Meet the next of our Upmarket Artists - Anna Bush Crews.

The Mould Is Broken, an installation piece by Anna Bush Crews, incorporates elements of photography, assemblage and found objects to offer a poignant and dislocated refection on Newport’s industrial past.

The centrepiece of the work is a collection of hammers the artist has been collecting since moving to Newport in 2001.

“As a foreigner, cultural references to South Wales’ industrial past are important to me and the hammer is a powerful metaphor in providing a link to that past and also a sense of place. I find the area’s history fascinating and revealing the past through objects such as a hammer helps make history tangible,” she said.

Originally from New Mexico, Anna has exhibited in Africa, the US and the UK. She places her work in the tradition of the Dadaists and the Surrealists.

She said: “I don’t always know where my ideas come from and they can take years to suggest themselves. Upon seeing the space in Newport’s Market, I was certain that I could use objects in new ways, to divorce them from their previous uses and draw new meanings within the space.”

As well as assembling found objects, Anna has also used the 19th century photographic process of the cyanotype to suggest the nature of cyclic existence and a reproduction of a photograph depicting a South Wales steel workshop from the late 1800s, used to ghostly effect. The work also features a collaboration with sonic artist Arcs Of Semen.

“Through varied approaches, I wanted to create a poetic and multi-layered piece that spoke of the area’s industrial past, to carry forward that history even though the hammers have been laid down. It is important, now more than ever, that we don’t let these workmen be forgotten”.

The Mould Is Broken is in the Upmarket Galleries until late December.