Wales: Photographien mit Gedichten von Dylan Thomas

Name of traveller

Michael Ruetz (b. 1940)

Reason for travel

• photography

Date of travel

1987

An Wales hat mich nur der Charakter der Region als Dylan Thomas' Seelenlandschaft interessiert. Daß Wales seine Seelenlandschaft ist, geht unzweideutig aus einem Brief hervor, in dem er schreibt: "The highest hymns of the sun are written in the dark. I like the grey country . . . the crowds of colours I like trying to mix for myself out of a grey, flat, insular mud." (Ruetz 115)

Content

• art:
  • photographs interspersed with poems by Dylan Thomas (1914-1953) in English and with their German translations underneath
  • no bright colours, the only thing that stands out are whitewashed walls against very dark surroundings
• people: a depopulated Wales without inhabitants, only their artefacts, e.g. houses, castles, industrial structures, are represented
• terrain:
  • not interested in photographing Wales as a location not for the purpose of travel or holidaying, but for capturing Dylan Thomas's "soul landscape"
  • some pictures with a blue sky, but mostly dark and grey landscapes predominantly of north Wales
  • modern industry is only documented by its destructive impact on the landscape

Nationality of traveller

German

Language of publication

German, English

Gender of traveller

Male

Type of publication

photography

Citation

Ruetz, Michael. Wales: Photographien mit Gedichten von Dylan Thomas. München/Paris/London: Schirmer/Mosel, 1990. Print.