The Assembly Project
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Background
The project was borne out of a chance encounter between the Project's Creative Directors, Eleri Griffiths and Dave Paddy, and their local Assembly Member, Sandie Mewies. This meeting was at the opening of an exhibition for Paddy’s photography students, over which Sandie had kindly agreed to preside. At the opening, both Paddy and Eleri were struck by Sandie's honest and open nature and they ended up discussing the reputation of politicians in general and how, more often than not, they received adverse publicity.
As a consequence, Eleri contacted Ann Jones and a number of other local North Wales A.M.s to gauge their reaction to being photographed within their constituency at a location which was important for either personal, ministerial or historical significance. The reaction was enthusiastic and The Assembly Project (as it became known) began formally on 25th July 2007 with the first images of Ann Jones in Rhyl.
The Assembly Project received generous funding from Yale College in Wrexham, with a a financial package and loan of photographic equipment. This enabled the project to be completed almost two and a half years later on the 31st of July 2009 with it's final images Lynne Neagle at the Big Pit in Blaenavon.
The Future
Planning is currently underway for an exhibition as a celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Welsh Assembly Government in 2009/10.
The National Library of Wales is committed to archiving the complete project including DVDs of all the original digital files and a complete set of archival prints to be used as an educational resource.
About Co-Creative Director, Dave Paddy
Dave Paddy ('Paddy', as he prefers to be called) has been a Lecturer in Photography for over 14 years. A qualified Aeronautical Engineer, he gave up a career in the industry to pursue his love of image-making. Gaining his degree in Photographic Studies at the University of Derby he went on to help establish a number of photographic projects in the East Midlands.
Now teaching full-time at Yale College of Wrexham, he has moved into areas of new technologies and digital media and is responsible for the art direction and ‘identity’ of the The Assembly Project. After gaining his P.G.C.E, and with a proven track record in education, he relinquished his position as Programme Co-ordinator for the National Diplomas in Multimedia and Photography in order to dedicate more of his time and energy to The Assembly Project.
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