Patagonia
Images by Ken Griffiths


In 2001 and 2002 photographer Ken Griffiths set out on three expeditions to the Argentine province of Chubut, the heartland of Welsh Patagonia.  Ken visited Chubut in different seasons of the year to follow the trails blazed south and west by intrepid young Welsh pioneers. Between 1870 and 1900 they travelled the interior of the country and reached the Andes along what is now the Chilean frontier. 
 
Ken decided that he wanted to avoid all the clichés of photo-journalists who travel to Gaiman for a day or two, visit a Welsh tea-room, and come back. Instead he was determined to set out to record, in image, the entire scope of the Welsh achievement in that part of the New World. Ken’s family left Wales for New Zealand and he has now made England his home for several decades.  As an immigrant himself, Ken was moved from the outset by the quest of the Welsh for a home where they could preserve their culture and their language. 
 
Michael Hoppen Contemporary is showcasing Ken Griffiths’s beautiful and evocative photographs.  These visualise a powerful sense of place and depict the rugged daily life of the Welsh community that continues to reside there. The pictures were the original inspiration for the recently released feature film Patagonia, starring Matthew Rhys, Nia Roberts and Duffy, directed by Marc Evans. Ken himself was the stills photographer during the making of the movie. The photographs have been produced with a traditional printing process called Carbo and are particularly interesting because it is a dying art, there is only one master print maker left in the world, Gerard Aniere.  
 
The major sponsor of the exhibition Patagonia is The Mayfair House.