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cartref > Transactions > Volume 32 - 2026 > LIONS, TIGERS AND … DRAGONS, OH WHY?: REFLECTIONS ON ART, WALES & EMPIRE

LIONS, TIGERS AND … DRAGONS, OH WHY?: REFLECTIONS ON ART, WALES & EMPIRE

What do the Indian Tiger and the Welsh Dragon share? This article will consider this question, in the light of the exhibition, Tigers & Dragons: India and Wales in Britain (23 May – 2 November 2025) curated by the author and Glynn Vivian’s Exhibitions Officer, Katy Freer. Tigers & Dragons considered the visual symbolism of Imperial subjugation – for instance, the Indian Tiger dominated by the Lion of Britannia and the Red Welsh Dragon often represented as having been overthrown by the White Dragon of England. But it also discussed national resistance and awakening. It sought to join the dots between India and Wales, to explore Imperial connections while investigating possible equivalences between the ‘Welsh’ Dragon and ‘Indian’ Tiger; between the development of Indian and Welsh nationalism through art and visual culture from the 1700s to the present. This article centres on a highly topical issue: if India was the Jewel in the Imperial Crown, could we argue that Wales was (or is) England’s colony?

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