Hard Rain and Vital Signs Swansea Exhibition

Seen by 10 million people in major cities around the world, Hard Rain is an extraordinary exhibition that combines images captured by the award-winning photographer Mark Edwards with the poetic lyrics of the legendary genius Bob Dylan. The banner-style display presents major global issues such as climate change, poverty and wildlife extinction in a startling and original way. The exhibition was on display outside the National Waterfront Museum over Summer 2009 in what was its first visit to Wales.

Accompanying Hard Rain was a brand new photographic exhibition – Vital Signs Swansea – which features local activities and projects that contribute to sustainability. Vital Signs is a new development in the Hard Rain Project and Swansea was the first place in the world to participate. Welsh photographer David Woodfall was specially commissioned to produce a set of images to show how local people are responding positively to the global challenges presented in Hard Rain. Mark Edwards, founder and director of the Hard Rain Project, commented “Swansea is the first venue to present its response to these issues. Other towns, cities and countries will follow illustrating some of the many solutions that need to be scaled up and widely adopted.”.

The Exhibition was launched on World Environment Day, with a weekend of celebration including an EcoZone festival with loads of stalls and activities. 

Sustainable Swansea is a partnership project run by Swansea Environmental Forum. The Hard Rain and Vital Signs Swansea programme was supported by the City and County of Swansea, Countryside Council for Wales, Environment Agency Wales, National Waterfront Museum, Welsh Assembly Government, Co-operative and the Environment Centre.

©Mark Edwards

Earth from the Air exhibition is a great success!

The outdoor Earth from the Air exhibition is a collection of 120 unique, large-scale aerial photographs of astonishing natural landscapes, taken by French photographer Yann Arthus-Betrand. The exhibition included a giant, walk-on world map, an Agenda for Change display, and a retail and information unit.

 Around 100,000 people visited the Earth from the Air exhibition in Swansea where it made its Welsh debut and took pride of place outside the National Waterfront Museum.

At the exhibition and associated events, which included the BBC Breathing Cities festival and the Live Earth Weekend, thousands of visitors, local people, and community groups made pledges to live more sustainably. Also, as part of World Environment Day activities, Environment Agency Wales ran a survey on climate change and collected pledges of action to combat it. The Lord Mayor of Swansea, Cllr. Susan Waller, officially opened the exhibition on World Environment Day.

Around 1500 people from Communities First areas across the Swansea got involved in the Earth from the Air community outreach programme, and turned their environmental pledges into action in their own neighbourhoods by getting involved in activities such as pond clearance, switching to energy efficient lightbulbs, and a beach clean.

Additionally, 52 educational workshops ran alongside the exhibition and looked at issues of citizenship and sustainability, themes strongly reflected in Earth from the Air images. The Environment Centre and SCVS joined forces to run a hugely successful volunteer scheme, which saw 60 volunteer stewards clock up the equivalent of 220 full-time days.