Freelancers have expressed what is special about being a creative where they live for a new digital storymap.

The 11 new pieces of work capture creativity across the region from a coat of radical kindness to an ice sculpture representing COVID-19 loss, a dance on the Treorchy hills to a stop motion animation of a year in the life of an artist.

The Our creative place project is a collaboration between Creative Cardiff, Arts Council of Wales and the commissioned creatives to collectively build the creative story of Cardiff Capital Region. The storymap follows creatives from mountain tops, through forests, along rivers, into city centres and down the streets of towns and villages. The works reveal tales of the past and look to the future, explore myth, and challenge what we mean by place. The creatives have spotlighted community, wondered at nature, voiced gratitude, and documented resilience.

The digital storymap features creative expression of place from: Claire Hiett + Carys Fletcher, Erin Mali Julian, Francine Davies, Gwenllian Davenport, Hunk Williams, James Tottle, Justin Teddy Cliffe, Lucy Jones, Naz Syed, Rufus Mufasa and Stuart H. Bawler.

Creative Cardiff project manager Vicki Sutton said:

“Getting to know and work with this group of creatives over the past few months has been a real joy. The depth and honesty of their stories is hugely inspiring and demonstrates to me how richly creative our region is.

“Through the process many of the creatives forged or strengthened connections with each other at our online workshop sessions – helping out with supplies, ideas and motivation – and for Creative Cardiff those connections and collaborations are just as important as the final storymap. We’re looking forward to building upon this placemaking work in the future.”

Professor Jon Anderson, from Cardiff University's School of Geography and Planning, has reflected on placemaking and the Our creative place storymap.

He said:

“Through their combination of imagination, creativity, and geography these works story us into the lives of others (and story others into our lives too). They remind us of the diversity that constitutes our communities, the different ages, genders, the various pasts and presents, all with a range of values and ideals which compose our region. These works remind us that imagination, creativity, and geography help us regenerate our empathy for the differences in the lives of others and feel a sense of genuine pride for the ways they combine to forge our region.

“To me, this commission is significant. It reminds us that in our changing lives, when we feel alone, all we need to do is reach out. Art, creativity, people, and place are verbs which can help us; they can ‘see us through’. It works for these artists, as products and producers of their communities, and it can work for us as their audience too.”