Annie Morgan Suganami: Olion Bywyd co-presented with TEN Cardiff
Overview
Ffrog Wlan
Ffrog Wlan

Curated by Gallery Ten’s Cat Gardiner, Olion Bywyd is the first collaborative exhibition connecting Cardiff and Cardigan

Meet The Artist Saturday 7 March 1-3pm

 

In honour of International Women's Day, Canfas is proud to present Gallery TEN’s exhibition of paintings by Machynlleth based Annie Morgan Suganami, curated by Cat Gardiner.

 At the heart of Suganami’s work are the matriarchs — the elderly women who shaped family and community life, yet are so often overlooked by society. In her exhibition Olion Bywyd - Life Lines, Suganami turns her gaze solely to portraiture, giving these women the dignity and visibility they deserve.

Known for both her portraits and still life paintings, Suganami brings tremendous tenderness, humour, and love to her sitters — as if they represent all those quiet heroines whose influence endures across generations.

Her rich, flowing paintings demonstrate a confident mastery of the brush. The paint is reworked again and again — built up, rubbed back and rebuilt — before being accented with strong outlines and flashes of neon. With a single skilful gesture, the curve of a shoulder, the fold of a sleeve, or the weight of a blouse comes alive. This ease with paint gives her portraits vitality and warmth, ensuring her subjects feel present and dynamic rather than formal or posed.

The interplay of fine detail and loose, immediate marks offers a multitude of visual entry points, while the degree to which Suganami balances these elements varies from work to work — reflecting the individuality and character of each sitter.

Works
Press release

DATGANIAD * PRESS RELEASE

cyd-gyflwynir gan • co-presented by TEN Caerdydd x Oriel Canfas Aberteifi

Annie Morgan Suganami Olion Bywyd • Life Lines

28|02 - 28|03|26

MAE ORIEL CANFAS ABERTEIFI A TEN CAERDYDD YN UNO AR GYFER DIWRNOD RHYNGWLADOL Y MERCHED GYDA ‘OLION BYWYD • LIFE LINES’ — DATHLIAD TYNER O FENYWOD CYMRU TRWY BORTREADAU GAN YR ARTIST NODEDIG ANNIE MORGAN SUGANAMI

Cwrdd â'r Artist Dydd Sadwrn 7 Mawrth 1-3pm Oriel Canfas, Grosvenor Hill, Aberteifi SA43 1HY Arddangosfa yn parhau tan 28 Mawrth

I nodi Diwrnod Rhyngwladol y Merched 2026, mae Oriel Canfas Aberteifi a TEN Caerdydd yn dod at ei gilydd mewn cydweithrediad rhyfeddol i gyflwyno ‘Olion Bywyd • Life Lines’ - arddangosfa ymweld gan yr artist Annie Morgan Suganami sy’n anrhydeddu gwydnwch, hiwmor a chryfder tawel menywod Cymru, wedi'i churadu gan Cat Gardiner o TEN.

‘Mae’n amseri perffaith i ehangu cyrhaeddiad y corff gwaith rhyfeddol hwn gan Suganami - roedd yn boblogaidd gydag ymwelwyr yr oriel pan gafodd ei ddangos gyntaf, ac yn waith celf mor bwysig a chwyldroadol. Bydd portreadau newydd yn cael eu cynnwys yn yr ail fersiwn hon - ychwanegiadau pellach i griw hoffus Suganami. Pleser pur yw cydweithio ar yr arddangosfa yma - partneriaeth sy’n deillio o argyhoeddiad a rennir rhwng Canfas a TEN o rôl orielau mewn cefnogi'r celfyddydau ac artistiaid ein gwald,” meddai Cat Gardiner o TEN.

Wedi'u gwreiddio yn y gred y gall celf roi llais i'r rhai sy'n aml yn cael eu hanghofio, mae'r ddwy oriel yn uno eu rhaglenni ar gyfer Diwrnod Rhyngwladol y Merched i anrhydeddu menywod - nid yn unig fel pynciau, ond fel adroddwyr straeon, angorau a thystion i'w hoes.

Mae pob un o’r gwragedd yn ganolbwynt y llun, yn sitters clasurol sydd yn eistedd i gael eu paentio a’u cofnodi - a’u cofio. Mae ambell awgrym o wisg traddodiadol yma - y siôl, yn frethyn streipiog neu ffedog. Ond yn y croen mae manyldeb cain y paentio, gyda’r wyneb a’r dwylo yn y gôl yn tynnu’r sylw.

Does dim cuddio yma, dim harddu di-angen, dim botox na’i gyffelyb ond yn hytrach y  corff a’i osgo naturiol, onest. Gwelwn hanes a phrofiad bywyd yn y croen â’i marciau a’i chrychau - tystiolaeth o oes o garu a galar, o boeni a chwerthin, o gario, gofalu a gwneud. Dyma wragedd sydd wedi byw, â braint y blynyddoedd hir wedi’u selio yn y croen meddal.

Mae paentiadau cyfoethog, llifeiriol Suganami yn dangos sgìl hyderus ei brwsh. Ail-weithir y paent dro ar ôl tro, gyda haenau yn cael eu hadeiladu, eu rhwbio’n ôl a’u ail-adeiladu drachefn, cyn eu coroni ag amlinelliadau cryf a fflachiadau neon. Gyda un llinell medrus y brwsh daw ysgwydd blows, plyg llawes a bron drom i’r golwg. Mae’r rhwyddineb y mae Suganami yn defnyddio’i chyfrwng yn golygu nad yw ei phynciau yn anystwyth a ffurfiol ond yn hytrach yn fywiog a deinamig. Mae’r cyfuno o fanyldeb praff ochr yn ochr â marciau bras o fewn un paentiad yn cynnig amrywiaeth o bwyntiau diddorol i’r llygad. Wrth i gyfanswm y cyfuniad yma amwyrio o un llun i’r llall, ychwanega hyn at bersonoliaethau gwahanol y gwragedd i gyd.

 Un o lwyddiannau’r gyfres hwn yw’r tynerwch, yr hiwmor a’r cariad aruthrol a ddangosir at yr eisteddwyr – fel petaent yn cynrychioli’r holl wragedd oedrannus a gafodd effaith dawel ar y cenedlaethau a ddilynodd. Y matriarchiaid hynny - yn ganolog i fywyd teuluol, wedi’u hesgeuluso gan gymdeithas - yn deilwng o gael eu hymgorffori mewn paent.

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DATGANIAD * PRESS RELEASE
cyd-gyflwynir gan • co-presented by TEN Caerdydd x Oriel Canfas Aberteifi

Annie Morgan Suganami Olion Bywyd • Life Lines

28|02 - 28|03|26 

CANFAS GALLERY CARDIGAN AND TEN CARDIFF UNITE FOR INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY WITH ‘OLION BYWYD • LIFE LINES’ — A TENDER CELEBRATION OFWELSH WOMEN THROUGHPORTRAITURE BY RENOWNED WELSH ARTIST ANNIE MORGAN SUGANAMI

Meet the Artist Saturday 7 March 1-3 pm

Canfas Gallery, Cardigan SA43 1HY

Exhibition Runs through 28 March

Gallery open Tuesday-Saturday 10:30-16:00 

To mark International Women’s Day 2026, Oriel Canfas Cardigan and TEN Cardiff are coming together in an extraordinary collaboration to present ‘Olion Bywyd • Life Lines’ - a visiting exhibition by artist Annie Morgan Suganami that honours the resilience, humour, and quiet strength of Welsh women, curated by Gallery TEN’s Cat Gardiner.

“It makes perfect senes to expand the reach of this extraordinary body of work by Suganami - it was a hit with gallery visitors when first shown, and such important and revolutionary artwork. New portraits will be included in this second iteration - further additions to Suganami's lovable crew. It's a real pleasure to collaborate on this exhibition - a partnership that stems from a shared conviction between Canfas and TEN that galleries exist to support the arts and to uplift the artists of our country,” says TEN’s Cat Gardiner.

Rooted in the belief that art can give voice to those so often left unseen, the two galleries unite their programmes for International Women’s Day to honour women not only as subjects, but as storytellers, anchors, and witnesses to their times.

All of Suganami’s subjects are placed at the centre of the painting, as is customary in classical portraiture, where the sitter is in the spotlight, to be painted and recorded - and remembered. There are a few hints of traditional dress - the shawl, a striped cloth or an apron, but the fine detail of the painting is in the skin, with the faces and hands in laps drawing attention.

There is no hiding here, no unnecessary beautification, no botox and its like. What we see is the real, honest and natural attitude of the body. We see history and experience of life in the skin with its marks and wrinkles - evidence of a lifetime of love and grief, of worry and laughter, of carrying, caring and doing. These are women who have lived, with the privilege of long years sealed in the soft skin.

Suganami's rich, flowing paintings demonstrate the confident skill of her brush. The paint is reworked again and again, with layers built up, rubbed back and rebuilt again, before being accented with strong outlines and neon flashes. With one skilful line of the brush, the shoulder of a blouse, a sleeve fold and a heavy bosom come into view. The ease with which Suganami uses her medium means that her subjects are not stiff and formal but rather lively and dynamic. The combination of fine detail alongside loose and immediate markings within one painting offers various points of interest for the eye. As the use of this combination varies from one painting to another, it further highlights the different personalities of the sitters. 

One of the successes of this body of work is the tremendous tenderness, humour and love shown to the sitters - as if representing all the elderly women who made a quiet impact on the generations who followed. Those matriarchs - central to family life, overlooked by society - rightfully embodied in paint.

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Geiriau’r Artist • Artist’s Words 

"Ni allaf ddychmygu fy mywyd heb allu gwneud paentiadau o bobl.

Ers i mi ddechrau peintio pobl, boed o arsylwi neu’n ddychmygol, rwyf bob amser yn peintio cymeriadau sy'n dangos dyfalbarhad, dycnwch, gonestrwydd a charedigrwydd. Nhw yw fy eiconau personol o ddygnwch yn y cyfnod cynyddol ansicr hwn." 

I cannot imagine my life without being able to make paintings of people.

Since I first started painting people, whether from observation or imagined, I have always and continue to paint characters that emanate perseverance, tenacity, honesty and kindness. They are my personal icons of endurance in these increasingly uncertain times’ - Annie Morgan Suganami

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Annie Morgan Suganami [b. 1952] is a Welsh artist currently living and working in Machynlleth, Wales. Her teenage intention of becoming a visual artist changed course in order to study the flute at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Having worked as a musician for 45 years she studied at the Cardiff School of Art and Design, graduating in 2015.

Suganami's work has been predominantly figurative, including portraiture. Recent portraits include Jan Morris, Menna Elfyn and Georgia Ruth - and in 2022 her portraits of Catrin Finch, Cerys Hafana and a self-portrait were acquired by the National Library of Wales for the nation’s public and permanent collection. She has exhibited in numerous group and solo shows in Wales and England, has been selected for various art competitions in the UK including the National Eisteddfod of Wales

Public Collections

National Library of Wales

 

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