Mosaic - Cardiff Docks

Jack Sullivan's Cardiff Docks mosaic in Stuart Street celebrates the Docks’ history, people and culture. Sullivan and The Pioneers arts group collaborated to create the project in 1995. In fact, they worked in this very building, then known as the “Old Library”.

Grand images of ships, buildings and famous men in the top half are contrasted with the working people below. Sullivan is showing us that everyday people were the foundation for this success.

The buttons labelled “Batchelor” and “Bute” represent great figures in Cardiff’s past. They float powerfully over the scene, but they are separate from the colourful world around them.

A man sits on the steps outside a charity for seafarers in the centre of the mosaic. Sullivan criticised Cardiff for not memorialising its war heroes and allowing people like this to be forgotten.

The top-right shows Cardiff’s development. However, this space is small and contained. The servicemen to the left and framed in red are looking the other way, towards the past.

Sullivan gives us a clear message through these points. Cardiff’s strength is its people and its past, and they must be remembered.