Sundsvall, Sweden from the air (c) Rhys Jones, 2005

First post for a while, so I guess I must have been keeping my visual self to myself! This week I am giving a presentation to a local exporters association - the theme of the evening is Scandinavia. I'll be talking about my experiences of going on a Trade and Cultural Mission with the Swansea Business Centre  almost exactly 3 years ago in 2005. I made some good contacts and in August 2007 I had an exhibition of my work in Sundsvall City Hall. Sundsvall is in the Swedish Midlands about 3-4 hours north of Stockholm by train. Not sure who all the other speakers will be, but it is normally a good mix of people from the media, small enterprises and experts in exporting. In these times of 'credit crunch' it is even more difficult to export services and goods.

Walestonia Exhibition

Photographers, Annika Haas, Birgit Puve and Age Peterson (c) Rhys Jones October 2008

I went to the opening of an exhibition in Cardiff by three photographers from Estonia : Annika Haas, Birgit Puve and Age Peterson (pictured above). They have spent eight years documenting the people and landscapes of communities in a region called Prichudie around the western shore of Lake Peipus which divides Estonia and Russia. The ancestors of the current communities were refugees from Russia called 'Old Believers' who resisted reforms of the Patriarch Nikon in the Russian Orthodox Church after he came to power in 1654.

A very absorbing and interesting exhibition - it reminded me of the images taken by the American photographer Paul Strand when he documunted the communities of the Outer Hebrides in Scotland back in the 1950s.

I was interviewed by an Estonian TV Arts Programme OP! which aired on 21 October. It will eventually be placed in their archive so I hope to be able to share a link to the programme about their visit to Wales.