A Landscape of Wales

James Morris challenges the tourist cliches and looks at the impact of human presence and the layers history in the landscape. He reflects upon issues of identity, exploitation and regeneration; it is a land of beauty and of hardship where - in this post industrial, post rural economy - Tesco and to [...]
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James Morris challenges the tourist cliches and looks at the impact of human presence and the layers history in the landscape. He reflects upon issues of identity, exploitation and regeneration; it is a land of beauty and of hardship where - in this post industrial, post rural economy - Tesco and tourism are now the great employers. These are the contrasting realities of the Welsh landscape - that seen by the many visitors and that experienced by most inhabitants. Morris moves between tourist hot spots and the terraces and back streets where the majority of people live. The latter are often hard bitten unpretty places, often built for reasons that no longer exist, no longer the world's largest producer of iron, coal, copper or slate, these are places that have lost their historic and heroic status, sometimes even their raison d'etre. Regeneration is taking place, but it is taking its time. By contrast the tourist landscape is one of pleasure seeking and escape - this is the Wales that visitors are sold and want to see.But in a small land this selling of culture for the tourist pound has complex consequences that build on the complexities of a relationship that has shaped so much of the landscape.