Books in 2025. Photo by Eva Vermandel.
