The Contradiction of Value
There is a glorious irony to the term matter. None of it truly matters. Value is assigned.
Your consciousness innately prioritises matter by order of desire or necessity. Retailers inform you what they value their items at. Furthermore, advertising overwhelms your better judgement to compound the concept of value. You’re constantly reminded, everything has a value to everyone else, why shouldn’t it to you?
The conquest for value, either through compensation for your efforts, or others’ approval, is of itself worthless. Although often mistakenly considered a fundamental element of success, valuing yourself is no more important, both arrogance and anxiety have both ignited and spited many masterpieces.
Swansea Bay is the inspiration for this stream of consciousness. The semi-circular tidal lagoon has The Mumbles to the west and Port Talbot to its east. Over the last year, the average property price in Mumbles was almost £335,000, Port Talbot just shy of £145,000. There’s good reason for this, the Port Talbot Steelworks, possibly alongside the Baked Bean Museum of Excellence, were considered offensive enough for Banksy to deface.
Meanwhile, Mumbles’ repeated inclusion on The Times’ Best Places to Live in the UK list, twice topping Wales, has driven an influx of wealth. Both situations might appear inherently negative, locals suffering nauseating sights and sometimes smells or having their communities’ culture eroded by outsiders. But industry provides employment, and affluence often aids in raising standards.
Almost perfectly between Port Talbot and Mumbles sits Swansea Marina. Far from flawless, though, I’ve come to consider it a perfect home, an ideological middle ground where contradictions collide.
There is affluence, though it’s hidden. Either behind the glare of the Meridian Tower’s glass or inside inspired establishments, such as Slice. Close by, Sandfields is a desperate dumping ground for forgotten ambitions. It’s eerily semi-vacant seaside hotels lining Swansea Bay and, ultimately, devaluing everything in sight.
If it’s an eyesore you’re after, look no further than Swansea’s new arena and the council’s all too literal interpretation of the Golden Gate Bridge. Extreme opulence, in an apparent ode to the sheikhs. What separates Sandfields from the Marina and Copr Bay development? Swansea Prison. To put it politely, it’s a confluence of mismatched council planning, producing an abstract interpretation of how to shape a cityscape.
Despite the influence of mismanaged government money, areas around Sandfields have kindled community and, in turn, interest.
A community is defined by its people. No community is inherently bad or good; the participants decide. Establishments have undoubtedly uplifted this area.
Enter Plants and Papers, and you’re welcomed by a joyous houseplant retreat harmoniously doubling as a stoner paradise. Inside upmarket smoking paraphernalia sits seamlessly alongside fauna, leading me to consider a plethora of bud or weed-related references, but I’ll resist.
Down the hill, Hiatus, a sustainable surf shop, is somewhere I often find myself. Though I’m rarely a customer, no one has ever complained — quite the opposite. Every time I casually pass a staff member in the street, I’m reminded I’m welcome to pop in, even if it’s just for a chat. Typically, I’d smile and agree but secretly think ‘no chance’. Instead, I find myself empty-handed, asking the manager how last night’s pottery class went.
Swansea has reminded me that wealth is a state; It comes and goes. Often vast sums of wealth are so incomprehensible they appear as nothing more than digits on a screen, ironically, with no tangible value, locked away in investments or infrastructure.
Value is also fluid. The two definitions of the noun are, in some respects, a contradictory scale to be adjusted dependent on circumstance. It’s unlikely you’re absolutist in believing value equates to either ‘the regard that something is held to deserve’ or ‘principles of behaviour; one’s judgment of what is important in life’.
Although, without our adjudication, nothing would be valuable.