Telling the Story of Welsh Art—But Is Anyone Listening?

Since the devolution of political authority was introduced to Wales, the museums and culture sector has been increasingly influenced by the political sector. One aspect of the culture sector to become a focus for Welsh politicians has been the idea of establishing a National Gallery for Wales. This has increased pressure on the National Museum Wales, the body which would be responsible for creating a National Gallery, to revisit its approach to the display of national art collections and associated narratives. However, in an effort to create something resembling a National Gallery, has National Museum Wales ultimately fallen short in achieving wider goals of developing a Welsh narrative through the nation's art holdings? This paper explores how effective the National Museum has been in exploring national narratives through its displays, by focusing on audience engagement with exhibitions. A visitor study, conducted between 2012 and 2014, explored the way in which visitors engaged with works of art that might be classified as being “Welsh.” Following this three year period, it became clear that visitors were not viewing Welsh art work as a viewing priority, and tended to not enter the one exhibition area to present a strong Welsh narrative connected to the display of art. In a context where visitors appear to systematically disengage with a national narrative—a narrative seen to be a priority by Welsh politicians and the museum hierarchy—why is this failure occurring? How might it be confronted? And ultimately does, or should, this emphasis matter in the first place?