Interview: Elin Gruffydd on Sweet Melancholy

Imogen Davies 

Sweet Melancholy
an odyssey from Enlli to Hydra
trwy lanw, trai a chwedlau

‘Sweet Melancholy’ combines Elin Gruffydd’s evocative film photography with the words of the Welsh artist Brenda Chamberlain in a visual exploration of Ynys Enlli (Bardsey Island) and the Greek island Hydra.

Brenda Chamberlain was a Welsh artist, poet and writer, born in Bangor in 1912. She trained as a painter at the Royal Academy Schools in London in 1931, winning the first two Gold Medals awarded by the National Eisteddfod of Wales in the Fine Art category, for her paintings ‘Girl with a Siamese Cat’ (1951) and ‘The Cristin Children’ (1953). She lived on Ynys Enlli from 1947 to 1962, writing a memoir of her life there, ‘Tide-Race’ (1962), before becoming an expatriate on the island of Hydra, Greece, from 1962 to 1967, where she was inspired to write ‘A Rope of Vines: Journal from a Greek Island’ (1965). Four years after returning to Bangor, she died, aged 59.

Each photograph in ‘Sweet Melancholy’ is thoughtfully paired with a quote taken from Chamberlain written work ‘Tide Race’ or ‘A Rope of Vines’, as each frame opens up a space in which Chamberlain words float, drift and slowly sink into the depth of the reader’s imagination of the precise moment Gruffydd skilfully captures through her lens.

What compelled you to create this book, combining Chamberlain’s words and your photographs?

I first became acquainted with Brenda Chamberlain’s work while living on Ynys Enlli during the spring and summer of 2021 and 2022. Brenda; an artist, author and poet, had lived on the island from 1947 to 1961, and her presence was still palpable, with some of her murals still visible on the walls of Carreg Fawr, the house where she once lived.

After leaving Enlli, I began reading her work and was drawn into her world. I was particularly fascinated by her journey from Enlli to the Greek island of Hydra. During my own time on Enlli, I was immersed in a BA in Classical Studies, my thoughts full of ancient Greece and its mythology.

The more I read about Brenda, the more I felt a connection forming, as though invisible threads were
weaving our lives and paths together.

I was inspired to explore those connections further. I began to imagine a creative project that would intertwine my own photography with her words, a visual exploration of Enlli and Hydra, shaped by shared landscapes, ideas, and artistic sensibilities.

How and why did you get into photography? Has being from Wales, Pen Llŷn, influenced your choice of art form or photography style?

When I first got into photography, I used a digital camera. I enjoyed taking photos, but the excitement often ended there, I never had the motivation to sift through the hundreds of images I’d captured.

During the first lockdown, on a bit of a whim, I bought a film camera and instantly fell in love with the process. The limitation of just 36 exposures per roll completely changed how I approached photography. It made the experience more intentional, encouraging me to slow down and carefully consider each shot before pressing the shutter.

Growing up in Pen Llŷn has also played a big role in shaping my style. Most of my work is done outdoors, surrounded by nature, and with its rugged, breathtaking coastline, Pen Llŷn provides the perfect backdrop for that kind of photography.

You quote Lewis Hine, “If I could tell the story in words, I wouldn’t need to lug a camera”, but do you think a camera can capture that words can’t?

I’ve never been able to capture a moment in words the way I can with photography, especially with film. For me, there’s something about the texture, the light, the stillness that speaks louder than language. When I look back at my photos, it’s as if I’m right there again, inside the moment, it’s like stepping into a memory, not just recalling it but feeling it again. There’s a sense of presence and atmosphere, that I just can’t recreate through writing. I struggle to explain it, which maybe answers the question in itself.

Can you describe the creative process behind this book? Were the photographs taken in response or did the selection of Chamberlain’s words surface from the photographs?

The book emerged from a dynamic interplay between text and image. The quotes were all drawn from Brenda Chamberlain’s Tide Race (1962), a novel influenced by her life on Enlli, and A Rope a Vines, Journal from a Greek Island (1965), from her time spent living on Hydra. I revisited these texts multiple times, each reading yielding new resonances. I selected quotes then curated and restructured to form a narrative that reflects my own journey and emotional connection to both islands.

The photographs were not directly taken in response to specific quotes, nor were the quotes chosen solely to accompany specific images. Instead, both elements were collected and then woven together with intention. Images and texts are interspersed without a fixed geographical correspondence, deliberately blurring the boundaries between the two islands.

Why photograph in film? Describing it as a “nostalgic lens”, why do you think this is essential
to Sweet Melancholy?

Describing film as a “nostalgic lens” acknowledges how its grain, softness, and imperfections evoke a sense of distance or memory, which aligns deeply with the emotional tone of Sweet Melancholy.

In the context of this work, film photography becomes essential because it mirrors the themes at the heart of the project: longing, reflection, and the passage of time. Just as the selected texts are drawn from re-readings and fragments of the past, film, with its slow, deliberate nature, grounds the imagery in something tactile and contemplative. Moreover, film’s inherent limitations, its finite exposures, its inability to be instantly reviewed, demand a different kind of presence and trust. This complements the project’s desire to blur spaces and times, to exist in-between rather than to sharply define.

The introduction is written in Welsh, English and Greek. Why was it important to you to have all three languages represented? Can you speak all three?

Tide Race and A Rope of Vines are both written in English, but it felt natural for the introduction to be Welsh, as it’s my first language. I didn’t really think about it, it just always comes first.

The idea to make the introduction trilingual actually came from Parthian Books, and it was arranged for Claire Papamichael to provide the Greek translation. Since half of the photos and quotes in the book come from Hydra, it made sense to present the context in all three languages. This way, the introduction reflects the book’s geographical and cultural roots.

Brenda Chamberlain once said, “For as long as they could see it, my eyes did not leave the rain-shrouded mountain. On her slopes I had left a new self, and have vowed to return.” It’s almost as if Chamberlain knew she would eventually return to the island in some form, and through your work, she has. What do you think she would make of this book?

This is something I’ve thought about often. Of course, I hope she would have liked the book. It must be a strange thing, to have your own words lifted into a new context, reimagined through someone else’s eyes. The quotes I chose are the ones that spoke to me most deeply. Some of them are quite dark, but I hope she would understand that this was a cathartic process for me, a way of working through my own anxieties by creating something honest.

In many ways, her words became a mirror. They helped me make sense of my own experience. I’d like to think she would see this book not just as a tribute to her, but as a continuation of the emotional and creative threads she left behind. In returning to the island through this work, she also helped guide me back to myself.

What sparked your initial interest in Greek mythology to study it at undergraduate level, then go on to study it at master’s level?

I originally started a degree in Spanish but took an introductory module in Classics on the side. I quickly fell in love with ancient history, Greek mythology, and Roman literature, and realised that this was the path I wanted to follow. So, I changed direction and decided to focus on the Classical world instead.

What do you hope readers take away from this book?

I hope to spark a renewed interest in Brenda Chamberlain’s work, especially among readers who may not have come across her before. More than that, I hope people feel the deep emotional connection we share with the landscapes around us, the way place can hold memory, feeling, and meaning.

It’s quite a personal book. The quotes I’ve chosen to accompany the photographs come from a place of real vulnerability, and I’ve put a lot of myself into them. I hope readers can sense that honesty, and see how creativity, whether through words or images, can be a cathartic way to process experience and emotion.

Sweet Melancholy is available now, published by Parthian Books.

Elin Gruffydd is a film photographer from Pen Llŷn, north Wales. Her work, often situated in nature, explores simple beauty, intimacy and femininity. She aims to capture quiet moments in dreamy spaces, through the nostalgic lens of film, inspired by the sea, the mountains, and everything in between.

Imogen Davies is a Welsh writer and creative from Aberystwyth. She is based in Edinburgh.