In the early 2000s, Ken Griffiths undertook three expeditions to Chubut in Patagonia, accompanied on those journeys by his friend Norman Thomas di Giovanni, a writer, onetime resident of Argentina, and translator of their most famous writer, Jorge Luis Borges. Griffiths and di Giovanni were from the outset moved by the quest of the Welsh settlers who set out from Liverpool in search of a South American home where they could preserve their culture and language. Nearly defeated in the first year by hardship and starvation, they succeeded through inexhaustible determination and their enlightened treatment of the native Indians, the Tehuelche, who made annual migrations to the area. Griffiths and di Giovanni were fascinated by the achievements of these ordinary Welsh settlers, spearheading a route to the Andes and forming a new colony there that is now part of the mythic lore of Argentina.

The artists studied scores of early photographs by John Murray Thomas, one of the colony’s founding fathers, and retraced the routes of the Welsh early pioneers.

The exhibition coincides with the 150th Anniversary of Wales-Patagonia.