Fy Ynys (my island)

Ynys Môn (The Isle of Anglesey in the Welsh language), lies off the North Wales coast, connected to the mainland by two bridges. Previously overshadowed by the nearby Eryri (Snowdonia) National Park, the island has seen a dramatic increase in visitors decade upon decade with improving transport infrastructure. But his has become particularly acute since the pandemic and especially so with the longer term publication of popular images via social media. The sharing of formulaic, stereotypical, often gaudy, photographs in an insatiable ‘tick box’ culture has reduced some parts of the island to over-subscribed hot spots. An unregulated democratisation of photography and electronic communication has lead to profound sociological change.

Though not unique in this internet age across the world, this phenomenon specifically places pressure on Ynys Môn’s fragile natural environment, an equally fragile Welsh language and culture, as well as daily life. Whilst tourism brings benefits to certain sectors of the local economy, it is hard to achieve a balance where the island doesn’t feel like it is becoming a commodity or place that is sometimes abused, or at the very best, taken for granted. Ultimately, it also leads to a new wave of incomers, rising property prices and further pressure on Europe’s oldest written language.

‘Fy Ynys’ is a very personal response by the photographer, Robert Law, who has lived on the island since his childhood in the 1970’s. The project visits some of the few remaining places the photographer can still visit and be alone, or create images that will not be readily recognised, yet are quintisentially ‘Ynys Môn’ in character.

In response to this feeling of commodification, this project adopts an approach that eschews the almost impossible search for natural perfection, the ‘photographic lie’, incorporating the man-made where it occurs as well as ‘vignettes’ of the rural, working landscape. The photographer uses a minimalist, analogue, monochrome approach to strip away any crowd-pleasing allusions, adopting a hopefully honest, even melancholic, visual narrative.

It speaks a visual language that reflects his ‘hiraeth’ (Welsh for a ‘longing’) and nostalgia for a more innocent age as the photographer seeks to reclaim ‘Fy Ynys’ - ‘My Island’.

This project has received a Special Mention in the Urbanautica Institute Awards 2023 (Anthropology and Territories).