Gallery 3

Toni de Jesus

This touring exhibition builds on ideas from Toni De Jesus’s solo show at MUDAS – Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Madeira (Portugal, 2023). It focuses on the interplay between the artist, the work, the material and place.

Toni has a history of migration, which creates a feeling of both belonging and not belonging. Parallel to this, his work exists in the space between tradition and breaking with tradition, functionality and non-functionality, craftsmanship and idea-based art. This space in-between is where Toni’s identity is formed. Driven by a desire for connection, Toni explores themes of place, memory, and loss; core elements of his migrant experience.

Through examining how local materials, such as sand, rocks, sediments and clays have been used with ceramics throughout Maderia’s 600-year history, Toni was able to find a tangible link between what defines where he comes from and what he is.

He also delves into non-physical heritage, the sharing of stories, gossip and songs passed down from family and locals. This creates a parallel between something that is solid, like ceramics fired in a wood kiln and the perishable, like the whisper of how my grandmother met my grandad. The developed work explores these notions in a different context. Living in Wales for the past ten years has transformed Toni into the person he is today.

Many people can relate to the feeling of being in-between. Through this exhibition, Toni invites viewers to reflect on their own identities and how these experiences shape their understanding of Cacúlo.

A Llantarnam Grange Arts Centre and Ruthin Craft Centre Partnership exhibition funded by Arts Council of Wales Create Funding.