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Golden Valley Molecules at No.1 Station Approach

3 min read

Earlier this year, Meadow Arts installed a new public artwork by artist Cordelia Cembrowicz in the heart of Hereford. Still on display on the gable end of No. 1 Station Approach, facing Aylestone Hill, the temporary billboard extends the Golden Valley Molecules series further into the public realm, inviting people to encounter the work as part of their everyday journeys.

Created through digital collage, the billboard brings together material developed with participants from Peterchurch, Pontrilas and Kingstone. The work draws on portraits, conversations and creative contributions gathered across the Golden Valley during Cordelia’s residency and a series of public collage workshops. These workshops invited local people to experiment with the artist’s molecular compositions, creating new patterns and ideas that informed the final commission.

At the heart of the project is the idea that every participant becomes a molecule. Each person remains individual and distinct while contributing to a larger collective form. The artwork reflects the relationships between people, places and communities across the Golden Valley, celebrating both individuality and connection.

The billboard marks a natural progression for the project. While the three Golden Valley Molecules artworks are permanently situated within community locations in Peterchurch, Pontrilas and Kingstone, the Hereford commission brings those shared experiences into the public realm, allowing thousands of people travelling through the city to encounter the work in an unexpected setting.

Commissioned as part of Meadow Arts’ Our Place Golden Valley programme, the project was shaped through collaboration from the very beginning. During her residency, Cordelia spent time with residents, volunteers and staff from community hubs across the valley, capturing portraits and gathering stories that became the foundation of the artwork. Inspired by the molecular structures of oxytocin, serotonin and adrenaline, chemicals associated with human connection and wellbeing, the resulting compositions visualise the invisible networks that bring communities together.

The billboard celebrates the Golden Valley while continuing an exploration of how contemporary art can exist beyond gallery walls. By bringing together contributions from three communities into one shared image, the commission highlights the power of collective creativity and demonstrates how public art can create moments of reflection, curiosity and connection within everyday spaces.

Our Place Golden Valley is a Meadow Arts project, part of the Our Place Herefordshire programme funded by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, with match funding from Herefordshire Council under the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.