Gathering Welsh Voices
TAIR Collective’s artist residency with communities in mid-Wales.
TAIR Collective
TAIR is a poet and artist collective formed by Manon Awst, Beth Celyn, and Judith Musker Turner. Based in rural mid-Wales, their work emerges from their multi-lingual heritage and the strong presence of poetry in Welsh culture. Spoken word remains part of everyday life in many farming communities, and TAIR draw on this tradition to explore how people relate to land, language, and one another.
About the Residency
Mid-Wales is a landscape shaped by farms, villages, uplands, and long-established working communities. When TAIR began their residency, they set out to understand how people across this wide area experience their relationship with place. They aimed to find the “middle ground” that might connect different groups, including the agricultural community, small businesses, long-term residents, and those arriving from elsewhere.
TAIR travelled across the region meeting local people and listening to their stories. Rather than approaching the residency with fixed ideas, they used simple questions and creative prompts to open conversations. They were particularly interested in how materials help anchor people to the landscape, whether through work, memory, or tradition.
Asking questions through materials
Workshops formed the core of their residency. TAIR used poetry, textiles, film, and sculpture to encourage people to reflect on their place in the landscape. A central question guided the workshops: what materials relate to you. This starting point allowed participants to talk about the objects, textures, and memories that hold meaning for them.
These conversations helped the artists understand the varied relationships people have with mid-Wales. By focusing on materials rather than issues, the workshops created a space where difficult questions about land use, identity, and change could be explored gently. The process offered a way to bring different pockets of community into the same conversation.
Sharing stories across the region
The materials and stories collected through the residency grew into a multi-media performance that brought together poetry, music, sculpture, and textile work. The performance toured across the region during the summer of 2022, taking place in settings that held meaning for local people. It was shown at the National Eisteddfod in Tregaron, at farmers’ markets, and in a barn on a working farm.
Each location shaped how audiences experienced the piece. By presenting the work in familiar places rather than formal venues, TAIR offered opportunities for communities to gather, reflect, and share their hopes for the landscape they live and work in.
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