A new pop-up exhibition by local Seirian Richards, colourfully documenting her experience during leukaemia treatment through art, is now on show at Tŷ Pawb.
Over the past two years, 9 year old Seirian has gone through treatment for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL) and was able to ring the end of treatment bell earlier this year in February.
Demonstrating how illness can be faced with humour and through the support of others around you, the exhibition includes a joke book Seirian created to cheer up other children on the ward; along with artwork made together by Seirian and her mother, Amanda Richards, to pass time in hospital.
The show also has artwork by Amanda, which includes pieces that display Seirian’s ‘Beads of Courage’.
Beads of Courage UK is a charity that provides an extra form of support for children going through serious and ongoing illness, where children are given a new bead at each stage during their treatment. The beads come in lots of colours, which represent different types of tests, procedures or experiences and help to explain a child’s individual journey with illness.
Seirian has collected 1731 beads so far and Amanda has handstitched these onto canvases as part of the display.
Amanda said “We wanted to show Seirian’s journey through treatment for leukaemia in a different way. Chemotherapy is toxic, hard hitting, and has horrendous side effects. But it’s also lifesaving, so we’ve put together this collection in the hope that others can visually appreciate the magnitude of treatment in an alternative way, finding beauty in the beast that is cancer.”
This exhibition opened on July 19 and will run until Saturday August 30, 2025. You can find it in Tŷ Pawb’s Oriel Bach (small gallery) to the right of the reception area, across from the main gallery space. Everyone is welcome to come along to Tŷ Pawb anytime between 10am-4pm from Monday to Saturday to see Seirian’s creativity in person.
