Cyfarthfa Castle Museum and Art Gallery’s new arts prize, Cyfarthfa: Juxtaposed,opened this May. Launched as part of Cyfarthfa’s bicentenary celebrations, the exhibition features the work of 76 artists working in Wales, who have explored the existing collection artworks at Cyfarthfa Museum and Art Gallery and ‘juxtaposed’ a contemporary response.
Cyfarthfa: Juxtaposed has been made possible thanks to support from the Cyfarthfa Foundation which is the charitable organisation championing the long-term development of Cyfarthfa Castle and Park at Merthyr Tydfil.
A panel have judged the submissions with three winning pieces announced: for painting, Daniel Lazenby; photography was awarded to Konrad Gwozdz; and in the print category, Dan Thorne.
The winning artist in each category received £500 with the overall winner Daniel Lazenby, receiving £1,000 towards a 3-month solo show at Cyfarthfa Castle Museum and Art Gallery in late 2026.
Several highly commended artists who were awarded a share of £100 per category. In the painting category Victoria Beynon was the amateur winner and highly commended artists were Sinead Attwell, Robert da Haan and Gordon Dalton. Also highly commended for printmaking were Jaqueline Jones and Anna Marris, and for photography Anna Dabrowska and Rory Chapman.
The winning artworks from each category are being considered for accessioning into Cyfarthfa’s permanent collection. The museum has been collecting and exhibiting art since 1910 and hold some of Wales’s most prestigious artists within the collection.
The work of the three winning artists is being displayed as part of the Cyfarthfa: Juxtaposed exhibition, alongside links to view the inspiration for their pieces. The exhibition will then form the backbone of a programme of education and community activities, further encouraging people from all backgrounds to engage with the collection of artworks at Cyfarthfa.
Winning artist Daniel Lazenby said “I am deeply humbled and very grateful. I think art and creativity can be such a force for good, and it certainly has been a saving grace many times for me”.
The panel of judges included André Stitt, an award-winning artist from Belfast, Northern Ireland who was professor of fine art at Cardiff School of Art + Design, Cardiff Metropolitan University, and a fellow of the Royal Society of Art; Dr Bronwen Colquhoun, Senior Curator of Photography at Amgueddfa Cymru; and Sarah Hopkins, printmaker, Director at Swansea Print Workshop and member of the Royal Cambrian Academy of Art.
Judge Dr Bronwen Colquhoun said “The three photographs that I have selected for this category are all powerful works in their own right but ultimately ask questions around the human condition and how it is shaped by society. They have all very successfully responded to the brief by reimagining and reinterpreting the artworks in the collection in a contemporary context.
“The winner of this category has created an incredibly powerful and beautifully composed portrait which explores themes around identity and belonging, set against the backdrop of place.”
Jess Mahoney, CEO of the Cyfarthfa Foundation which has supported Cyfarthfa: Juxtaposed, expressed the Foundation’s delight for the arts prize and exhibition “It has been a privilege to support Cyfarthfa Museum and Art Gallery to launch the Cyfarthfa: Juxtaposed Arts Prize in Cyfarthfa’s 200th year. The quality and range of the work is outstanding and includes some fascinating and thought-provoking responses to the gallery’s permanent collection.
“The exhibition also aligns closely with our long-term ambitions for Cyfarthfa’s development, which we often describe as using ‘the past’ as ‘an instrument with which the present can build a future’. The exhibited artists embody that analogy in very literal ways: they have taken what belongs to our shared heritage, and used it to create a contemporary response that will now become part of the future of this incredible building. I look forward to continuing to work with the museum and gallery team, and the wider creative community, as we build on the success of this inaugural Juxtaposed prize, and shape that future together.”
Klara Sroka, Curator of Cyfarthfa: Juxtaposed Arts Prize and Arts and Exhibitions Coordinator at Cyfarthfa Castle Museum and Art Gallery said “It has been an honour and privilege to have curated this art call, we have so many incredible entries that highlight contemporary discourse around, identity, place, the climate emergency and of course celebrating our magnificent iron history. We are very proud to share this lively and diverse contemporary art exhibition with all of our visitors at the museum to celebrate our bicentennial year”.
The Cyfarthfa: Juxtaposed exhibition runs from Friday 23 May to Sunday 31 August. Entry to the museum costs £3.50 for adults, £3 concessions and children are free.
