A NEWPORT artist has been working with schoolchildren to create an electronic waste-themed display to be shown at the Riverfront Centre next year.

Marion Webber, who works under her maiden name Marion Cheung, visited Bassaleg School this week to work with Year 10 pupils and create representations of electronic waste using collage and textile modelling techniques.

London-born Mrs Webber, 44, will be displaying nine large-scale paintings at the Riverfront Centre in January, entitled Lost Connections. It aims to show how children have become submerged in their own digital worlds, oblivious to their surroundings, each other and to children in developing countries as they make a living from electronic waste.

She said: “I started painting portraits of my children when they were using mobile technology. I was attracted to the cold blue light from the digital devices reflected on their faces. This exhibition features my children and their friends – they are only my models. The work isn't about them at all, there's a bigger story behind it. After I saw a news article last year about the largest electronic waste dump in the world together with the children living and working there, I felt compelled to say something about it in my work.

“This is an exciting time because last year Newport council gave local artists the opportunity to work from empty retail units upstairs in Newport Market. It enabled me to make large scale paintings – and develop an idea that I was working on last year concerning children and technology. It's also really good to be part of a growing art scene in Newport.”

From Monday (Oct 27), Mrs Webber will also start a six-week Artist in Residence at The Project Space on Newport’s Commercial Street, where she will be making the final pieces for the exhibition.

'Lost Connections' opens to the public at The Riverfront on January 10, 10am-8pm, until February 1.