THE WELSH proverb “Dod yn ôl at fy nghoed” describes the feeling of returning to a balanced state of mind and reconnecting with the natural world to find mental and emotional well-being. It stands for a deep connection to the environment, where trees symbolise memory, ancestry, and belonging; a sanctuary for healing and renewal.
This collection of paintings grew out of a journey across the landscape of the Bannau Brycheiniog, from the east to the west. In the summer of 2025, artist John Abell spent time wild camping and walking through these hills, immersing himself in the folk history, language and landscape of a place he has known all his life.
These paintings share his vision of the wild places of South Wales. Folklore and mythology are integral themes woven through Abell’s work, which is seeped in wild Gothicism, often erring towards the fantastical and apocalyptic. His interest in the literature, folk history and poetry of Cymru walk hand-in-hand with his lived experience of the landscape. This isn’t picturesque painting by a visiting artist, here we see clear knowledge and obvious familiarity with the topography of this country, born from a spiritual connection forged through hours of sublime immersion and miles of hiking through the land.
Abell’s paintings are poetic and otherworldly, bold and brimming with pattern in flowing repetition. Merging landscape with narrative, these works explore the folkloric identity of specific locales, drawing from rich and ancient sources such as pagan myths, early Christian narratives, and the many branches of the Mabinogi.
There is innate timeless history in the landscape and Abell taps into it. His paintings are simultaneously historical and futuristic, with his arresting visual language and distinctive motifs washing over us with immersive, fervent energy. At it’s core, the art is the work of a proud Cymro who is exploring and researching his land and language, reaching for a deeper knowing and owning of his country and culture. These paintings are political acts, reminding ourselves of our country’s rich folk culture, re-remembering the tales tied to locations, re-instating places names to the forefront of our minds. Abell and his paintings proudly places us in and of Cymru.
John Abell, Artist said: “My work is about painting through the Welsh landscape and my relationship with it, and what I can say about the Welsh landscape painting tradition.
“A piece of poetry that I really like is by Niclas Y Glais: [translated] ‘The world is more than Cymru, I understand this now, but thanks that little old Wales, is part of a world so vast’.”
Meg Anthony, General Manager for Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion, National Trust Cymru said: “We’re thrilled to welcome artist John Abell back to Dinefwr, following the success of his artist residency and exhibition here in 2019. John’s work describes the very landscape of the near horizon; Bannau Brycheiniog is ever present at Dinefwr.
“Deeply rooted in the ancient history of Wales, Dinefwr’s trees, castle, princes, kingdoms, beauty, myth and wilderness are here in abundance. John’s work has the energy to hold both the ambition and the scale of the house, and an elusive, untamed spirit of Wales, encapsulated at Dinefwr.
“His work celebrates stories both familiar and those untold, through a profound journey of discovery of place, history, self and the vitality of life. I’d like to congratulate John Abell as well as thank Gallery TEN for sharing this remarkable body of work with us.”
The exhibition run till September 27. For more information or to view and purchase artworks online, visit Gallery TEN’s website.
