The ‘Forgotten Women’ exhibition by artist Hilary Barry, originally from south Wales is being showcased in Cyfarthfa Castle. Hilary was inspired by a passing comment she heard on the radio about how women recruited into the workforce in World War 1 were the first instance of female labour. She remembered stories she heard women working in the coal mines way before WW1 and released the lack of representation of the women who worked there. Because of this, she decided to research the women and paint them and give them names and stories based on census records and photos by photographer William Clayton sometime between 1868 and 1895.

​

Hilary gave each of her portraits names and stories as they became more like real people to her during her time creating these pieces.