Moving exhibition gives voice to Port Talbot after Blast Furnace closure

Stephen Price

Almost two years after the final blast furnace fell silent, a powerful new exhibition is set to open in Port Talbot featuring works by one of Wales’ leading photographers, bringing the community’s experiences, memories and hopes for the future into sharp focus.

Steeling Ourselves: Reflections from Port Talbot After the Blast Furnace Closure, created by acclaimed photographer Jon Pountney in collaboration with leading researchers, launches on 31 July 2026 from 6pm–8pm at The Plaza, Port Talbot, and will remain open to the public until 7th August 2026.

Combining striking photography with deeply personal stories from local residents, the exhibition captures a community navigating one of the most significant industrial transitions in Welsh history.

Through intimate portraits, reflections and shared memories, visitors will gain a unique insight into life in Port Talbot after the closure of the blast furnace.

The exhibition forms part of the ground-breaking After the End research project, which explores how communities experience endings and transitions, examining themes of memory, resilience, identity, power and resistance. The project is led by Professor Patricia Kingori (The Ethox Centre, University of Oxford) alongside Professor Ruth Ogden (Liverpool John Moores University) and Professor Laura Salisbury (University of Exeter).

Steeling Ourselves is a celebration of Port Talbot’s people—their strength, creativity and determination to shape the future while preserving the memories and experiences that matter, creating a space where art, research and community experience come together, encouraging conversations about belonging, heritage and what comes next.

Jon Pountney, whose work is widely recognised for its exploration of memory, community and social history, offers an evocative portrait of a town at a pivotal moment. His photographs document not only a changing landscape, but also the people whose lives and identities have been intertwined with Port Talbot’s steelmaking legacy for generations.

Researchers hope the exhibition will spark wider discussions about the social impacts of industrial change and ensure that local voices play a central role in conversations about regeneration and the future of communities experiencing major economic transitions.

Pountney told Nation Cymru: “I first saw Port Talbot as many people do, from the stilted M4 motorway which seems to go straight through the centre of the town. It was on my way to a party in Swansea in 1998, as an art student living in Cardiff, and having no real idea that the works were even there, I was pretty stunned to drive past it at sunset on a sunny summer evening.

“A bit like the tall tale that features Ridley Scott (which has Port Talbot as the inspiration for scenes in Blade Runner) I was astonished to see the belches of blue flame and huge puffs of steam coming from the vast industrial tangle of the Steel Works that seemed to stretch all the way around the bay, dwarfing the town itself.”

Pountney first photographed the town in 2007, taking some pictures on the set of the feature film ‘I Know You Know’, which starred Robert Carlyle.

He said: “The space within the town is incredible with the mountains in one direction, and the brutal sculptures of the steel works machines in the other, and the streets seems to frame up image after image; I’ve always found what many describe as ‘ugly’ to actually be a fascinating place to work.

“Unsurprisingly, the town inspires a lot of creative responses, but strangely I think I’m in a unique position as an artist who has covered the closure of the works in a play (We’re Still Here), a TV drama (The Way), and in real life.”

He was also one of the last two photographers in the last Blast Furnace itself, alongside his good friend Roo Lewis which was, as he describes, “an unforgettably vivid and humbling experience”.

He shared: “The heat, incredibly restrictive safely clothing and the ever present feeling of real danger gave me a huge sense of respect for the people that work there, but to see the Works from within gave me a sense of being within a huge living machine, awe inspiring in it’s scale. I found it really difficult to do justice to the these vistas in my photos. The town keeps calling me back.”

For this project, Pountney has returned to some of older work from the town, but also photographed a huge amount of new work as part of the commission.

He told Nation Cymru: “I’ve been influenced by the filmmaker and artist Derek Jarman, who late in life lived in the unique space of Dungeness in Kent.

“There are lots of similarities to the vast shingle beach and nuclear power station that dwarfs the fishermen’s huts in Dungeness to the steel works and the town in Port Talbot; taking inspiration from the aesthetic of the Jarman film ‘The Garden’, I have tried to reflect on the earth, air, fire and water elements that brought the modern Works to Port Talbot in 1951, and show how the town and Works is surrounded by the sea, and nature.

As for the evolution of the project, and the stories that will be told for generations to come, he said: “I’m now in the next phase of the project, reaching out to the community and undertaking a series of interviews with residents, and I’m hoping this exhibition will prompt people to get in touch with me and help with the project.”

“I’m looking to talk to any member of the community, with memories of the Works, or connections to it. I can be contacted on [email protected]”

Steeling Ourselves: Reflections from Port Talbot After the Blast Furnace Closure launches on 31 July 2026 at 6pm–8pm
 at The Plaza, Talbot Road, Port Talbot, SA13 1DH


The exhibition will run until 7 August 2026.

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