Material Legacy; Copper

It begins with a walk.

It follows to a connection.

Then ends with an ode to a story untold, a material lost.

Material legacy: Copper has formed from lunchtime walks down to the beach of Swansea bay. Strewn across the sand are fragments of industries lost; pieces of brick, copper slag, and coal to name a few. I began these walks when I joined the Gallery Assistant team at the National Waterfront Museum, one of Amgueddfa Cymru’s seven sites. Within its walls are the stories and objects of past Welsh and Swansea specific industrial factories that were important in the raw material processing of the World. There is an poignant connection to hold a piece of washed up copper slag and to view the images within the walls of the museum of men working the material. Even poignant still is the lives that have been affected by its legacy, an industry lost and an environment polluted.