County’s pubs and shops display dramatic Easter paintings

Groundbreaking modern paintings showing the drama of Easter story set in modern life are being displayed in cafes, pubs and shops in Powys in the days before Easter.

Businesses in Crickhowell, Talgarth, Llangors and Hay-on-Wye are taking part in the project to allow the public to see the dramatic pictures in everyday settings.

The fifteen paintings by artist Mark Cazalet would normally be seen in art galleries and cathedrals, and tell the story of Easter, but with a twist – each picture depicts an Easter scene set in modern day London.

Locations for this passion story include flyovers, London Underground tube stations, a scrap yard and the streets outside Wormwood Scrubs prison.

In the run up to Easter in Powys this year, it will possible to see these moving Cazalet paintings in two pubs, two butchers shops, cafes, a bookshop, a college office, a petrol station forecourt and an architectural salvage yard.

Traditional retold

The project is the initiative of the same team who brought real camels to Brecon on Christmas eve 2023 in a live public nativity for the town.

Richard Parry is the director of the New Library, Llantwit Major and Rev Anna Bessant is the vicar of Llyn Safaddan Churches around Lake Llangors.

Rev Anna Bessant, who has helped to bring the Easter paintings project to life and looks after churches around Lake Llangors shared: “We’re hoping that people will be able to glimpse the traditional Easter story in a new way, whilst out shopping and relaxing in their local towns and villages.

“The paintings are very immediate and shocking. And because the scenes are set in modern Britain we hope it will move people to think about the relevance of the story today.”

Intrigue

In Talgarth the window of the butcher’s W J George is displaying one of the paintings until the project’s end on Good Friday.

Georgina George who runs the Deli Pot at the village butchers is pleased to be taking part. She said: “It’s a privilege to be hosting one of these important pictures.

“We’re delighted to be telling part of the story here in Talgarth, and people can see some of the other paintings just a few yards away at the Black Mountain College office and in the cafes.”

The fifteen paintings illustrate the trial, torture and execution of the Easter story.

The picture titled ‘Women of Jerusalem Weep’ is set amongst street market stalls on Portobello Road in West London and as part of the project is now hanging on the wall in Llangynidr’s Walnut Tree Café. 

Claire Preece who runs the café said: “Our café is mainly run by women so it’s very apt for us to be hosting this painting.

“It’s a pleasure to be taking part in the Easter story in the area, collaborating with local businesses and churches. Walnut Tree Café customers are very intrigued by this painting and the meaning behind it.

“It’s certainly different from lots of the artwork usually found in cafes in the Usk Valley. We’re more used to rural scenes in our art, like the nearby picturesque Table Mountain –  not a military convoy in the Portobello Market!”

Richard Parry from the New Library, Llantwit Major who organised a similar project last year in pubs and cafes on the south Wales coast said” “These paintings in Powys are very important.

“They remind us of the everyday compassion of people on pavements in the face of cruel violence in the world. They deal with our modern predicament today and link it to the passion, degradation and transformation of the Easter story.”

All the paintings remain on display in Powys cafes, pubs and shops until Good Friday, 18 April when they will all be brought together for public viewing as a full set at the small Celtic church at Llanywern near Lake Llangors from Saturday 19 April.

The paintings in Powys can be seen at the following locations:

Crickhowell

Webbs of Crickhowell :  15. Emmaus 

Book-ish :   5. Simon of Cyrene 

ASDA Express Petrol :   9. Third Fall

Gallops Architectural Salvage :    4. Meets mother 

Hay-on-Wye

Pugh’s :   13. Pieta 

Kutz Barbers :   1. Sentenced 

Three Tuns :   11. Nailed to the

Small Farms Butchers :    6. Veronica

Talgarth

Black Mountains College Office :    2. Takes cross 

W. J. George Butchers :    3. First Fall

The Strand:  10. Stripped 

Talgarth Mill :   14. Entombed