Sean Edwards

National Museum Cardiff

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How do we navigate memory, class, and the weight of expectations—especially when so much remains unspoken? These questions are at the core of a new exhibition by Cardiff-born artist Sean Edwards at National Museum Cardiff.

The installation brings together work acquired by Amgueddfa Cymru from Undo Things Done—Edwards’ presentation for Wales in Venice at the 2019 Biennale—layered with his more recent body of work, Chased Losses. Together, they create a deeply personal meditation on childhood memory, family relationships, and the shared condition of “not expecting much.”

Edwards works across sculpture, textile, painting, and print. A recurring motif throughout the exhibition is the fragmentary use of the letters “un,” drawn from the masthead of The Sun newspaper. Repeated across different works, it functions as what Edwards describes as a “social stutter”—a marker of the uncertainties and silences shaped by working-class experience. Many of the pieces incorporate partial images and fragments, evoking the circularity of unresolved personal and social issues, and the traces of memory and behaviour we attempt to move beyond.

Sean Edwards (b. 1980, Cardiff) studied at Cardiff School of Art & Design and the Slade School of Fine Art. His work has been exhibited widely in the UK and internationally, including Chapter (Cardiff), Spike Island (Bristol), and Temple Bar Gallery (Dublin). In 2019, he represented Wales at the 58th Venice Biennale, and in 2020 was awarded the Turner Prize Bursary. Edwards is currently Programme Director for Fine Art & Photography at Cardiff School of Art & Design and is represented by Tanya Leighton Gallery, Berlin.

Suitability: All

Cost: Free