In the 1980s, Ian Walker began to photograph memorials to the Chartist Rising in Newport, leading up to its 150th anniversary in 1989. He has continued to record them ever since, with a mixture of reportage and irony.

 

Some of these memorials are official and permanent, others are temporary and subversive. Some are large, others likely to missed by a casual viewer. Some are still here, others have long gone.

 

When Newport Rising held an open day on November 4 2021, Ian presented a slideshow of his photos in the Westgate Hotel itself. The sequence here is an edited version of that show with a final sequence of pictures taken on the day itself.

 

Before his retirement in 2013, Ian Walker was Professor of Photography at the University of South Wales, then based in Caerleon. More examples of his work, both photographic and written, can be found on his website: ianwalkerphoto.com.

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