Exhibition of subversive Welsh folk art in response to genocide in Gaza
Stephen Price
An exhibition featuring groundbreaking works of Welsh folk art responding to the ongoing genocide in Gaza takes place in Tenby Museum this month.
Hope Yore Well was devised by SPAF Collective, also known informally as ‘The Boys’ – a radical Welsh Arts Collective based out of their home in Cardiff.
The Cardiff-based queer Welsh arts collective comprises of Reg Arthur (Hunk Williams), Kazimir Redraven (Khazi), Aneurin Hogarth (Ghoulstuff), and Tom Campbell (Tom).
Having met at Cardiff School of Art and Design in 2018, they bonded over a shared interest in absurdity, print, queer identity and pop culture.
Using printed matter and visual media, they aim to explore, critique and deconstruct cultural traditions and identity through the philosophical lens of absurdism. Capturing the ethos of the eternal carnival of life is paramount to our practice.
The collective make badges, zines, stickers, prints, banners, quilts and other art pieces “for a better world”.
Since 2020, their aim has been to preserve & document outdated, obscure and unofficial folk history with a focus on authenticity and collaboration (both within their collective, and wider communities). When they’re not using their skills to boost awareness of big issues, we run community art workshops to share skills with others.
Yore
The collective’s 2025 exhibition ‘Hope Yore Well’ takes place at Tenby Museum & Art Gallery draws together themes of class, resistance, domesticity, place and collection.
Most works in the exhibition were created between 2023-2025, a time of great political and social unrest for the whole world, and many act as direct responses to the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
According to the artists, it’s easy to feel powerless at the moment, but small acts like quilting for Palestine have helped to focus their minds on the power of collective action. In their words: “We sat down to quilt, to ground ourselves after protests & pickets.”
Solidarity quilt
The star of this exhibition is the Wales-Palestine solidarity quilt, previously exhibited at Penarth Chapel as part of the ‘Gwneud’ exhibition.
The group shared: “It is an honour to exhibit this quilt in West Wales, where many of the submitted patches in the quilt came from.
“This quilt began as a project in November 2023, with the intent to encourage people to engage creatively with activism, as well as create a record of the broader Palestine solidarity movement in Wales.
“The quilt consists of 300+ patches made by different people from all walks of life across Wales, and was stitched together & hand quilted by us in Caerdydd.”
“The Palestine solidarity quilt took 14+ months to complete, and serves as a reminder of the still-ongoing terror Palestinians are subject to.
“The quilt also speaks to the cumulative power of small acts of collective action.
“Among the patches on the quilt, homage is paid to several Palestinian artists who have been killed; Heba Zagout, Mohammed Sami, Enas Al-Saqqa, Hibu Abu Nada, and Naji Al-Ali.”
When I Survive
The original artwork for the fundraiser album ‘When I Survive’ has been sewn into a cushion to be exhibited at Tenby Museum & Art Gallery.
The fundraiser compilation album, released in January 2025, saw musicians come together to raise money for Yousef Altamimi & Yahya Al Hamarna – 2 young men in Gaza.
The name of the album is taken from Yahya’s poem of the same name, detailing his hope for a better world free from occupation. You can support them by purchasing the music compilation here.
All fabrics used in their textile pieces are either hand dyed or reclaimed; from charity shops, from altered clothes, from loved ones’ de-stashing, offcuts from banners.
In a world increasingly reliant on exploitation, mechanisation & outsourcing, the group say it is an act of resistance in itself to make something yourself with reclaimed materials and save fabric from entering landfill.
Also debuting at Tenby Museum & Art Gallery is their new zine ‘Daytripper’, detailing their quest to see south Wales and beyond on public transport.
Other pieces in the exhibition explore themes of wealth redistribution, culture and hunger marches.
‘Hope Yore Well’ is exhibiting at Tenby Museum & Art Gallery until 26 June 2025.
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The Communist Banner would be anathema to the Islamic Rulers of Gaza as would anything to do with lesbian or gay culture. Currently what is going on in Gaza is not genocide and should not be presented as such although there are moves towards ethnic cleansing. The word genocide has now been debased by its use to describe all sorts of other equally bad situations like the civilian deaths in Gaza and other places where combat takes place in urban areas. Is the civil war in Sudan genocide?
I’m inclined to agree. First, because there’s an internationally recognized legal process to determine an instance of genocide, which in the case of Israel has not as yet been completed. But, more significantly, because over 20% of the population of Israel is non-Jewish, and most of those are of Palestinian heritage. I suspect that in practice they may find themselves disadvantaged in certain ways and it might be arguable that they’re de facto treated as second class citizens. But that doesn’t appear to inhibit them from earning a living, bringing up families, and living a pretty normal life. And there… Read more »