Courtesy of the artist and Ed Cross Fine Art

Anya Paintsil directly draws on her Welsh-Ghanaian heritage to create her textile pieces. She uses rug-hooking, passed down by generations of Welsh women in her family. She also employs Black and Afro hairstyling techniques, often integrating real and synthetic hair into the works themselves. She aims to elevate craft-based practices associated with women of colour and working-class women. Blodeuwedd is part of Paintsil’s recent series of portraits of women from Welsh folklore. Blodeuwedd, the central character in the tale of Math fab Mathonwy, translates from Middle Welsh as “Flower Face”.