Monday 20th October Design Museum, ailmentwebsite Alan Aldridge: Until Jan 25th
28 Butlers Wharf, try Shad Thames
Retrospective of Aldridge, an illustrator and graphic designer whose work includes album covers such as the Who and Elton John.
Tuesday 21st Rich Gallery, ‘Reflect Refract’: Pilita Garcia, Daniel Medina, Esperanza Mayobre, Eduardo Padilha, Lucia Pizzani, Dafna Talmor: Until 30th October
111 Mount Street, London W1K 2TT
Bringing emerging Brazilian, Chilean and Venezulan artists to the forefront, with photos, drawings and objects focusing on the themes on reflection and refraction, spaces and urban environments.
Thursday 23rd Beyond Retro, ‘Rob Flowers Vs East End Lights’ at beyond Retro: 6-8pm
100-112 Cheshire St, E2 6EJ
The opening of the new East End Lights exhibition promises Halloweeny frocks, tricks and drinks as well as macabre illustrations and films by Flowers. His influences include Victorian sideshows, seaside images, owls and circus posters.
Friday 24th b Store, 24a Saville Row, ‘ONGALOO’: Yamataka EYE, Paperback Magazine and Magical Artroom: Until 13th November
24a Saville Row, W1S 3PR
PAPERBACK magazine, b store and Magical Artroom present the first London exhibition of artworks by Yamataka EYE.
Conway Hall, ‘Small Publishers Fair 08‘:Fri 24th-Sat 25th 11am-7pm: Admission Free
Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL
Celebrating books by contemporary artists, poets, writers, composers, book designers and their publishers, together with a programme of readings and talks. Keep an eye out for ‘Pick and mix’ press publications.
Saturday 25th ICA, ‘Incredibly Strange Comics’: Until 26th Nov
The Mall, London SW1Y 5AH
The world’s weirdest comics: Amputee Love! Hansi, The Girl Who Loved The Swastika! Trucker Fags in Denial! My Friend Dahmer! Mod Love! are all here for your viewing pleasure. American presidents as musclebound superheroes, warnings about the perils of smoking, communism and the A-bomb and promotions for popsicles, prunes and poultry feed.
Having a minor obsession with denim, cost and more specifically, decease7 For All Mankind, doctor I couldn’t be more enthused to see what 28-year-old, pop artist, Stuart Semple has created using my favorite brand, along with others including, Levi’s and J brand, as the canvas for his latest exhibition, Cult of Denim.
Last Thursday evening, I strolled into Selfridges for the quite impressive opening. I was expecting the usual, small, crowded room filled with art and free drinks along with a bit of live entertainment if we’re lucky, but this far surpassed my assumptions, as we were graciously ushered from one floor to the next to tour Semple’s work displayed throughout the store. Using mixed-media, his contemporary images can be found on square, denim canvases as well as directly on pairs of jeans. Giving off a street-art vibe, he explores the exponential influence denim has, not only in the fashion industry, but in everyday culture, as he considers jeans a “ perfect second skin for billions of people worldwide.”
It was quite impossible to get bored throughout the night, as we were served a variety of beverages and had an interesting line-up of musicians including an acoustic set by Zac Harris, and ending the evening with a lively performance by the Subliminal Girls, who have worked with Stuart Semple on projects in the past including a music video for their Hungry Like the Wolf remix.
Zac Harris
Subliminal Girls
Subliminal Girls
The Cult of Denim will be on display in Selfridges from October 17 through November 15, so be sure to head down to Oxford Street to check it out. If interested in making any purchases, the limited edition prints and apparel are for sale, with 20% of the proceeds going to Refuge, a charity campaign to stop domestic violence.
It isn’t very often that a specific fashion designer is singularly celebrated for their contributions to fashion; when the V&A presented the Vivienne Westwood retrospective in 2004, medicine fashion fans were delirious at the opportunity to revel amongst the creations of our most fashionable Dame. This month, viagra the team at Selfridges reopen the Westwood archives and present a glorious exhibition devoted entirely to Vivienne Westwood’s revolutionary footwear.
What began as a calm stroll into central London on a bank holiday Monday soon descended into chaos – it was absolutely heaving (and to those of you shouting OF COURSE IT WAS YOU BLOODY IDIOT at the screen – yeah, I know). A text to remind me I was going to a party at Shoreditch House as early as 6pm didn’t help either, so me and the other half legged it down Oxford Street to catch the exhibition, and thank heavens we did.
Located in the chic Ultralounge on the lower ground floor of Selfridges (where previous exhibitions and pop-ups have occurred, including the brilliant 100 years of Selfridges display), the room features long rows of glass cabinets holding a huge selection of Westwood footwear from over the years. The black walls are sparse, with a few large images from advertising campaigns and of Our Viv herself dotted here and there, and a show reel of some of Westwood’s awe-inspiring catwalk shows at the back of the room, featuring a soundtrack of sexed-up national anthems and punk hits. It is, however, row after row of shoes displayed like the crown jewels that capture the imagination the most.
Ordered chronologically, the exhibition charts the literal rise and rise of Dame Viv’s footwear, from surviving examples from SEX and Seditionaries, (including leopard mules worn by SEX shop assistant Jordan) right through to Propoganda pirate boots (worn mostly by the gays and people from Leeds) and pairs seen at the most recent fashion weeks. The most interesting comparison drawn when you’ve seen every pair is that there isn’t much of a comparison at all – similar shapes and themes are echoed through the ages, shoes that have been consistently daring and innovative.
There must be over 100 pairs on display, all of which are a delight to view, but here are some of my favourites:
Mock Crock Elevated Gillie from Anglomania, AW 1993
Frilly petit-pied sandal (there is a shoe in there somewhere) from Blue Sky, SS 2005
Elevated court shoe in PVC, 1994, illustrated by Dee Andrews
Can shoes, from Ultra Feminity, SS 2003
Biba shoes, from Le flou taillé, AW 2003
MAN coin sandals, from MAN, SS 2005
Swarovski court shoe with Gina, from 56, SS 2008
The exhibition is supported by Melissa, the wonderful Brazilian-born ethical label that champions Melflex®, the recycled plastic phenomenon that uses sustainable and environmentally friendly production processes. Beginning with plastic versions of iconic Vivienne Westwood shoes, the collaboration has grown to include many of the archive styles on display at the exhibition (re-imagined in plastic, of course).
Exhibitions of this calibre, celebrating our fashion designers and presented so brilliantly, don’t come around very often. So if you’re in London and anywhere near Selfridges, do check it out – you won’t be disappointed.
Mikey filming in the beautiful Huancabamba valley. All photos courtesey of Mikey Watts.
I’d first heard about Mikey’s film back in October. Perusing The Guardian, buy I noticed a video and article about alleged torture in the province of Piura, pharm northern Peru, sildenafil linked to a mining company called Monterrico Metals. It was a British company, and yet there was barely a whisper of news about it in the UK. In 2003 Monterrico had pressed ahead with a copper mine project that the local population had not agreed to. The mine was going to occupy vital agricultural land and would pollute the valley’s water sources. Monterrico had a legal requirement to obtain the consent of at least two thirds of the population. They didn’t, but were supported by the government nonetheless and so went ahead with the mine. In 2005, locals, including children and the elderly, made their way to the mining site in a last attempt to have their objections recognised. They were tear gassed, arrested and tortured by police and the mine’s security guards.
It was a photographer from Peru, a friend and old flatmate from Barcelona, who sent me the link to Mikey’s video on vimeo. Laguna Negra is a 20-minute study of how mining has affected people in the Huancabamba valley, northern Peru. The film follows two people, Servando and Cleofé, as they describe their lives, land, protest, how they are perceived, and question the purpose of environmentally and socially destructive ‘development’. The film will be screened at an event tomorrow (Thursday), along with a Q&A with the director. Mikey is only recently out a Documentary Film MA, but his film has already won two awards: Best International Documentary (Festival Internacional de Cine de Lebu 2010), and the Rights in Action International Award (Bang! Short Film Festival 2009) and he has some great projects coming up. I caught up with Mikey last week to discuss how it all started, his stay in Huancabamba, the impact of and inspiration behind the film, and the projects he’s working on now.
You started filming in the region in 2004, following research for a dissertation. What first inspired you to focus on opposition to mining in Huancabamba?
I started off studying Latin American studies at Liverpool and in my third year (2004), I went to do research for my dissertation in Peru. While I was in Lima, I started hearing about the anti-mining movement that was going on in Tambogrande. The mine got cancelled in the end, so it was big news over there. It was then that I decided to research the effect of mining on traditional farming societies. A journalist, Nelson Penaherrera, helped me a lot in planning who to interview and where to go. It was when I went up to meet him for the first time that Remberto Racho, one of the farmers opposed to the mine in Huancabamba, was killed by police (my first film ‘Rio Blanco: the story of the farmer and the mine’ was about this) so I decided to include the Rio Blanco conflict in my dissertation. My friend, David McNulty, came to visit me in June 2004, and since he had a camera with him we gathered footage for what eventually became that first documentary, Rio Blanco.
Your film centres on the experiences of two farmers, Servando and Cleofé. You break away from standard documentary style, forgoing a voiceover and talking heads, and devote the film to your protagonists’ accounts. What was the thinking behind that?
I wanted as much as possible to tell the story through the words and experiences of the people directly affected by the mining project. Although through the editing I, as the storyteller, choose what to include and what not to include (and so Servando and Cleofé’s words become the narration) I still feel that by removing myself almost entirely from the action the audience feels more directly involved with the place and its people. A voice-over narrative I think would take the story away from the people it is about. Also, in a practical sense, Servando and Cleofe sum the issues up in a far truer and personal way than I ever could – after all, they are the people who live day to day the problems the mine has brought – I was only there for three weeks.
The film opens with the scene of a boy sitting with a radio, with a broadcast about how selfish and ignorant the farmers are in not wanting the mine. The scene is a powerful contrast to what we hear later, yet also so simple and clear, and the boy is a true natural on camera! How did you come up with the idea?
The use of the boy with the radio happened through a chance encounter – I met him as we were walking the countryside around Huancabamba one day, he followed us for the day and we became friends. At the end of the day I asked him if he would mind being filmed with his radio and he did the rest! The reason I wanted to use the boy with the radio was to put across the mining company’s opinions through the local population’s experience of them. I could have tried to get an interview with Monterrico Metals, but really this would only have served to get the company’s PR responses to a Western student’s questions. By showing the day in day out propaganda machine the mining company uses to grind down any opposition to the project, the film can start to allow its audience to understand how the community experiences the mine. I was lucky to find the boy with the radio and his disinterested but commanding expression.
Tambogrande seemed like a real success story. Is there any similar hope for Huancabamba?
Tambogrande was a success story in the end, but the reasons for the cancellation of the mine really point towards what the Peruvian government’s plans for Piura are. It wasn’t officially cancelled because of the opposition to the project; it was cancelled because Monterrico lacked the necessary funds for the government to approve it. I am sure the huge protests and international campaign helped a lot, but officially this wasn’t why the mine was cancelled. So really this means that the Peruvian government isn’t conceding it was wrong over the project, and it continues to push on all fronts to make Piura into a mining department (like it’s done with nearby Cajamarca). I wish I could believe that the community in Huancabamba will be able to stop the Rio Blanco mine, but deep down I don’t have much hope. The mine is now owned by a Chinese company and the Peruvian government has just signed a whole load of trade agreements with China. The only real hope I think is for Tierra y Libertad, a new political party led by Marco Arana, to do well in the next elections. Marco Arana has been heavily involved with the anti-mining movement in the north of Peru and seems dedicated to the cause and the people who are having their lives destroyed by these mining projects.
So what specifically has changed around Huancabamba since you made the film?
Well, the government is still pushing the project forward, and is now militarising their presence in the region because of an attack in November on the mine site, which ended with the deaths of 2 security guys. The next month the police killed 2 farmers in a village near Huancabamba. The police had gone down to the village to arrest villagers they said were connected with the November deaths, the villagers formed a barricade to stop the police entering, and the police attacked them, killing two villagers – post mortem reports show that they were shot in the back as they were running away. So there’s still a lot of tension, the government is still refusing to re-engage through dialogue and simply insist the mining project is of national necessity and will not be abandoned.
Were you involved in any way in the court hearing that went on in London recently?
I’ve carried on filming here in the UK so went to the court hearing, but I wasn’t involved in any way, just documenting it really. The court hearing at the end of the day won’t stop the mining project though – it will mean the victims of torture that took place in 2005 will get compensation, but the new Chinese owners of the mine (Zijin) will just say it took place when they weren’t owners so it isn’t their responsibility.
So there’s no hope the mine will be dropped?
In all honesty I don’t have much faith the government will see reason, Zijin will push ahead with the project, cause huge friction and destruction to the rural communities of the area, and possibly destroy the agricultural potential of the region as a whole. The really sad thing is that the government has now sold off nearly 30% of the land area of Piura to mining interests – they are all waiting for Rio Blanco to start operations and will then do the same themselves. The mind boggles really, just doesn’t seem to make any sense, but then again the draw to short term financial gain seems to always win against smaller interests such as the small scale farming practised around Huancabamba.
How strong is the stereotype of the ignorant or violent campesino in Peru, and to what extent is it used to undermine the importance of agriculture?
The stereotype is definitely a prevalent view in the cities and mainstream media. Campesinos are often portrayed as backward and as not knowing what is best for them. Development is always in the context of growth rates, GDP, money – small scale farming practised by campesinos is not really given the appreciation it deserves considering it provides city dwellers with their food. Rhetoric of backwards looking violent terrorist campesinos is often used in the media to give justification to mining.
And how unified is the opposition to mining among the rural population?
What interested me was that most of the campesinos I talked to didn’t lambast mining in the way the government accuse them of doing. They understand the potential of mining to create jobs, and funds – they just are asking the government to think about where these mines are being built. If they are high up in the mountains, away from important water sources, and not in areas of agriculture then they can have a positive impact for the country.
Was the mainstream national media broadly for or against the farmers?
Broadly speaking the national media and the government give huge support to the mining industry – mainly because the mining lobby in Peru has huge power. There is however a large part of the Peruvian population who are campaigning for a different Peru which prioritises its people over its resources.
How do you see the role of the documentary filmmaker and what do you hope to achieve?
Yes, I’ve been thinking about this quite a lot. Sometimes I wonder what good it does, whether it goes any way to actually changing the situation. I guess it is a hard one to gauge but all you can do is try to document what is happening in a creative and original way. I think film is a great medium to tell the story of what is happening in these communities as images often speak louder than words. I would be very happy if the films I make help to inform Peru’s urban population of the abuses suffered by the rural population. I guess documentaries are one part of the general campaign to make things better and fairer for these communities.
I guess on the role of the filmmaker I think it is important to go into a project with an open mind, a good deal of background research and the humility to listen to and give people a platform to speak about the issues that affect them. I also think it is important to make a film that stands on its own as a good story, and as a beautiful film. Campaiging films sometimes lose sight of this need and just focus on the issues. I think the danger here is that the films will only preach to the converted – a film that keeps the attention of someone who doesn’t know about the issues, or actively supports what the campaign is against, is what I think the goal should be.
Any plans to carry on documenting this issue?
Yes, definitely – this is kind of turning into a niche issue for me, and I definitely want to carry on making films about it. I really now want to make a feature documentary that connects the experiences of different communities around Latin America that are seeing their communities torn apart and their environment destroyed by large scale mining. These communities suffer very similar abuses at the hands of both their governments and the mining companies – I want to make a film that reveals this trend; that multinational companies based in countries like our own go to developing nations and do not respect the same laws they would have to here. So that is what I’m trying to do at the moment with my friend and co-director David McNulty. We are going to Guatemala and El Salvador to firstly document a conference that the Latin American Mining Monitoring Program is organising entitled, “WOMEN, MINING AND HUMAN RIGHTS: Beyond the Challenge.” We will then be going on to film research footage for our feature idea as well as producing two short documentaries about two communities affected by mining in Guatemala and El Salvador.
I think it’s a really interesting and important issue to focus on as it in many ways reflects the question of our time – do we continue taking all the resources we can from the earth or do we start thinking and acting in a more sustainable way to ensure our future generations have a decent earth to live from?
Neoliberal economics I think only prioritizes monetary growth, and doesn’t take into account other considerations such as environment, culture and worldview. I think the social conflict and environmental problems caused by mining really reflect the general question of how humanity chooses to act in the years to come – do we continue exploiting the earth without thought to the consequences, or do we start living more within our means?
Mikey filming in the beautiful Huancabamba valley. All photos courtesey of Mikey Watts.
I’d first heard about Mikey’s film back in October. Perusing The Guardian, patient I noticed a video and article about alleged torture in the province of Piura, site northern Peru, linked to a mining company called Monterrico Metals. It was a British company, and yet there was barely a whisper of news about it in the UK. In 2003 Monterrico had pressed ahead with a copper mine project that the local population had not agreed to. The mine was going to occupy vital agricultural land and would pollute the valley’s water sources. Monterrico had a legal requirement to obtain the consent of at least two thirds of the population. They didn’t, but were supported by the government nonetheless and so went ahead with the mine. In 2005, locals, including children and the elderly, made their way to the mining site in a last attempt to have their objections recognised. They were tear gassed, arrested and tortured by police and the mine’s security guards.
It was a photographer from Peru, a friend and old flatmate from Barcelona, who sent me the link to Mikey’s video on vimeo. Laguna Negra is a 20-minute study of how mining has affected people in the Huancabamba valley, northern Peru. The film follows two people, Servando and Cleofé, as they describe their lives, land, protest, how they are perceived, and question the purpose of environmentally and socially destructive ‘development’. The film will be screened at an event tomorrow (Thursday), along with a Q&A with the director. Mikey is only recently out a Documentary Film MA, but his film has already won two awards: Best International Documentary (Festival Internacional de Cine de Lebu 2010), and the Rights in Action International Award (Bang! Short Film Festival 2009) and he has some great projects coming up. I caught up with Mikey last week to discuss how it all started, his stay in Huancabamba, the impact of and inspiration behind the film, and the projects he’s working on now.
You started filming in the region in 2004, following research for a dissertation. What first inspired you to focus on opposition to mining in Huancabamba?
I started off studying Latin American studies at Liverpool and in my third year (2004), I went to do research for my dissertation in Peru. While I was in Lima, I started hearing about the anti-mining movement that was going on in Tambogrande. The mine got cancelled in the end, so it was big news over there. It was then that I decided to research the effect of mining on traditional farming societies. A journalist, Nelson Penaherrera, helped me a lot in planning who to interview and where to go. It was when I went up to meet him for the first time that Remberto Racho, one of the farmers opposed to the mine in Huancabamba, was killed by police (my first film ‘Rio Blanco: the story of the farmer and the mine’ was about this) so I decided to include the Rio Blanco conflict in my dissertation. My friend, David McNulty, came to visit me in June 2004, and since he had a camera with him we gathered footage for what eventually became that first documentary, Rio Blanco.
Your film centres on the experiences of two farmers, Servando and Cleofé. You break away from standard documentary style, forgoing a voiceover and talking heads, and devote the film to your protagonists’ accounts. What was the thinking behind that?
I wanted as much as possible to tell the story through the words and experiences of the people directly affected by the mining project. Although through the editing I, as the storyteller, choose what to include and what not to include (and so Servando and Cleofé’s words become the narration) I still feel that by removing myself almost entirely from the action the audience feels more directly involved with the place and its people. A voice-over narrative I think would take the story away from the people it is about. Also, in a practical sense, Servando and Cleofe sum the issues up in a far truer and personal way than I ever could – after all, they are the people who live day to day the problems the mine has brought – I was only there for three weeks.
The film opens with the scene of a boy sitting with a radio, with a broadcast about how selfish and ignorant the farmers are in not wanting the mine. The scene is a powerful contrast to what we hear later, yet also so simple and clear, and the boy is a true natural on camera! How did you come up with the idea?
The use of the boy with the radio happened through a chance encounter – I met him as we were walking the countryside around Huancabamba one day, he followed us for the day and we became friends. At the end of the day I asked him if he would mind being filmed with his radio and he did the rest! The reason I wanted to use the boy with the radio was to put across the mining company’s opinions through the local population’s experience of them. I could have tried to get an interview with Monterrico Metals, but really this would only have served to get the company’s PR responses to a Western student’s questions. By showing the day in day out propaganda machine the mining company uses to grind down any opposition to the project, the film can start to allow its audience to understand how the community experiences the mine. I was lucky to find the boy with the radio and his disinterested but commanding expression.
Tambogrande seemed like a real success story. Is there any similar hope for Huancabamba?
Tambogrande was a success story in the end, but the reasons for the cancellation of the mine really point towards what the Peruvian government’s plans for Piura are. It wasn’t officially cancelled because of the opposition to the project; it was cancelled because Monterrico lacked the necessary funds for the government to approve it. I am sure the huge protests and international campaign helped a lot, but officially this wasn’t why the mine was cancelled. So really this means that the Peruvian government isn’t conceding it was wrong over the project, and it continues to push on all fronts to make Piura into a mining department (like it’s done with nearby Cajamarca). I wish I could believe that the community in Huancabamba will be able to stop the Rio Blanco mine, but deep down I don’t have much hope. The mine is now owned by a Chinese company and the Peruvian government has just signed a whole load of trade agreements with China. The only real hope I think is for Tierra y Libertad, a new political party led by Marco Arana, to do well in the next elections. Marco Arana has been heavily involved with the anti-mining movement in the north of Peru and seems dedicated to the cause and the people who are having their lives destroyed by these mining projects.
So what specifically has changed around Huancabamba since you made the film?
Well, the government is still pushing the project forward, and is now militarising their presence in the region because of an attack in November on the mine site, which ended with the deaths of 2 security guys. The next month the police killed 2 farmers in a village near Huancabamba. The police had gone down to the village to arrest villagers they said were connected with the November deaths, the villagers formed a barricade to stop the police entering, and the police attacked them, killing two villagers – post mortem reports show that they were shot in the back as they were running away. So there’s still a lot of tension, the government is still refusing to re-engage through dialogue and simply insist the mining project is of national necessity and will not be abandoned.
Were you involved in any way in the court hearing that went on in London recently?
I’ve carried on filming here in the UK so went to the court hearing, but I wasn’t involved in any way, just documenting it really. The court hearing at the end of the day won’t stop the mining project though – it will mean the victims of torture that took place in 2005 will get compensation, but the new Chinese owners of the mine (Zijin) will just say it took place when they weren’t owners so it isn’t their responsibility.
So there’s no hope the mine will be dropped?
In all honesty I don’t have much faith the government will see reason, Zijin will push ahead with the project, cause huge friction and destruction to the rural communities of the area, and possibly destroy the agricultural potential of the region as a whole. The really sad thing is that the government has now sold off nearly 30% of the land area of Piura to mining interests – they are all waiting for Rio Blanco to start operations and will then do the same themselves. The mind boggles really, just doesn’t seem to make any sense, but then again the draw to short term financial gain seems to always win against smaller interests such as the small scale farming practised around Huancabamba.
How strong is the stereotype of the ignorant or violent campesino in Peru, and to what extent is it used to undermine the importance of agriculture?
The stereotype is definitely a prevalent view in the cities and mainstream media. Campesinos are often portrayed as backward and as not knowing what is best for them. Development is always in the context of growth rates, GDP, money – small scale farming practised by campesinos is not really given the appreciation it deserves considering it provides city dwellers with their food. Rhetoric of backwards looking violent terrorist campesinos is often used in the media to give justification to mining.
And how unified is the opposition to mining among the rural population?
What interested me was that most of the campesinos I talked to didn’t lambast mining in the way the government accuse them of doing. They understand the potential of mining to create jobs, and funds – they just are asking the government to think about where these mines are being built. If they are high up in the mountains, away from important water sources, and not in areas of agriculture then they can have a positive impact for the country.
Was the mainstream national media broadly for or against the farmers?
Broadly speaking the national media and the government give huge support to the mining industry – mainly because the mining lobby in Peru has huge power. There is however a large part of the Peruvian population who are campaigning for a different Peru which prioritises its people over its resources.
How do you see the role of the documentary filmmaker and what do you hope to achieve?
Yes, I’ve been thinking about this quite a lot. Sometimes I wonder what good it does, whether it goes any way to actually changing the situation. I guess it is a hard one to gauge but all you can do is try to document what is happening in a creative and original way. I think film is a great medium to tell the story of what is happening in these communities as images often speak louder than words. I would be very happy if the films I make help to inform Peru’s urban population of the abuses suffered by the rural population. I guess documentaries are one part of the general campaign to make things better and fairer for these communities.
I guess on the role of the filmmaker I think it is important to go into a project with an open mind, a good deal of background research and the humility to listen to and give people a platform to speak about the issues that affect them. I also think it is important to make a film that stands on its own as a good story, and as a beautiful film. Campaiging films sometimes lose sight of this need and just focus on the issues. I think the danger here is that the films will only preach to the converted – a film that keeps the attention of someone who doesn’t know about the issues, or actively supports what the campaign is against, is what I think the goal should be.
Any plans to carry on documenting this issue?
Yes, definitely – this is kind of turning into a niche issue for me, and I definitely want to carry on making films about it. I really now want to make a feature documentary that connects the experiences of different communities around Latin America that are seeing their communities torn apart and their environment destroyed by large scale mining. These communities suffer very similar abuses at the hands of both their governments and the mining companies – I want to make a film that reveals this trend; that multinational companies based in countries like our own go to developing nations and do not respect the same laws they would have to here. So that is what I’m trying to do at the moment with my friend and co-director David McNulty. We are going to Guatemala and El Salvador to firstly document a conference that the Latin American Mining Monitoring Program is organising entitled, “WOMEN, MINING AND HUMAN RIGHTS: Beyond the Challenge.” We will then be going on to film research footage for our feature idea as well as producing two short documentaries about two communities affected by mining in Guatemala and El Salvador.
I think it’s a really interesting and important issue to focus on as it in many ways reflects the question of our time – do we continue taking all the resources we can from the earth or do we start thinking and acting in a more sustainable way to ensure our future generations have a decent earth to live from?
Neoliberal economics I think only prioritizes monetary growth, and doesn’t take into account other considerations such as environment, culture and worldview. I think the social conflict and environmental problems caused by mining really reflect the general question of how humanity chooses to act in the years to come – do we continue exploiting the earth without thought to the consequences, or do we start living more within our means?
Last Wednesday week, cheap I fought my way through the throngs of shoppers on Oxford Street to the more peaceful and calm backstreets surrounding St Christopher’s Place. Although escaping the chaos was refreshing, my main motivations were attending an event at the Ascension store for Made By and Edun LIVE.
Photography throughout courtesy of Florence Massey.
It’s always been challenging to find ways to promote eco-friendly, sustainable fashion. The Edun brand seem to have solved this problem. Founded by Bono and wife Ali, it is a key eco friendly fashion brand with a determined mission to create quality clothing while fostering sustainable employment in developing countries. Working with Made By to celebrate their 5th anniversary, Edun developed a design competition, and the panel of judges were unanimous in selecting a winning T-Shirt designed by Dianne Delahunty.
The launch was well attended with sparkling champers and delicious food from Princi to sample throughout the night. Tables were adorned with information on both brands, attendees were offered a browse around the store, and the T-shirt was of course in a prime position! One of my favourite concepts from the Made By team is the tiny blue buttons they suggest you sew to your clothes to sew your support (geddit?!). Little touches like this add a degree of playfulness to the campaign, and also spread awareness of the organisation. It’s a win-win!
With €5 from each sale going to the wildlife conservation society, Conservation Cotton Initiative, the enterprise will help raise money and awareness for conservation and sustainability. Made-By is a non-profit organisation whose mission is to improve environmental and social standards in fashion. Their partnership with Edun LIVE is one which is sure to create waves across the industry. The ‘RESPECT’ t-shirt will be available at Acension throughout February.
Written by Florence Massey on Wednesday February 17th, 2010 6:42 pm
What is Ecocide?
Has the formation of laws and legislation had unforeseen and possibly disastrous consequences?
Has the protection of the environment been abandoned by the law?
What can we do?
Polly Higgins is a Barrister, viagra a Human Right’s Lawyer and author of Eradicating Ecocide. On her blog The Lazy EnvironmentalistHiggins defines Ecocide as the “damage, destruction to or loss of ecosystems, whether by human agency or by other causes, to such an extent that peaceful enjoyment by the inhabitants of that territory has been severely diminished.”
Published in 2010 by Shepeard-Walwyn, Eradicating Ecocide, is a carefully considered polemic on the consequences of leaving environmental concerns at the sidelines, (the destruction of the rainforest, tar sands, deep sea drilling, Global Warming) in favour of infinite growth and unregulated capitalism. Higgins believes that the “law as it currently stands is not fit for purpose. It rarely protects the wider earth community interests of both people and planet. Instead, all too often it is the interests of the very the few that are protected, of those with ownership. This causes great injustice at both micro and macro level.” In short, Eradicating Ecocide is a call to arms, an appeal to the protection of the environment in the face of wanton and needless destruction.
Eradicating Ecocide opens with a contemporary reminder about the consequences of runaway ecocide and unregulated industry; the 2010 BP Oil Spill in the Mexican Gulf. Higgins’ arguement implies that as it stands both law making and the planet are being held to ransom by profit-driven corporations.
For Higgins the environment is all too often neglected in favour of short term profit, pointing out that part of the problem lies with “Governments, driven by the obsessive pursuit of economic gain, often undervalue subsequent ecological losses that can arise out of profit making activity… Myopic financial policy takes preeminence over longer term damage and destruction, by keeping the focus firmly on the short-term, problems mouth for others to address at some indeterminate later date.” Not only do we need to fight big business, we need to take the challenge to our own blindfolded Governments.
In her calm and through exploration of the unforeseen consequences of law making,? Eradicating Ecocide takes us through the convoluted changes in law and the pivotal court cases that lead to the development (in law) of corporations being held to account for damages made to the environment as “fictional persons” The example Higgins cites is the Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad trial of 1886, where for “the first time that the word ‘person’ in the fourteenth Amendment was presumed to include corporations.” See Eradicating Ecocide for further details on the outcome of this pre-trial statement.
Eradicating Ecocide also focuses on the development of ‘compromise laws’ by big business and the law courts in order to pacify pollution concerns. The subsequently formed ‘compromise legislation’ merely side steps environmental responsibility whilst failing to provide any real deterrence against the destruction of the planet. The biggest failure in compromise recently was at Cop 15 in Copenhagen. Desperate to end the conference with some form of good news, politicians’ delivered the “The Copenhagen Accord“. As this document is not legally binding, nothing within this treaty has yet to be implemented in local or worldwide politics, as of yet there is no binding successor to equally compromised Kyoto Protocol.
For myself, em>Eradicating Ecocide highlights that the problem with placing profit over all else is that monetary worth becomes the barometer against which all ‘worth’ is measured. Subsequently the earth and its ‘resources’ become a mere asset. Once the earth is seen as an asset, it ceases to be alive and once it ‘dies’ it becomes easier for the bio habitat to be seen as singular commodities (a trend which began with the Industrial Revolution). Subsequently we, the citizens of the planet, must fight to save the planet as a living organisim in its entirety, not solely the sections we personally inhabit.
A brave book, Eradicating Ecocide takes the stance that by allowing the “commercial exploration and destruction of resources” to take “precedence over the obligation of the sacred trust”, corporations have become the colonisers of the 21st Century. Within the UN framework, the concept behind the sacred trust is to ask for “community interests to be placed over private and corporate decisions.” (p.57)
Eradicating Ecocide is an inspiring, informative read and an incredible history lesson on the role of law (so often seemingly abstract from our lives) in shaping our society, our business and the way we view the earth. Personally, the book is incredible for its demand that we use that which is already present within the UN – The development of International Criminal Law in the wake of World War Two and the concept of Trusteeship- to implement these necessary changes. Because the framework for Crimes against Peace already exists, Ecocide could be included without the need to create any new organisations.
The book’s brilliance is that it functions as a template for what both citizen and state can do to protect the environment. Eradicating Ecocide contains useful advice on how we, citizens of the world can implement change. For example, by joining existing climate change networks or starting your own, we can apply pressure on Governments to recognizing Ecocide as a breach against peace. We have the power of the multiple and the power of the streets on our side. With an ever-increasing population, we need to accept the earths resources’ are finite and move away from a market driven economy.
For an update on the Climate Change debate in the wake of Cop 15, I recommend reading Higgins’ account of Cancun (Cop 16) and her summery of the RED++ deal; “The commercialisation of forests into the hands of the corporate sector to make money out of supposedly saving forests.”
If middle England can stand up against the Coalition’s plans to sell 15% of British Forests, we can ALL stand up against a destruction on a far wider scale -the loss of “the Earth’s lungs”- too.
For further information please visit the book’s website: This is Ecocide’s.
What is Ecocide?
Has the formation of laws and legislation had unforeseen and possibly disastrous consequences?
Has the protection of the environment been abandoned by the law?
What can we do?
Polly Higgins is a Barrister, shop a Human Right’s Lawyer and author of Eradicating Ecocide. On her blog The Lazy EnvironmentalistHiggins defines Ecocide as the “damage, destruction to or loss of ecosystems, whether by human agency or by other causes, to such an extent that peaceful enjoyment by the inhabitants of that territory has been severely diminished.”
Published in 2010 by Shepeard-Walwyn, Eradicating Ecocide, is a carefully considered polemic on the consequences of leaving environmental concerns at the sidelines, (the destruction of the rainforest, tar sands, Oil, Global Warming) in favour of infinite growth and unregulated capitalism. Higgins believes that the “law as it currently stands is not fit for purpose. It rarely protects the wider earth community interests of both people and planet. Instead, all too often it is the interests of the very the few that are protected, of those with ownership. This causes great injustice at both micro and macro level.” In short, Eradicating Ecocide is a call to arms, an appeal to the protection of the environment in the face of wanton and needless destruction.
Eradicating Ecocide opens with a contemporary reminder about the consequences of runaway ecocide and unregulated industry; the 2010 BP Oil Spill in the Mexican Gulf. Higgins’ arguement implies that as it stands both law making and the planet are being held to ransom by profit-driven corporations.
For Higgins the environment is all too often neglected in favour of short term profit, pointing out that part of the problem lies with “Governments, driven by the obsessive pursuit of economic gain, often undervalue subsequent ecological losses that can arise out of profit making activity… Myopic financial policy takes preeminence over longer term damage and destruction, by keeping the focus firmly on the short-term, problems mouth for others to address at some indeterminate later date.” Not only do we need to fight big business, we need to take the challenge to our own blindfolded Governments.
In her calm and through exploration of the unforeseen consequences of law making,? Eradicating Ecocide takes us through the convoluted changes in law and the pivotal court cases that lead to the development (in law) of corporations being held to account for damages made to the environment as “fictional persons” The example Higgins cites is the Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad trial of 1886, where for “the first time that the word ‘person’ in the fourteenth Amendment was presumed to include corporations.” See Eradicating Ecocide for further details on the outcome of this pre-trial statement.
Eradicating Ecocide also focuses on the development of ‘compromise laws’ by big business and the law courts in order to pacify pollution concerns. The subsequently formed ‘compromise legislation’ merely side steps environmental responsibility whilst failing to provide any real deterrence against the destruction of the planet. The biggest failure in compromise recently was at Cop 15 in Copenhagen. Desperate to end the conference with some form of good news, politicians’ delivered the “The Copenhagen Accord“. As this document is not legally binding, nothing within this treaty has yet to be implemented in local or worldwide politics, as of yet there is no binding successor to equally compromised Kyoto Protocol.
For myself, em>Eradicating Ecocide highlights that the problem with placing profit over all else is that monetary worth becomes the barometer against which all ‘worth’ is measured. Subsequently the earth and its ‘resources’ become a mere asset. Once the earth is seen as an asset, it ceases to be alive and once it ‘dies’ it becomes easier for the bio habitat to be seen as singular commodities (a trend which began with the Industrial Revolution). Subsequently we, the citizens of the planet, must fight to save the planet as a living organisim in its entirety, not solely the sections we personally inhabit.
A brave book, Eradicating Ecocide takes the stance that by allowing the “commercial exploration and destruction of resources” to take “precedence over the obligation of the sacred trust”, corporations have become the colonisers of the 21st Century. Within the UN framework, the concept behind the sacred trust is to ask for “community interests to be placed over private and corporate decisions.” (p.57)
Eradicating Ecocide is an inspiring, informative read and an incredible history lesson on the role of law (so often seemingly abstract from our lives) in shaping our society, our business and the way we view the earth. Personally, the book is incredible for its demand that we use that which is already present within the UN – The development of International Criminal Law in the wake of World War Two and the concept of Trusteeship- to implement these necessary changes. Because the framework for Crimes against Peace already exists, Ecocide could be included without the need to create any new organisations.
The book’s brilliance is that it functions as a template for what both citizen and state can do to protect the environment. Eradicating Ecocide contains useful advice on how we, citizens of the world can implement change. For example, by joining existing climate change networks or starting your own, we can apply pressure on Governments to recognizing Ecocide as a breach against peace. We have the power of the multiple and the power of the streets on our side. With an ever-increasing population, we need to accept the earths resources’ are finite and move away from a market driven economy.
For an update on the Climate Change debate in the wake of Cop 15, I recommend reading Higgins’ account of Cancun (Cop 16) and her summery of the RED++ deal; “The commercialisation of forests into the hands of the corporate sector to make money out of supposedly saving forests.”
If middle England can stand up against the Coalition’s plans to sell 15% of British Forests, we can ALL stand up against a destruction on a far wider scale -the loss of “the Earth’s lungs”- too.
For further information please visit the book’s website: This is Ecocide’s.
What is Ecocide?
Has the formation of laws and legislation had unforeseen and possibly disastrous consequences?
Has the protection of the environment been abandoned by the law?
What can we do?
Polly Higgins is a Barrister, link a Human Right’s Lawyer and author of Eradicating Ecocide. On her blog The Lazy EnvironmentalistHiggins defines Ecocide as the “damage, destruction to or loss of ecosystems, whether by human agency or by other causes, to such an extent that peaceful enjoyment by the inhabitants of that territory has been severely diminished.”
Published in 2010 by Shepeard-Walwyn, Eradicating Ecocide, is a carefully considered polemic on the consequences of leaving environmental concerns at the sidelines, (the destruction of the rainforest, tar sands, Oil, Global Warming) in favour of infinite growth and unregulated capitalism. Higgins believes that the “law as it currently stands is not fit for purpose. It rarely protects the wider earth community interests of both people and planet. Instead, all too often it is the interests of the very the few that are protected, of those with ownership. This causes great injustice at both micro and macro level.” In short, Eradicating Ecocide is a call to arms, an appeal to the protection of the environment in the face of wanton and needless destruction.
Eradicating Ecocide opens with a contemporary reminder about the consequences of runaway ecocide and unregulated industry; the 2010 BP Oil Spill in the Mexican Gulf. Higgins’ arguement implies that as it stands both law making and the planet are being held to ransom by profit-driven corporations.
For Higgins the environment is all too often neglected in favour of short term profit, pointing out that part of the problem lies with “Governments, driven by the obsessive pursuit of economic gain, often undervalue subsequent ecological losses that can arise out of profit making activity… Myopic financial policy takes preeminence over longer term damage and destruction, by keeping the focus firmly on the short-term, problems mouth for others to address at some indeterminate later date.” Not only do we need to fight big business, we need to take the challenge to our own blindfolded Governments.
In her calm and through exploration of the unforeseen consequences of law making,? Eradicating Ecocide takes us through the convoluted changes in law and the pivotal court cases that lead to the development (in law) of corporations being held to account for damages made to the environment as “fictional persons” The example Higgins cites is the Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad trial of 1886, where for “the first time that the word ‘person’ in the fourteenth Amendment was presumed to include corporations.” See Eradicating Ecocide for further details on the outcome of this pre-trial statement.
Eradicating Ecocide also focuses on the development of ‘compromise laws’ by big business and the law courts in order to pacify pollution concerns. The subsequently formed ‘compromise legislation’ merely side steps environmental responsibility whilst failing to provide any real deterrence against the destruction of the planet. The biggest failure in compromise recently was at Cop 15 in Copenhagen. Desperate to end the conference with some form of good news, politicians’ delivered the “The Copenhagen Accord“. As this document is not legally binding, nothing within this treaty has yet to be implemented in local or worldwide politics, as of yet there is no binding successor to equally compromised Kyoto Protocol.
For myself, em>Eradicating Ecocide highlights that the problem with placing profit over all else is that monetary worth becomes the barometer against which all ‘worth’ is measured. Subsequently the earth and its ‘resources’ become a mere asset. Once the earth is seen as an asset, it ceases to be alive and once it ‘dies’ it becomes easier for the bio habitat to be seen as singular commodities (a trend which began with the Industrial Revolution). Subsequently we, the citizens of the planet, must fight to save the planet as a living organisim in its entirety, not solely the sections we personally inhabit.
A brave book, Eradicating Ecocide takes the stance that by allowing the “commercial exploration and destruction of resources” to take “precedence over the obligation of the sacred trust”, corporations have become the colonisers of the 21st Century. Within the UN framework, the concept behind the sacred trust is to ask for “community interests to be placed over private and corporate decisions.” (p.57)
Eradicating Ecocide is an inspiring, informative read and an incredible history lesson on the role of law (so often seemingly abstract from our lives) in shaping our society, our business and the way we view the earth. Personally, the book is incredible for its demand that we use that which is already present within the UN – The development of International Criminal Law in the wake of World War Two and the concept of Trusteeship– to implement these necessary changes. Because the framework for Crimes against Peace already exists, Ecocide could be included without the need to create any new organisations.
The book’s brilliance is that it functions as a template for what both citizen and state can do to protect the environment. Eradicating Ecocide contains useful advice on how we, citizens of the world can implement change. For example, by joining existing climate change networks or starting your own, we can apply pressure on Governments to recognizing Ecocide as a breach against peace. We have the power of the multiple and the power of the streets on our side. With an ever-increasing population, we need to accept the earths resources’ are finite and move away from a market driven economy.
For an update on the Climate Change debate in the wake of Cop 15, I recommend reading Higgins’ account of Cancun (Cop 16) and her summery of the RED++ deal; “The commercialisation of forests into the hands of the corporate sector to make money out of supposedly saving forests.”
If middle England can stand up against the Coalition’s plans to sell 15% of British Forests, we can ALL stand up against a destruction on a far wider scale -the loss of “the Earth’s lungs”- too.
For further information please visit the book’s website: This is Ecocide’s.
What is Ecocide?
Has the formation of laws and legislation had unforeseen and possibly disastrous consequences?
Has the protection of the environment been abandoned by the law?
What can we do?
Polly Higgins is a Barrister, a Human Right’s Lawyer and author of Eradicating Ecocide. On her blog The Lazy EnvironmentalistHiggins defines Ecocide as the “damage, destruction to or loss of ecosystems, whether by human agency or by other causes, to such an extent that peaceful enjoyment by the inhabitants of that territory has been severely diminished.”
Published in 2010 by Shepeard-Walwyn, Eradicating Ecocide, is a carefully considered polemic on the consequences of leaving environmental concerns at the sidelines, (the destruction of the rainforest, tar sands, Oil, Global Warming) in favour of infinite growth and unregulated capitalism. Higgins believes that the “law as it currently stands is not fit for purpose. It rarely protects the wider earth community interests of both people and planet. Instead, all too often it is the interests of the very the few that are protected, of those with ownership. This causes great injustice at both micro and macro level.” In short, Eradicating Ecocide is a call to arms, an appeal to the protection of the environment in the face of wanton and needless destruction.
Eradicating Ecocide opens with a contemporary reminder about the consequences of runaway ecocide and unregulated industry; the 2010 BP Oil Spill in the Mexican Gulf. Higgins’ arguement implies that as it stands both law making and the planet are being held to ransom by profit-driven corporations.
For Higgins the environment is all too often neglected in favour of short term profit, pointing out that part of the problem lies with “Governments, driven by the obsessive pursuit of economic gain, often undervalue subsequent ecological losses that can arise out of profit making activity… Myopic financial policy takes preeminence over longer term damage and destruction, by keeping the focus firmly on the short-term, problems mouth for others to address at some indeterminate later date.” Not only do we need to fight big business, we need to take the challenge to our own blindfolded Governments.
In her calm and through exploration of the unforeseen consequences of law making,? Eradicating Ecocide takes us through the convoluted changes in law and the pivotal court cases that lead to the development (in law) of corporations being held to account for damages made to the environment as “fictional persons” The example Higgins cites is the Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad trial of 1886, where for “the first time that the word ‘person’ in the fourteenth Amendment was presumed to include corporations.” See Eradicating Ecocide for further details on the outcome of this pre-trial statement.
Eradicating Ecocide also focuses on the development of ‘compromise laws’ by big business and the law courts in order to pacify pollution concerns. The subsequently formed ‘compromise legislation’ merely side steps environmental responsibility whilst failing to provide any real deterrence against the destruction of the planet. The biggest failure in compromise recently was at Cop 15 in Copenhagen. Desperate to end the conference with some form of good news, politicians’ delivered the “The Copenhagen Accord“. As this document is not legally binding, nothing within this treaty has yet to be implemented in local or worldwide politics, as of yet there is no binding successor to equally compromised Kyoto Protocol.
For myself, Eradicating Ecocide highlights that the problem with placing profit over all else is that monetary worth becomes the barometer against which all ‘worth’ is measured. Subsequently the earth and its ‘resources’ become a mere asset. Once the earth is seen as an asset, it ceases to be alive and once it ‘dies’ it becomes easier for the bio habitat to be seen as singular commodities (a trend which began with the Industrial Revolution). Subsequently we, the citizens of the planet, must fight to save the planet as a living organisim in its entirety, not solely the sections we personally inhabit.
A brave book, Eradicating Ecocide takes the stance that by allowing the “commercial exploration and destruction of resources” to take “precedence over the obligation of the sacred trust”, corporations have become the colonisers of the 21st Century. Within the UN framework, the concept behind the sacred trust is to ask for “community interests to be placed over private and corporate decisions.” (p.57)
Eradicating Ecocide is an inspiring, informative read and an incredible history lesson on the role of law (so often seemingly abstract from our lives) in shaping our society, our business and the way we view the earth. Personally, the book is incredible for its demand that we use that which is already present within the UN – The development of International Criminal Law in the wake of World War Two and the concept of Trusteeship– to implement these necessary changes. Because the framework for Crimes against Peace already exists, Ecocide could be included without the need to create any new organisations.
The book’s brilliance is that it functions as a template for what both citizen and state can do to protect the environment. Eradicating Ecocide contains useful advice on how we, citizens of the world can implement change. For example, by joining existing climate change networks or starting your own, we can apply pressure on Governments to recognizing Ecocide as a breach against peace. We have the power of the multiple and the power of the streets on our side. With an ever-increasing population, we need to accept the earths resources’ are finite and move away from a market driven economy.
For an update on the Climate Change debate in the wake of Cop 15, I recommend reading Higgins’ account of Cancun (Cop 16) and her summery of the RED++ deal; “The commercialisation of forests into the hands of the corporate sector to make money out of supposedly saving forests.”
If middle England can stand up against the Coalition’s plans to sell 15% of British Forests, we can ALL stand up against a destruction on a far wider scale -the loss of “the Earth’s lungs”- too.
For further information please visit the book’s website: This is Ecocide’s.
It was three minutes past ten, dosage meaning I was three minutes late (as ever…) for my meeting at Camellia’s Teahouse in Soho. As the bus crawled another inch up the Strand, troche I began to wonder if I would ever get there in respectable time (and also if the lady sitting in front of me was wearing a toupee – yes, viagra 60mg people, a toupee – but that’s entirely beside the point).
I hopped off the 23 on Regent Street, sauntered down the ever-charming Carnaby Street and after a few minutes of genuine confusion and cursing myself for not planning ahead better – my general view before visiting somewhere new is ‘hey, I don’t need to look at a map: I know the area, how hard can it be?’ – I finally found Camellia’s, nestled on the top floor of an outdoors shopping precinct.
Photography by Ajit Madan
Before Lubna Madan bought the premises with her brother Ajit in 2007, the shop was a vintage clothing store, and the likes of Amy Winehouse used to pop in to browse. Indeed, Amy came into Camellia’s on the shop’s first day of opening (‘She didn’t buy anything,’ Lubna tells me quickly.) Other famous visitors include actor Jonathan Rhys Meyer and Shizuyo Yamasaki and Chinatsu Wakatsin, two of Japan’s biggest stars who loved it so much that Camellia’s is now featured in Japanese guidebooks of London. Situated near a stone’s throw from the raucous crowds of Regent and Oxford Street, Camellia’s is to the thirsty shopper, I imagine, rather like a waterhole to a lost explorer in the desert. Except cleaner, and with friendly staff and chairs.
If, like me, you are a bit of a tea addict, chances are you will be stunned into silence when you first step into Camellia’s. The bookcases containing around 120 different jars of tea were so impressive that they put me in mind of the library in Beauty and the Beast, and each caddy was neatly labelled, listing the benefits of the tea enclosed.
Alas, I didn’t have the chance to be stunned into silence – although I’m pretty sure there were at least three seconds when I stood motionless with my mouth hanging open – as I was instantly meeted and greeted (well, it sounds better than ‘met and gret’) by Lubna, Ajit and their P.R. chap Ian. Ian left shortly afterwards, and I began to quiz the Madans about their business, starting with the most difficult question first.
‘What’s your favourite tea?’ I asked, with a challenging raise of the eyebrow. Paxman, eat your heart out.
Surprisingly enough, they were both able to answer; Ajit plumped for White Apricot (which I tasted a cup of – trust me, it’s delicious) and Lubna opted for Beautiful Skin tea, a tasty blend of rosebuds, elderflower and a host of other yummy goodies. Lubna and Ajit talked me through some of their most popular teas, some of which are believed to help medical ailments such as stress (Bobby Marley blend), acne (the afore-mentioned Beautiful Skin tea) and a huge range of other problems.
Photography by Katie Byrne
All of the teas are blended by Lubna herself, who, with a background in homeopathy, has an extremely vast knowledge of the health benefits of everything she puts into her teas. ‘All the recipes are my own,’ she tells me. ‘Tea excites me – it’s my passion. Sometimes, I wake up in the middle of the night shaking, as I’ll have just dreamt up a new recipe.’
There are also slabs of cake, slices of pie and quiche, sandwiches and other teatimes favourites available – some of which are made with tea (e.g. green tea muffins). Alas, my steely Lent resolution meant that I restrained myself, but if you visit then please do have some cake on my behalf.
Ajit and Lubna then asked me if I’d like to try making my own blend. I began nodding so enthusiastically that I must have looked like one of those toy dogs that sit in the back of cars.
Armed with a spatula and a dozen or so different teas, I began to concoct my ‘Kay-tea’. A bit of lavender…a scoop of ‘Very Berry’…some lemon peel…a pinch of star anise…a bit of liquorice…a touch of rosehip… Basically I got a little carried away and used a bit of everything. Once I had finished – i.e. there was nothing left for me to use – Ajit took the blend away to brew it. Three minutes later, he returned.
Photography by Ajit Madan
I was a little nervous. What if it tasted awful? Then I could mark tea-making as yet another career that I would never be able to pursue (I am still a little tender after my GCSE Chemistry teacher told me that my ‘dream’ of being a dentist was impossible owing to my scientific ineptitude. And I’ll never forget the time I got rejected following a job interview at Woolworths). Ajit poured us each a cupful and I tentatively took a sip.
I was very pleasantly surprised – it was lovely; or, to use my original verdict of it, ‘Ribena-y’. It was indeed fruity, but I could pick up the other flavours too meaning that it was a real taste-sensation. The cherry on top was that Ajit and Lubna liked it too!
I have to be perfectly honest. I loved the shop, and if I lived closer I would probably become an irritatingly frequent customer. I am 100% behind any company that is brave enough to stick to its own guns and refuse to conform to what the masses dictate (such as The People’s Supermarket), and I think Camellia’s really does make a refreshing change: expertise, personality and affordability, all under one roof.
Whereas I am normally more than happy to swing by Starbucks for a green tea (although Starbucks green tea never really tastes that green…) I really relish the idea of tea being an event rather than just something that comes with a paper cup and a little wooden stick. Camellia’s, with its vintage china, acres of choice and emphasis on health and well-being, is a million miles away from the current chain-coffeehouses. You should definitely visit – I think it would be just your cup of tea.
Camellia’s Teahouse can be found on the Top Floor, 2.12 Kingly Court, Carnaby Street, London ?W1B 5PW
Written by Katie Byrne on Tuesday April 5th, 2011 10:18 pm
Monday 12th Jan
Starting today: The Voice and Nothing More is a week-long festival at the Slade Research Centre that explores the voice as both medium and subject matter in contemporary arts practices. Established artists and emerging talent will work with leading vocal performers in an exploration of the voice outside language. On Wednesday the festival culminates in a presentation of objects, pilulegeneric performances, order and installations that are open to the public. There will also be performances on Thursday and Friday from 6 pm.
Wednesday 14th Jan
Now in it’s 21st year, recipe the London Art Fair begins at the Design Centre in Islington. A hundred galleries are selected to show work from the last few hundred years. This immense exhibition will encompass sculpture, photography, prints, video and installation art. It ends on the 18th of January.
There is a talk this evening at the ICA entitled Can Art make us Happy? where artists Zoë Walker and Michael Pinsky explore the notions of art as a social cure-all in times of economic and social gloom.
A new solo show from Josephine Flynn begins today at Limoncello on Hoxton Square. The Mexican was bought off a patient who was in hospital with mental health problems. When the patient talked about The Mexican she described how the process of making him had helped her – ‘healing through making’ was how she put it.
Thursday 15th Jan
Feierabend is a collaborative installation between artists Francis Upritchard, Martino Gamper, and Karl Fritsche, bringing together a shared aesthetic in their distinctive approaches to jewellery, furniture design, and sculpture. The exhibition plays with the boundaries of art and real life – looking like a workshop abandoned at the end of a day’s work, or a sitting room left in abstracted dissary, it’s only inhabitants a set of sculpted figures who seem lost in their own meditations. Gimpel Fils opens a new photographic exhbition from Peter Lanyon and Emily-Jo Sargent, 100 Pictures of Coney Island.
The Asphalt World is a new solo show at Studio Voltaire from Simon Bedwell. Drip paintings are made from advertising posters in an ironic twist or corporate seduction.
Feierabend
Friday 16th
There are two exhibitions starting today at Wilkinson on Vyner Street. In Upper Gallery a, Episode III, Enjoy Poverty, is the second in a series of three films by Renzo Martens in which he raises issues surrounding contemporary image making, challenging ideas about the role of film makers and viewers in the construction of documentaries. In the Lower Gallery, there will be the fourth exhibiton from German artist, Silke Schatz. Through the conjunction of video, sculpture, drawing and found objects, Schahtz composes a personal portrait of the city of Agsburg.
Saturday 17th Jan
We featured David Cotterrell in issue ten, where in the picturesque surroundings of Tatton Park, he explained how his visit to Afghanistan, where he was invited by the Wellcome Trust, would be likely to have a lasting effect on his future work. Aesthetic Distance is David Cotterrell’s third solo exhibition with Danielle Arnaud, and focuses on the experiences and inevitable aftermath of a flight he took in November 2007 in a RAF C17, from Brize Norton to Kandahar. He was the sole passenger in a plane loaded with half a million rounds of palletised munitions and medical supplies to join Operation Herrick 7, a strange irony not lost on the artist.
To whomsoever concerned by the biggest threat faced by humanity today-that of climate change,
You are cordially invited to Dinner at Domestic Departures. Join us for an evening of peaceful civil(ised) disobedience ahead of the government’s decision over a third runway at Heathrow. Inspired by the actions of the suffragettes, we will be calling for DEEDS NOT WORDS. The government acknowledges the huge problems we face from Climate Change but they continue with business as usual. This jolly evening is intended to produce much-needed positive change and we do hope that you would join us.
Time: 7pm (when the string quartet plays their first note).
Dress Code: Edwardian Suffragette: high collars, long skirts, fitted jackets, puffed sleeves, think Mary Poppins. Sashes will be provided. * Although advisable, it is not compulsory to arrive in Edwardian dress, the most important thing is that you your friends and family join us for dinner. To add the element of surprise, it is suggested that you arrive in a large coat to conceal your costume until the stroke of 7.
Bring: Jam tarts, scones, cucumber sandwiches, hard-boiled eggs, tea cakes. Picnic blankets and table cloths. Tea and elderflower cordial. No alcohol please.
Entertainment: String quartet, art tricks from ArtPort, polite conversation.
We look forward to seeing you,
The Misbehaved Ladies from Climate Rush x
Tuesday 13th January, 6pm
Art, Activism and the legacy of Chico Mendes RSA
8 John Adam Street
London
WC2N 6EZ
Tonight will explore the ways in which the arts can help shift society’s attitudes in the face of unprecedented climate change. Elenira Mendes, daughter of environmental activist Chico Mendes, will talk alongside panelists Jonathan Dove (award-winning composer), Greenpeace’s senior climate adviser, Charlie Kronick and fasion designer and activist Dame Vivienne Westwood.
Wednesday 14th January
Wednesdays Do Matter InSpiral Lounge, 250 Camden High Street NW1 8QS
A night of music, comedy, poetry and film (and really good vegan smoothies!) in aid of global justice campaigners, the World Development Movement. Remind yourselves why everyday matters, even Wednesdays.
Winner of this year’s Grand Jury prize at Sundance and announced as a finalist in 2009 Accademy Awards for Best Documentary. This is one New Orleans’ resident’s depiction of the catastrophic tragedy of Hurricaine Katrina. Shot with a (shakily) handheld camera, Kimberely Roberts’ footage starts from the weekend before the hurricaine and covers a period of a year. Michael Moore collaborators Tia Lessin and Carl Deal edit and append the tapes with their own film of the post-Katrina clean-up effort.An astounding portrayal of resilience and bravery.
Showing at the ICA 12th-15th January
Turning The Season
at The Wapping Project
Wapping Hydraulic Power Station
Wapping Wall
London
E1W 3SG
Recent crisp bright skies have been a welcome respite from the usual drab January weather. But who knows what tomorrow may bring. Turning the Season explores the social and cultural phenomenon of the British Season. It would be fair to say that the increasingly visible effects of Climate Change have further fuelled our national fascination with the weather.
Expect 100 bird houses, a roof-top lily pond and a photo story showing the break-up of a relationship against the backdrop of seasonal events shot by fashion photographer Thomas Zanon-Larcher.
Although aimed at swarms of roaring key stage 3 schoolchildren as an educational piece on the issue of deforestation, this production from Palace People’s Projects is a true delight. Set in a traditional village in the Amazon that is eventually swayed by the ghost of Chico Mendes to not fall under the developers’ bulldozers. But not until some devastation has been wreaked first. A socio-political depiction of destruction of the Amazon with a mythical slant. All set to the music and dancing of Forro. An inventive stage (a mammoth man-made tree rather resembling an electrical pole, and pools of water seperating the audience) and brilliantly gaudy costumes by Gringo Cardia.
Seriously energetic post-punk, sequinned and LOUD live act Dead Kids headline. No matter what you think of them on record, they’re sure to grab you live. Continuing the infant name-theme, as well as the intense post-punk sounds are support O Children.
With the ever-winning combo of Japanese girl singing drummer (also to be found as frontwoman for London band Pre) and jangular guitars, this is your best bet for a trendy sceney night out in London.
Tuesday 13th January
Banjo or Freakout single launch party, White Heat @ Madame JoJos, London
Part of the new-wave of ultra-hip, genre-smashing music sweeping the artier corners of the globe at the moment. Should be a celebratory atmosphere as it is his single launch party.
Intimate solo acoustic performance of debut album First Love in full, ahead of its release in February.
Push, Astoria 2, London
A massive farewell party for the Astoria 2 which will be finally demolished on Friday. Catch Cajun Dance Party live as well as DJ sets from Mystery Jets, Lightspeed Champion, Good Shoes and Neon Gold among many others and mourn the demise of the sticky-floored dingy music venue in central London.
Friday 16th January
Cats in Paris, Brassica, Braindead Improv Ensemble, The Woe Betides, George Tavern, London
Massively hyped, bonkers 70s-ish glam-electro from Manchester.
Catch this 9 piece mini-orchestra, complete with mariachi brass, duelling drummers and girl-boy vocals, for their Ennio Morricone-style soundscapes.
I Love Boxie: a web-based business in London that tailors a t-shirt especially for you based on the story you tell them. The most astute of the fashion-conscious clan know that style should reflect your spirit and not merely robotic trends. In light of this; don’t wear your heart on your sleeve– instead wear it on a t-shirt; a Boxie t-shirt.
Here, cure founder of Boxie, troche Moxie shares her views on what fashion is truly about, how her brand works and what she hopes to achieve through her t-shirts:
Tell us the story of I Love Boxie.?
Each t-shirt tells a piece of the way – a place we have been, a person we have seen. We have many lines that fit many situations and could tell a piece of your story too. If not, we offer t-spoke. You call us, tell us a story and we turn it into a line on a t-shirt. We believe everyone in the world should have an unbranded, authentic tee that sings a line of where they have been and what they have seen. We are the opposite of any company who just put a logo on a t-shirt.
?Where does the inspiration for your t-shirts come from?
?From the people who write and call in everyday with their stories. The stories are wild, heartfelt, quiet, poignant and are better than anything we could make up.
What’s the idea behind the “half a conversation” concept?
If you think about branding for the last 30 years it’s been about distillation, reducing everything to a line eg: ‘just do it’ or ‘impossible is nothing’.
Our lines are about provoking expansion. It’s just the first line of the story, or the chapter heading. We want people to come up to someone wearing a Boxie tee – and go ‘wow, what the hell happened to you??’
?
Why do you make it purposefully hard for people to purchase your t-shirts, without contacting you directly first??
The tees are written about stupid, funny, weird, deep moments in people’s lives. All of them from the heart. They feel like they need more exchange than a credit card transaction. T-spoke especially. This is a creative collaboration that begins with the customer telling us their story. It is a strange and wonderful one off encounter between them and us. The t-shirt is their battle scar of that personal story.
Is all your business Internet based? ?
As far as being web based goes, our tees are obviously a form of self expression and there is no greater arena for that than the web. This taps into what a tee originally was – a piece of underwear, something that wasn’t supposed to be seen but kept close to the chest and hidden like a secret.
These days, the web is a place where secrets can step out of the shade, where people can talk about things they wouldn’t usually talk about in real life. Most times, you can learn more about someone from reading their status report than talking to them for an hour in reality, because the web has taught us the language of openness and sharing.
Boxie exists in the ether as part of that fluency. More importantly those web values – openness, sharing, community – are overflowing back into real life now. So, yes, soon we’ll be on the streets in some form, although the tees will never ever be in a retail space, hanging limply on a rack.
Your favourite Boxie T-Shirt to date??
So High and Solo
Any advice for the penniless fashionista?
Everything great creatively comes from being up against it and with no cash. You can’t ever see it when you’re in it but, as far as imagination goes, you are in an infinitely better position than someone with a million dollars. Do something great with this time. And then call us to get the t-shirt. ?
Advice for those wanting to purchase something Boxie??
Write to us directly at moxie@iloveboxie.com
New York is spawning many a catchy-tuned electro based band at the moment – meet The Discoghosts, more about firstly they have a brilliant name, look secondly, approved they do what they say on the tin, this is a disco fest. Their ethos is nicely summed up in their lyrics, “We love ladies and they love us, cos we’re cool and disco plus.”
Otherwise known as M-Boy and Tracky, they meant their album title – BAD – literally it seems, rather than a tribute to the King of 80′s pop, as they are apparently, “trying to break the taboos of “good” music, while playing with clichés of club sound like repetition, climax, stupidity, autofilter, and sound fetishism.” I see.
This album could be the OST to many an 80′s movie – it’s true, it may be the decade that taste forgot but it produced some pretty good tunes – there are obvious Ghostbusters references ie: track 2 being called Ghostbusters Busters and there’s also hints of the Beverley Hills Cop riffs in there, along with and slinky soul beats, electro voices, rubbish rapping and a guy that sounds suspiciously like the chef from South Park…
That’s not to say they’re stuck in the past, their mellower synthetic beats, such as Jellyfish, track 9, have a Hot Chip vibe and that’s not a bad thing at all.
If their aim was to produce an awful album – they failed, maybe it’s just that I have a soft spot/great love for the 80′s but I very much enjoyed this, catchy, listenable songs that don’t take themselves seriously. My favourite line, from Straight but Gayish (sung by a high electro voice), “your boyfriend’s hetro but he looks homo.”
And they dress like this to perform:
How could you not love them?
It was legitimate for us to feel nervous. With indiscreet bullying from BAA and no knowledge as to how the police were planning to receive us, sick we tucked our dresses beneath our over-coats and shuffled through the throngs of intimidating fluorescent jackets at Heathrow Departures, illness passports at the ready and an impromptu conversation about flight times – very subtle. I wish I could have seen the briefing, look out for pretty girls in dresses and large jackets.
Once in, all subtleties were abandoned, a charming sight when the order of the day was Edwardian dress and dinner, an evening of very civil (ised) disobedience. Instruments, top hats, high collars and puffy sleeves – all were revealed as the clock struck seven, the string quartet took to its first note and picnic blankets were unfurled for the beginning of the Climate Rush organized party, Dinner at Domestic Departures.
Music played, food passed cordially from plate to plate, and sashes were handed out. It was not long before currents rippled through the crowd into cheers, claps, and chants, “Deeds Not Words”, “Trains not Planes” and, “No Third Runway”, with a contingency singing to the tune of 90′s classic There’s no Limit. The complete transformation of Zone C was helped along by Artport, a collective of artists working in collaboration with Cilimate Rush to redefine the space as we know it. Green all-in-one clad waiters weaved through the crowd with a planet for a cake and planes for spoons, whilst a parachute game bounced a blow-up earth from edge to edge.
In amidst this electric and elevating atmosphere, it was a spectacular delivery of a serious message. Climate Change is a very real threat and many people feel let down by the powers that be to address this threat.
We don’t want a third runway and call for cheaper train fares and better transport hubs instead of domestic short-haul flights. It is of course just part of a bigger picture: the greater threat of Climate Change of which aviation expansion is just a part, and the wider feelings of concern and dissatisfaction amongst citizens for whom civil disobedience is also, just a part.
Describing herself as an ex-Camden townie, link the self-taught illustrator, Zarina Liew, has thrown her arms up at the big smoke and a career in marketing; and has chosen instead the serenity of the Cambridgeshire countryside, pencils, watercolours, and strange lonely creatures ridden by lust and self-ruin.
Her Hunter Series, eight inked paintings which exhibited at the Shoreditch Shuffle Festival, started life as a 24-page graphic novel. It tells the story of a gramaphone and a lonely creature, who forms an unlikely friendship with three musicians. She is driven by a need for company and music, they are captured by her beauty and seduced by her authority. The musicians fall into her charm and into her gramophone where they are trapped and eventually perish, singing songs of solidarity and love.
Over a virtual cup if Green Tea, we ask Liew a bit more about her curious creatures of emotional turmoil, her illustrative inspiration and whether or not she misses Camden.
Tell us about the Hunter Series.
I wanted The Hunter Series to be an extension of the original story both visually and metaphorically – a story within a story. You get a sense of the narrative from the different pieces, but as a whole, you see the Hunter for who she is – a hungry, lonely and melancholic being. It’s an illustration of lust and self-ruin; both the musicians and the Hunter are acting on impulse, blind to their terrible fates. Even though she is the one to end the men’s lives, the Hunter does not get what she wants. With no one to listen or play with, she’s alone again.
Where do you draw information for your characters from?
I draw most of my information from observing the people around me. I never assume that what you see in someone is what you get – everyone has a hidden interior of ambition and desire. Music plays a large part as well. I found the musicians for The Hunter listening to an unsigned band playing at the Dublin Castle in Camden – the Parallel Animals. After falling in love with them – and the front man! – I offered to sketch them during rehearsals and help out at their gigs. Seeing how hard local bands work at this music business, and how ruthless the whole industry is, gave me a sense of direction in depicting the musician’s fate in my artwork.
The emotional context of the characters is strong; the nature of lust and self-ruin… is this an expression of your own emotional turmoil?
I suppose yes – in a sense that all of my work is an expression of myself, my feelings and thoughts. I wouldn’t say that I am strongly affected by the nature of lust and self-ruin though, let’s just say that I am extremely aware of it in myself, and all too conscious of letting myself go, or losing control of who I am. As I mentioned earlier we all have a hidden interior of ambition and desire – acting on lust however (whatever the desire – money, sex, fame) can only lead to self-ruin. Sometimes I wonder if I’m making the right choices, I question why I did certain things and what is behind my motivations. It’s a constant cycle of self-reflection.
And finally, Camden vs Cambridge countryside… who wins?
This is a real toughie. Can I be wayward and say that weekdays are for Camden and weekends are for Cambridge?
During the week I get a lot of inspiration from the Camden kids, lovely hidden-away galleries and sweaty underpriced indie nights. By the weekend though it’s full of puffy tourists and very long queues for nothing.
That’s when I retreat to the gentle Cambridge countryside. It’s perfect for lethargic country strolls and relaxing afternoon teas; this is also where I get a lot of my inspiration down onto paper and start to paint. All the week’s bustle leaves my mind ready to draw in peace and quiet!
You can see more of her work here, or catch her at the Alternative Press Fair on Sunday 1st February where she will be featuring the Hunter Storybook alongside other homemade creations, and apparently, lots of Green Tea.
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Why is it no-one tells you that when you leave uni, approved your life will have a huge vacuum and those 3 years you spent studying illustration suddenly seem wasted when all the available jobs are in call centres? What to do? Give up the creative dream? Not if you’re Brighton girl Anna Wenger. She decided that if there was no jobs out there, adiposity she’d start her own business, viagra dosage and Sacred Stitches was born. Her idea of stitching classic tattoo designs onto clothes and homewares has really taken off in recent months, and she’s kindly chatted to us about it:
How did your business come about?
I needed to give my family and friends Christmas presents but without spending much money, so made everyone cushions. I got a lot of attention from these cushions and created more and more and now embroider onto everything I can lay my hands on!
Who are your favourite designers?
I love Angelique Houtkamp, her work mixes classic tattoo imagery with Hollywood romance and her eye for style is very inspirational.
Others include Inka Tattooist James Robinson, Alex Binnie, Jon Burgerman, Tara McPherson and Crush Design Studio.
How would you describe your personal style?
A very modern graphic twist on an old school tattoo style. I like to think that with my designs everyone can appreciate the art form of tattoos without having to get one.
Do you wear your own designs?
Oh yes, and so does my boyfriend, his friends, my flatmates. My flat is completely covered in sacred stitches cushions!
Who or what inspires you? (i know the obvious answer here is tattoos –
but if there’s anything else!)
I live with a tattooist who influences my work; magazines and art exhibitions are good for getting new ideas. My boyfriend and friends are covered in tattoos and will come home with a new piece of art on their skin, so its hard not to be inspired when your surrounded by moving artwork.
Have you got any tattoos?
No, the design is still in progress.
Do you have a favourite tattoo design / what’s the best you’ve seen so
far?
My favourite so far is by Judd Ripley of an amazingly haunting pirate ship. (pictured below)
Do you still love Brighton/can you see yourself living anywhere else?
I am originally from Brighton and moved back here after University, as it’s a creative city. I do love Brighton as it’s a very receptive place for my designs because people here like to buy from small businesses.
Can I have a t-shirt please?
Yes, what size are you, xxl?!?
How very dare you. A medium at the very most!
Thanks for your time Anna. Talent and ambition, the best combination.
Contact Anna about getting hold of your own personalised tattoo(ed piece of clothing) here.
So it may have looked like I was deserting my post last week, cheap swanning off to Paris to slide down hills on the ice and hibernate in nice restaurants. However, whilst my trip may have involved quite a lot of that sort of fun, I was not just being a bone-idle holiday-monger. Au contraire. I also had my ears opened to some great new music and had this excellent first EP by Hold Your Horses! thrust into my sweaty and eager palms (fine it was in a nice restaurant that this transaction took place but we were just following the model of most international business).
Most recent French bands seem either to do an excellent line in electronica or a terrible one in punk rock – you just can’t do attitude if your beige converse match your cashmere v-neck and your hair is cleaner and shinier than a Pantene advert. Hold Your Horses! have most in common with the second school, essentially a guitar band augmented with some strings and wind. However, perhaps the fact that they are a motley crew of diplobrats and true Frenchies contributes to the broader and more interesting range of influences discernible in their music. Sure, The Strokes are probably in every single member of the band’s record collection and at moments on this record, if you were to replace singer Flo’s Chrissie Hinde delivery with a Casablancas drawl, you would be forgiven for thinking you’d stepped back to Strokes-fever 2003, but this is really just what provides the catchy backbone of these songs. There’s a pleasantly shambolic tone – perhaps a little too shambolic at times due to the slightly rough-around-the-edges self-done mix – and when the boy vocals kick in partway through track two, a vaguely Celtic edge emerges.
Opener Cigarettes and Lies, the strongest song on the record, fanfares its arrival with a blast of trumpets before launching into a danceable meditation on youthful lust and confusion. After that, the titles get longer and the violins more prominent as they have a bit of an Irish-ska moment (fine that’s not like, an official genre but listen and you’ll know what I mean) before ending on the sultry Argue and the sweet Flo’s Folk. Although not perfect or polished, this EP is really promising and tips HYH! as a band it’s definitely worth catching live when they hopefully make it to this side of the Channel.
Now you see him now you…hang on, search is that? Yep a giant bunny in a smoking jacket who is theatrically drawing my portrait and grimacing at the fur collar of the girl standing next to me. ‘It’s mink!’ she frantically mimes through Wieden & Kennedy’s shop window on Hanbury Street. ‘Minks are bastards’ he mouths back.
I’m witnessing some of the day-to-day activity taking place outside Imaginary Friends, medicine a rather bizarre shop front exhibition that takes me back to long days spent in the airing cupboard as an only child. Back then, store my imaginary friend was a replica of the devilish dog that encouraged Tintin’s canine companion Snowy to do naughty things (don’t worry, no one else understood that either).
From now until Sunday your imagination takes the form of a wine glugging, abusive life size bunny rabbit (aka recent Central St. Martin’s graduate Jack Bishop).
I managed to catch him on a carrot break.
LJ: I say ‘carrot’ you say?
IF: Parrot? Ok it is the main component of one’s diet but I much prefer Beef Wellington. I shall not be marginalised.
L.J. Can you be taken for walks?
I.F. Of course I can darling. I’m imaginary after all, I can go anywhere you chose. Usually down the local.
L.J. Do you get along with cats?
I.F. So-so. We have a mutual respect for one another.
L.J. Do you breed well with Holland Lops?
I.F. Most definitely. Although my ideal breeding partner would have to be Jessica Rabbit.
L.J. Of course what a babe, got any celebrity bunny mates or rabbits in high hutches?
I.F. Well Harvey is a dear friend as we’re very alike. I used to be drinking buddies with Bugs but…(he drifts) he said a few things about me…said I drank too much. Lightweight.
L.J. Oh dear, well hopefully you’ll settle your differences over a good carrot or a nice seed selection. What are your thoughts on the following high-profile bunnies?
L.J. Peter Rabbit?
I.F. Wet lad.
L.J. Easter Bunny?
I.F. Fatty boy (all that chocolate).
L.J. Energizer Bunny?
I.F. Nympho.
L.J. Thumper?
I.F. Good Kid.
L.J. Nesquick Bunny?
I.F. He’s sold out. Such a shame. Corporate bastard now.
L.J. Got any plans for Easter?
I.F. (He humphs dismissively) I’m not the religious type. I’ll most probably be alone listening to Smokey Robinson and Sam Cook, drinking fine wines.
L.J. That sounds fun, I’ll be your friend if you want.
I.F. You fool! I can’t chose to be someone’s friend, I’m imaginary, they decide what I am to them, it’s annoying. Sometimes I feel degraded. I’d much rather be on my own.
With that he lolloped back down Brick Lane.
CarrotMobbing! No it’s not a bunny invasion in the run up to Easter, sick it’s the new consumerist activism from San Francisco. The idea is to sway more businesses to adopt greener habits. An alternative to boycotting, more aboutCarrotMobbing operates in a way that appeals to businesses by offering cash rewards.
In return for a percentage of a day’s takings to be spent on environmentally-friendly practises (e.g. better energy-efficient appliances, organic produce) a CarrotMob will descend on the establishment on a certain day and spend, spend, spend.
It is the brainchild of American environmentalist Brent Schulkin and it is unique in working alongside businesses that could be greener by offering them the ‘carrot’, as opposed to the ‘stick’ approach of boycotting or picketing.’We recognize that corporations must keep profit as their top priority.Historically, this fact has meant that the environment has suffered. We hope to change that by putting rewards in place that will make environmental responsibility the more profitable choice.’
The concept has already started to make an impact over here. The first UK Carrotmob was in September 2008 at the Redchurch bar in East London and since then carrotmobs have sprung up around the country including the restaurant La Ruca in Bristol.
When I proposed the idea to local cafe Yummy’s, Jason and his brother were really keen! Stay tuned for an Amelia’s Magazine CarrotMob expected to take place in a couple of weeks time.
Bristol’s Thekla is a down-with-the-kids venue by anyone’s standards. The ship is moored in a floating harbour, approved featured in Skins, shop has been played by Massive Attack and was once graffitied by Banksy. To see a band there tipped as number two in the BBC’s ‘ones to watch 2009′ is incredible. White Lies quite literally rock the boat.
Anticipation crackles in the air before they mount the stage. I’d fallen deeply in love with the singles months before: deathly, desperate melodies with the lyrics of a romantic poet born in the 80s set to gut-grinding electronica. And I’m praying they won’t let me down. In a swell of turbulence, the band storm on with Unfinished Business liquefying into To Lose My Life. Later, Farewell to the Fairground also stands out as a stark winner, perhaps a forthcoming single?
Harry McVeigh haunts his audience, both in voice and form. Recalling the two great Ian’s of post-punk, McCulloch and Curtis, he’s skinny with a voice that’s anything but. Glimpse him between the strobe lights and he’s a beautiful alien visitor. And the possessor of a truly spectral set of vocal chords.
Through White Lies’ unique ability to craft tangibly spooky scenes with their lyrics, as each new song rumbles into being, I’m by turns walking in an abandoned fairground at night, taking off in an aeroplane, wrestling a ghost in a dream. Captivating. Sound groans in the iron belly of the ship, the guitar rips through thundering drums and Harry wails into the watery deep. There’s no banter, no real movement and yet everyone’s rapt because they’re witnessing something really special.
A few technical hitches mar the proceedings and drown out the vocals, but not to worry, the finale is Death and we’re all singing along. White Lies have mesmerized their crowd good and proper and we pursue them from the boat like crazed rats into the night. Drunken fan’s yelps of ‘yes this fear’s got a hold on meeee’ follow me all along the dark waterfront home.
It’s half way through January – a long way from pay day and you want some new clothes. It’s the only thing that can cheer you up in this depressing month. Visiting an actual shop is out of the question, decease you can barely afford the bus fare there, visit this let alone any of the goods for sale inside the shop.
So here’s an idea – acquiring new clothes without having to actually spend a penny (on the clothes) – via the medium of clothes swapping.
This can be done in many ways, buy more about the first is attending this event:
However, if the idea of not having complete control over what you actually end up with isn’t exactly what you had in mind, then try this, a swishing event – yes it is £5 entry but for countless amounts of clothes, well worth it. It’s a similar idea to the flyered event above but you can choose what you pick.
If you don’t fancy actually leaving your house, then Bigwardrobe.com is an online swapping platform which is similar to e-bay in that you put your unwanted clothes online and people buy them off you – it’s better than eBay as it has a swap function and it gets even better than that! – you can get actual cash for your unwanted xmas goodies or fashion mistakes of the past. You can use a combination of money and swapping to barter for goods, eg:, “ I’ll give you this blouse and £3 for your skirt,” or something along those lines.
In these lean times, clothes recycling is the best way to update your wardrobe.
St Davids, website on the far south-western tip of Wales, viagra approved is a city of contradictions. Being the smallest city in the UK, it is really more of a village with a great big cathedral plonked down at one end. It is a tranquil little place but alongside the tea-and-scones brigade is a growing community of surfers who ride the waves on the beautiful beaches nearby all year round. Beyond the shoppers rummaging through baskets of souvenir tea-towels are legions of walkers and nature-lovers who explore the coast paths, the sea and the cliffs in between in search of puffins, seals and the delicate, beautiful Manx Shearwater birds that migrate past the headland every summer. Even the visitor centre (known as Oriel Y Parc, which means ‘the park gallery’) is an odd mixture, for if you walk through the coffee shop and past the leaflets on local attractions you will find yourself in a world-class gallery.
The gallery, a recent addition to the visitor centre, is itself beautifully harmonious in form and content. The environmentally sustainable building that houses it heralds what we can expect from a gallery in the 21st century. The graceful arc shape of the building catches the sun all day, keeping heating costs to a minimum. The ceilings are insulated with lamb’s wool and a green roof with its swaying grasses also brings warmth and helps to regulate the demand on the drainage system. Rainwater is used for the toilet cisterns and solar energy panels heat water for the kitchen. Recycled and second-hand materials have been used wherever possible – much of the stone for the walls comes from old derelict buildings.
Perhaps it is when you see what is on display inside the gallery that you truly understand the importance of all this low-impact building and energy conservation: to preserve the precious Pembrokeshire landscape that has inspired so many artists including London-born painter Graham Sutherland. Sutherland loved the landscape around St Davids, painting it again and again, and when he died in 1980 he left a great body of work to the people of Pembrokeshire.
Sutherland’s work will form the permanent central focus of the gallery’s exhibitions. For those used to gentle water-colour scenes of the Welsh coast, Sutherland’s paintings are a hand grenade assault on the senses – fierce, energy-filled evocations of the landscape, both challenging and fascinating.
For Oriel Y Parc to be given permission to exhibit the bequest it had to meet a stringent list of standards, including careful regulation of the humidity and temperature in the air and a complex and highly sophisticated security system. Meeting this criteria has meant that the gallery has been awarded ‘Class A’ status, which means that the work by Picasso and Rembrandt that is displayed alongside Sutherland’s paintings in the current exhibition will be the first in a long line of world-class international art to be shown at the centre.
Prompted by Sutherland’s extraordinary visions of the surrounding countryside, the gallery plans to use future exhibitions to investigate art’s relationship with the landscape and with nature. Brendan Burns a Cardiff-based painter has been making paintings of the Pembrokeshire coastline for about fifteen years. Being the first artist-in-residence at Oriel Y Parc is, he says, ‘so exciting because everything is new. It feels important, like you’re part of something major.’ He is thrilled by his proximity to his subject, as until now he has had to make the 100-mile journey home before he began to paint. He is also pleased to have Sutherland’s work in the next room, where he can pop in and refer to it whenever he pleases, and says he particularly draws inspiration from the photographs, drawings and writing in the bequest.
He can’t predict how the residency will affect his work, but says he is starting out by ‘taking walks on new beaches’.
• The work produced by Brendan Burns during his residency at Oriel Y Parc will be shown at Oriel Y Parc or the National Museum in Cardiff, towards the end of 2009.
This week’s environmental hero award goes to Dame Vivienne Westwood. Not only has she created unashamedly fabulous clothes for the last four decades, more about she also wears her heart on her sleeve. Quite literally, viagra buy in the form of a badge with the ubiquitous image of a rebel in a beret. But this is not Che Guevara, but Rembrandt who, according to Viv, was as much a freedom fighter as the Argentine revolutionary.
She explained this at the Art, Activism and the Legacy of Chico Mendes talk at the RSA a couple of nights ago. We were there to find out how art can be used to promote environmental causes. Unfortunately we left none the wiser, other than to have our suspicions confirmed that Dame Viv is slightly bonkers but an extraordinary creative mind (even if she did refer to the president of Guatemala as the ‘boss of the jungle’).
Amongst mutterings on plumbers and the evils of watching too much TV were moments of clarity; ‘Activists and art lovers are the same thing, through active pursuit of art and resistance to propaganda, they stop becoming consumers and start becoming thinkers.’
She seemed to address the point of the discussion more than any of the other panellists who struggled to reach a conclusion as to how the art world can break through the cloud of elitism that surrounds it and communicate social issues, such as environmentalism, to the average Tom, Dick and Harry.
The most striking thing about Viv (apart from the neon hair) was her honest and heartfelt concern for the state of the world. At times this came across as cringingly naïve; ‘we need to get Gordon Brown to pool all the money and buy the jungle.’ But she’s a wise woman who has campaigned for social causes for several years with the same unashamed eccentricity as her clothes. Read how Pinocchio finds art (among other tales) in her manifesto. Monday January 19th
The link between altered states and creative activity is not a novel one, buy more about but altered states is the order of the day for the next few months at Riflemaker. Voodoo “Hoochie Coochie and the Creative Spirit” is an exhibition that draws its artists, writers, and musicians on the common ground that they each recognise the need for altered states to in order to create their work. It begins today and goes through to April. Expect to see the non-doing before the doing …?
Tuesday January 20th
Get Müllerd And Dance – separately known as Jessica Dance and Robert Muller – are a multidisciplinary creative duo who featured in issue 10 with their ‘Crafty Scraves’. Jessica describes their work as, “ playful and using several different mediums, that often experiment with typography and play with the realms of scale and proportion – combining 2D traditional methods with more experimental 3D techniques.”
Their ethos is to have fun with ideas and not worry about the troubles that reality can bring. Creating a moment of escape whilst still communicating a message – evidence of this is in Topshop, Oxford Street, where an installation can be found on the lower ground floor for the next 2 weeks.
Check out a video of the piece being installed here.
The Universal Now, the first London show from Abigail Reynolds, is the new exhibition starting today at Seventeen on Kingsland Road. The work features a series of collages using imagery sourced from publications such as guide books and atlases, combining photographs of landscapes or monuments, and enmeshing them together. What you get is a three dimensional object, a grid-like construction that changes and moves with your perspective, underlining your presence as viewer.
Thursday January 22nd
Transition Gallerycontinues along the theme music and obsession in their new exhibition Too Much is Not Enough. Four artists deal with the delerium of fandom and the darker underbelly of the worn out and deprived celebrity.
Saturday January 24th
In or near Manchester? Today begins Interspecies at the Art Catalyst. All the artists question the one-sided manipulation of non-human life forms for art. They instead try to absorb the animal’s point of view as a fundamental part of their work and practice … I myself have been talking to my cat for years.
Sunday January 25th Indian Highway at the Serpentine has been going for some time now, a multi-media circus of Indian art old and new, with a strong emphasis on film. This Sunday at the Gate cinema they are showing A River Called Titas, an epic depiction of the tragic lives of a small fishing community living on the River Titas. “a raw and powerful tale of a drying river and with it a dying civilisation” says the BFI.
Written by Luisa Gerstein on Monday January 19th, 2009 1:06 am
After hanging out with contributor Nick for lunch during Menswear Day, information pills I hot-footed it up to Vauxhall Fashion Scout to check out D.GNAK‘s latest offerings. It was the only menswear show I’d see at the Freemasons’ Hall and it was fairly quiet. I’d enjoyed his outing last season and was looking forward to seeing how his quirky Japanese aesthetic would translate for A/W.
I bumped into contributor Georgiahttp://www.ameliasmagazine.com/?s=Georgia%20Takacs there and we headed into the venue, here sitting on opposite sides so not to get the same pictures. As we sat down, sales she started FREAKING OUT. ‘Is that Paul Weller? IS THAT PAUL WELLER?!’ she began yelling. It turns out it was, and he was nestled on the front row with his missus and two children. Georgia immediately went over to chat to him and I took a few pictures of them together, grinned nervously at him and thought to myself that his haircut has a lot to answer for.
On with the show. In a bold move from last season’s classic tailoring with contemporary twists, Kang D (the designer behind D.GNAK) had injected strong colours, interesting knits and enormous rucksacks.
The show opened with utilitarian tailoring that you might expect George Orwell’s Winston Smith to wear dark grey baggy trousers with an apron-like upper half was teamed with a luxurious floor-length cable knit cardigan. Next, a rich pea-coat with over-sized lapels and plaid-detail shoulders.
D.GNAK as a label is quickly establishing itself as an expert in materials and textures. Wools, corduroy, tweed and cotton were all on display, spiced up using colours like mustard and burgundy.
There’s also an eye for the unfinished – that’ll be the Japanese ma influence then – with fraid hems that look a bit like a Saville Row tailor has had the day off – but teamed with polished blazers and expensive-looking coats, this works really well.
Every man is pretty much catered for here. There’s sartorial tailoring in the form of suits and Sherlock Holmes-esque coats for the sharpest dresser; wool blazers with contrasting buttons and vibrant trousers work well for casuals; corduroy onesies will have the more fashion-forward males racing to the shops.
Ace accessories were on offer – oversized patent leather rucksacks with suede details were worn on both shoulders, buckle straps revealed helpful features like an umbrella carrier. I like.
This was a much fresher collection than last time – the same level of craftsmanship was on offer, but it’s interesting to see D-GNAK explore different pieces, experiment with colours and toy with the traditions of sartorial menswear.
After hanging out with contributor Nick for lunch during Menswear Day, illness I hot-footed it up to Vauxhall Fashion Scout to check out D.GNAK‘s latest offerings. It was the only menswear show I’d see at the Freemasons’ Hall and it was fairly quiet. I’d enjoyed his outing last season and was looking forward to seeing how his quirky Japanese aesthetic would translate for A/W.
Contributor Georgia with Paul Weller
I bumped into contributor Georgiahttp://www.ameliasmagazine.com/?s=Georgia%20Takacs there and we headed into the venue, recipe sitting on opposite sides so not to get the same pictures. As we sat down, she started FREAKING OUT. ‘Is that Paul Weller? IS THAT PAUL WELLER?!’ she began yelling. It turns out it was, and he was nestled on the front row with his missus and two children. Georgia immediately went over to chat to him and I took a few pictures of them together, grinned nervously at him and thought to myself that his haircut has a lot to answer for.
On with the show. In a bold move from last season’s classic tailoring with contemporary twists, Kang D (the designer behind D.GNAK) had injected strong colours, interesting knits and enormous rucksacks.
The show opened with utilitarian tailoring that you might expect George Orwell’s Winston Smith to wear dark grey baggy trousers with an apron-like upper half was teamed with a luxurious floor-length cable knit cardigan. Next, a rich pea-coat with over-sized lapels and plaid-detail shoulders.
D.GNAK as a label is quickly establishing itself as an expert in materials and textures. Wools, corduroy, tweed and cotton were all on display, spiced up using colours like mustard and burgundy.
There’s also an eye for the unfinished – that’ll be the Japanese ma influence then – with fraid hems that look a bit like a Saville Row tailor has had the day off – but teamed with polished blazers and expensive-looking coats, this works really well.
Every man is pretty much catered for here. There’s sartorial tailoring in the form of suits and Sherlock Holmes-esque coats for the sharpest dresser; wool blazers with contrasting buttons and vibrant trousers work well for casuals; corduroy onesies will have the more fashion-forward males racing to the shops.
Ace accessories were on offer – oversized patent leather rucksacks with suede details were worn on both shoulders, buckle straps revealed helpful features like an umbrella carrier. I like.
This was a much fresher collection than last time – the same level of craftsmanship was on offer, but it’s interesting to see D-GNAK explore different pieces, experiment with colours and toy with the traditions of sartorial menswear.
After hanging out with contributor Nick for lunch during Menswear Day, visit this I hot-footed it up to Vauxhall Fashion Scout to check out D.GNAK‘s latest offerings. It was the only menswear show I’d see at the Freemasons’ Hall and it was fairly quiet. I’d enjoyed his outing last season and was looking forward to seeing how his quirky Japanese aesthetic would translate for A/W.
Contributor Georgia with Paul Weller
I bumped into contributor Georgiahttp://www.ameliasmagazine.com/?s=Georgia%20Takacs there and we headed into the venue, pharm sitting on opposite sides so not to get the same pictures. As we sat down, she started FREAKING OUT. ‘Is that Paul Weller? IS THAT PAUL WELLER?!’ she began yelling. It turns out it was, and he was nestled on the front row with his missus and two children. Georgia immediately went over to chat to him and I took a few pictures of them together, grinned nervously at him and thought to myself that his haircut has a lot to answer for.
On with the show. In a bold move from last season’s classic tailoring with contemporary twists, Kang D (the designer behind D.GNAK) had injected strong colours, interesting knits and enormous rucksacks.
All photography by Matt Bramford
The show opened with utilitarian tailoring that you might expect George Orwell’s Winston Smith to wear dark grey baggy trousers with an apron-like upper half was teamed with a luxurious floor-length cable knit cardigan. Next, a rich pea-coat with over-sized lapels and plaid-detail shoulders.
D.GNAK as a label is quickly establishing itself as an expert in materials and textures. Wools, corduroy, tweed and cotton were all on display, spiced up using colours like mustard and burgundy.
There’s also an eye for the unfinished – that’ll be the Japanese ma influence then – with fraid hems that look a bit like a Saville Row tailor has had the day off – but teamed with polished blazers and expensive-looking coats, this works really well.
Every man is pretty much catered for here. There’s sartorial tailoring in the form of suits and Sherlock Holmes-esque coats for the sharpest dresser; wool blazers with contrasting buttons and vibrant trousers work well for casuals; corduroy onesies will have the more fashion-forward males racing to the shops.
Ace accessories were on offer – oversized patent leather rucksacks with suede details were worn on both shoulders, buckle straps revealed helpful features like an umbrella carrier. I like.
This was a much fresher collection than last time – the same level of craftsmanship was on offer, but it’s interesting to see D-GNAK explore different pieces, experiment with colours and toy with the traditions of sartorial menswear.
After hanging out with contributor Nick for lunch during Menswear Day, abortion I hot-footed it up to Vauxhall Fashion Scout to check out D.GNAK‘s latest offerings. It was the only menswear show I’d see at the Freemasons’ Hall and it was fairly quiet. I’d enjoyed his outing last season and was looking forward to seeing how his quirky Japanese aesthetic would translate for A/W.
Contributor Georgia with Paul Weller
I bumped into contributor Georgiahttp://www.ameliasmagazine.com/?s=Georgia%20Takacs there and we headed into the venue, medications sitting on opposite sides so not to get the same pictures. As we sat down, she started FREAKING OUT. ‘Is that Paul Weller? IS THAT PAUL WELLER?!’ she began yelling. It turns out it was, and he was nestled on the front row with his missus and two children. Georgia immediately went over to chat to him and I took a few pictures of them together, grinned nervously at him and thought to myself that his haircut has a lot to answer for.
On with the show. In a bold move from last season’s classic tailoring with contemporary twists, Kang D (the designer behind D.GNAK) had injected strong colours, interesting knits and enormous rucksacks.
All photography by Matt Bramford
The show opened with utilitarian tailoring that you might expect George Orwell’s Winston Smith to wear dark grey baggy trousers with an apron-like upper half was teamed with a luxurious floor-length cable knit cardigan. Next, a rich pea-coat with over-sized lapels and plaid-detail shoulders.
D.GNAK as a label is quickly establishing itself as an expert in materials and textures. Wools, corduroy, tweed and cotton were all on display, spiced up using colours like mustard and burgundy.
There’s also an eye for the unfinished – that’ll be the Japanese ma influence then – with fraid hems that look a bit like a Saville Row tailor has had the day off – but teamed with polished blazers and expensive-looking coats, this works really well.
Every man is pretty much catered for here. There’s sartorial tailoring in the form of suits and Sherlock Holmes-esque coats for the sharpest dresser; wool blazers with contrasting buttons and vibrant trousers work well for casuals; corduroy onesies will have the more fashion-forward males racing to the shops.
Ace accessories were on offer – oversized patent leather rucksacks with suede details were worn on both shoulders, buckle straps revealed helpful features like an umbrella carrier. I like.
This was a much fresher collection than last time – the same level of craftsmanship was on offer, but it’s interesting to see D-GNAK explore different pieces, experiment with colours and toy with the traditions of sartorial menswear.
After hanging out with contributor Nick for lunch during Menswear Day, doctor I hot-footed it up to Vauxhall Fashion Scout to check out D.GNAK‘s latest offerings. It was the only menswear show I’d see at the Freemasons’ Hall and it was fairly quiet. I’d enjoyed his outing last season and was looking forward to seeing how his quirky Japanese aesthetic would translate for A/W.
Contributor Georgia with Paul Weller
I bumped into contributor Georgiahttp://www.ameliasmagazine.com/?s=Georgia%20Takacs there and we headed into the venue, sitting on opposite sides so not to get the same pictures. As we sat down, she started FREAKING OUT. ‘Is that Paul Weller? IS THAT PAUL WELLER?!’ she began yelling. It turns out it was, and he was nestled on the front row with his missus and two children. Georgia immediately went over to chat to him and I took a few pictures of them together, grinned nervously at him and thought to myself that his haircut has a lot to answer for.
On with the show. In a bold move from last season’s classic tailoring with contemporary twists, Kang D (the designer behind D.GNAK) had injected strong colours, interesting knits and enormous rucksacks.
All photography by Matt Bramford
The show opened with utilitarian tailoring that you might expect George Orwell’s Winston Smith to wear dark grey baggy trousers with an apron-like upper half was teamed with a luxurious floor-length cable knit cardigan. Next, a rich pea-coat with over-sized lapels and plaid-detail shoulders.
D.GNAK as a label is quickly establishing itself as an expert in materials and textures. Wools, corduroy, tweed and cotton were all on display, spiced up using colours like mustard and burgundy.
There’s also an eye for the unfinished – that’ll be the Japanese ma influence then – with fraid hems that look a bit like a Savile Row tailor has had the day off – but teamed with polished blazers and expensive-looking coats, this works really well.
Every man is pretty much catered for here. There’s sartorial tailoring in the form of suits and Sherlock Holmes-esque coats for the sharpest dresser; wool blazers with contrasting buttons and vibrant trousers work well for casuals; corduroy onesies will have the more fashion-forward males racing to the shops.
Ace accessories were on offer – oversized patent leather rucksacks with suede details were worn on both shoulders, buckle straps revealed helpful features like an umbrella carrier. I like.
This was a much fresher collection than last time – the same level of craftsmanship was on offer, but it’s interesting to see D-GNAK explore different pieces, experiment with colours and toy with the traditions of sartorial menswear.
Last season I was incredibly gutted to miss the Cooperative Designs presentation – such were the glowing reports on our website. But in my enthusiasm I actually turned up too early this time, treatment got turned away, medications ate a Pret sandwich… and then missed most of what turned out to actually be a catwalk show on repeat.
Cooperative Designs A/W 2011. Photography by Tim Adey.
Descending some stairs we were asked to sit in a darkened vault but my photographer’s sixth sense directed me instead to stand in a separate photographers box, healing where the models paused for a few seconds in somewhat brighter conditions.
This was a collection inspired by 90s rave culture, Drum n Bass and the contemplative industrial photography of Thomas Struth, which meant that the oversized silhouette of Cooperative Designs came in industrial tones of grey and beige stripes combined with fluoro highlights in tie detailing, visors and threaded hair accessories.
Cooperative Designs A/W 2011. Photography by Tim Adey.
Cooperative Designs A/W 2011. Photography by Amelia Gregory.
There was lots of asymmetrical patterning, floppy hooded jumpers, boxy baggy tops and knit dresses tiered with baggy pouches. Lacy see through knitwear recalled the combat trouser shapes so beloved of 90s dancers. Hats by Noel Stewart were tall and floppy like a gnome’s or featured ear flaps and visors – questionable styles that were somehow rendered infinitely desirable. A wide knitted skirt was particularly cute, as were the little boots by Flip Flop, customised by Cooperative Designs with extravagant orange soles.
Cooperative Designs A/W 2011. Photography by Amelia Gregory.
Of any designers that I love I can actually imagine myself wearing Cooperative Designs. Their clever knitwear is by it’s very nature supremely flattering to the shape of a real women. Thankfully, they make a point of picking their models to reflect their customer.
Plywood jewellery by Corrie Williamson for Cooperative Designs 2011. Photography by Amelia Gregory.
On my way out I was given a brilliant press release: informative, well written and protected in a cardboard envelope that even I would struggle to lose. Best of all, it came with my very own piece of painted plywood jewellery by Corrie Williamson, as featured in the collection. More designers could learn from such professionalism on the press release frontier.
After hanging out with contributor Nick for lunch during Menswear Day, information pills I hot-footed it up to Vauxhall Fashion Scout to check out D.GNAK‘s latest offerings. It was the only menswear show I’d see at the Freemasons’ Hall and it was fairly quiet. I’d enjoyed his outing last season and was looking forward to seeing how his quirky Japanese aesthetic would translate for A/W.
Contributor Georgia with Paul Weller
I bumped into contributor Georgiahttp://www.ameliasmagazine.com/?s=Georgia%20Takacs there and we headed into the venue, sitting on opposite sides so not to get the same pictures. As we sat down, she started FREAKING OUT. ‘Is that Paul Weller? IS THAT PAUL WELLER?!’ she began yelling. It turns out it was, and he was nestled on the front row with his missus and two children. Georgia immediately went over to chat to him and I took a few pictures of them together, grinned nervously at him and thought to myself that his haircut has a lot to answer for.
On with the show. In a bold move from last season’s classic tailoring with contemporary twists, Kang D (the designer behind D.GNAK) had injected strong colours, interesting knits and enormous rucksacks.
All photography by Matt Bramford
The show opened with utilitarian tailoring that you might expect George Orwell’s Winston Smith to wear dark grey baggy trousers with an apron-like upper half was teamed with a luxurious floor-length cable knit cardigan. Next, a rich pea-coat with over-sized lapels and plaid-detail shoulders.
D.GNAK as a label is quickly establishing itself as an expert in materials and textures. Wools, corduroy, tweed and cotton were all on display, spiced up using colours like mustard and burgundy.
There’s also an eye for the unfinished – that’ll be the Japanese ma influence then – with fraid hems that look a bit like a Savile Row tailor has had the day off – but teamed with polished blazers and expensive-looking coats, this works really well.
Every man is pretty much catered for here. There’s sartorial tailoring in the form of suits and Sherlock Holmes-esque coats for the sharpest dresser; wool blazers with contrasting buttons and vibrant trousers work well for casuals; corduroy onesies will have the more fashion-forward males racing to the shops.
Ace accessories were on offer – oversized patent leather rucksacks with suede details were worn on both shoulders, buckle straps revealed helpful features like an umbrella carrier. I like.
This was a much fresher collection than last time – the same level of craftsmanship was on offer, but it’s interesting to see D-GNAK explore different pieces, experiment with colours and toy with the traditions of sartorial menswear.
For us Londoners it can be tough sometimes. If you find yourself shoulder barging your way down Oxford Street just to try and get to work, check you can be forgiven for wondering why you bother. If you’re spending maybe two thirds of your pay cheque on rent in a tiny, salve leaky flat above a shop. If you’re looking for breakfast on a Sunday morning and skipping over pools of vomit on your trendy street. But then just when you’re about ready to pack up, ampoule belongings in a handkerchief on a stick and all, the city reels you back. One of the reasons I just can’t leave London is there are places like the Barbican. I’m sure that clued up Amelia’s Magazine reading folks are familiar with the Barbican, but just for any of you wondering what this respite from London’s horribleness could possibly be, here are the basics.
The Barbican Estate, built up in the 60s and 70s, is an imposing, Brutalist style complex comprising the Barbican Centre – an arts, drama and business centre with about a hundred different interesting things always seemingly happening at any given time; a YMCA; the Museum of London and a residential estate. Yes, that’s right, people actually live there. How cool is that? As for the events at the Centre itself, they’re amazingly varied and always concertedly cutting edge… Occasionally to the point of pretentious but well, I’d rather have pretension than no new art, hands down. With that in mind, I was interested and a little wary when I read the press release for Cory Arcangel’s Beat the Champ in The Curve – An area of the centre used to showcase new innovative artists.
A digital artist from Brooklyn, New York (alarm bells), Arcangel has rigged up a whole bank of games consoles, ranging from a 1970s Atari to a current (as far as I’m aware) Playstation Three, each fitted with a bowling simulator game. The clever part is that he’s rejigged the games so that the bowler will always strike out. The controllers attached to each console have been physically rewired so that nobody can ever win.
It’s a surprisingly arresting installation. I’m tempted to say I was bowled over but that’s just cheap, you readers are better than that. For such a seemingly simple idea I had a number of reactions. I was immediately impressed, in the most literal sense, by the scale of the projections. Floor to ceiling along one side of the space. The larger than life bowling alley of the present day game meant I almost felt as though I was in place of the player. It’s also realy cool to see just how much video game technology has changed over such a short time.
The first bowling game in the group is a pixilated figure, all white on a bue background and barely discernable as man-shaped, who slowly rolls a ball to a bleeping 8-bit soundtrack. Compared to the games we’re used to now it’s hard to imagine how this could ever hold anyone’s attention for more than five minutes. Then there are the hilarious 90s efforts, all thumbs up, shades and backwards baseball caps like that episode of the Simpsons when Itchy & Scratchy introduce Poochy the skateboarding dog.
The modern day game is as life like as can be, the player is a pudgy middle aged bowler and he bewails his constant gutter balls with his head in his hands. There is, undoubtedly, an interesting emotional response to seeing these virtual bowlers perpetually losing out. In interviews Arcangel has described himself as “glass half empty kind of person” and his past work has included a hack of a Super Mario Brothers game whereby everything was removed except the pixelated clouds rolling past. The rolling Mario clouds and the pins that never get knocked down both seem so naïve but suggest a sort of post modern existentialism which I really like. The title of the installation is interesting, perhaps driving home the idea of futility, the bowlers are never going to Beat the Champ. They’re never ever going to roll anything other than a gutter ball and I guess, at the risk of sounding melodramatic, the idea might be that that’s what we’re all afraid of doing with our lives.
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Jayne in my kitchen eating iced fairy cakes with fellow interns Jessica and Christel.
Last night I heard the horrific news that my ex intern, pill the illustrator and designer Jayne Helliwell, was crushed to death by a bus whilst cycling down Oxford Street. She was just short of 26 years old. I was asked to comment by the Evening Standard for an article that has just gone live this morning.
Jayne was an incredibly talented and extremely likeable girl who worked on issue 08 of Amelia’s Magazine in 2007. At that stage my interns were squashed together in the kitchen, and Jayne bonded well with the others, some of whom she went on to work with later (read about her collaboration with Christel Escosa on I M / / U R here). She was one of those interns who drifted in and out because she was so busy with other projects, but I didn’t mind because the quality of her work was so good. She was quick, and she could turn her hand to pretty much any creative task with ease, be it designing, illustrating, writing or picking out the best new music.
She was really into the idea of living sustainably and I was impressed with her devotion to veganism – Jayne often eschewed what I had cooked in favour of some tasty morsel she had concocted herself, and she, like me, insisted on cycling absolutely everywhere. I really liked working with someone who had similar ideas about ways in which we can live more lightly on the earth.
Jayne has gone on to do lots of amazing work in the creative industries. I hadn’t spoken to her in quite awhile but I was aware that she was doing well because as well as being so talented she was so prolific: it came as no surprise to find that she worked extensively with musicians, amongst many others. Jayne had a great career ahead of her and she will surely be much missed by many people. You can read another tribute here.
Of course, it all seems so senseless because this tragic accident could so easily have been avoided. Why are our streets so unsafe? We are (rightly) encouraged to cycle more, and we are. There are now many more people on bikes than when I first hit the roads with two wheels nearly ten years ago. Cycling a bike has immeasurably improved my life, and yet many people I know refuse to cycle because it has become so dangerous. I’ve known three people to have been killed in bike accidents, including a Greenpeace climber that I met when we were both arrested at the Kingsnorth Climate Camp in 2008. We got on really well, swapped numbers and arranged to meet up – a month later she was dead. When are the roads going to be made safer? What does it take? How many people have to die?
I’ve cycled down Oxford Street several times in recent weeks, and every time I’ve thought “this is a death trap” – it’s a nightmare obstacle course for every kind of moving object, a collision waiting to happen. Add to this the nonchalant attitude of bus drivers – who frequently ignore cyclists and push us right into the curb – and you’ve got an extremely dangerous situation. Much has been done to educate heavy goods vehicles for the need to stay away from cyclists, but the same cannot be said for buses, with whom we share the same lane on the road. It’s utter madness.
Jayne eating lunch with the other interns.
I really really hope that Jayne’s death will not have been in vain: we need dedicated lanes for cyclists on all the major roads in London, and we need them now. Not at some spurious point in the future. Who is going to make it happen?
On my website Jayne’s contributor’s blurb lives on, but it’s worth transcribing it here. It was written by Jessica Watkins, who was an intern at the same time. I think it just about sums her up: Jayne was a laugh and so much more.
“Jayne Helliwell is a little gem to work with. The first time I saw her, she came pacing across the paving stones towards me, wearing a checked shirt to her knees and pushing a Raleigh Cameo speed bike. Jayne later informed me that it was the same bicycle her mum carried her around on when she was just a miniature girl. My initial, judgemental impression of her was that she was ever-so-cool, and ever-so-small. I wasn’t sure she would want to be my friend, but now we spend our days making each other chamomile teas in Amelia’s kitchen and laughing about elephants in the room. I suppose you have to be there. When she grows up, Jayne fancies being a draw-er, or perhaps an Olympic athlete? For now though, she works at Amelia’s Magazine, looking important on her Apple Mac Power Book. Her likes include cake, and eating cake, but only if it is vegan. Today she sampled Amelia’s mushy pea dahl, and decided that should be on her list of likes also. Jayne has great taste in music, which comes in handy when reviewing albums for the magazine, and when I feel like hearing a new band. She has so far introduced me to everything from Serge Gainsbourg to Tilly and the Wall. We’re ever so trendy here at Amelia’s. One more thing you might need to know about Jayne is that she has the most infectious laugh in the world.”
Written by Amelia Gregory on Thursday April 22nd, 2010 11:51 am
page Amelia’s Magazine 2007″ title=”Jayne Helliwell, help Amelia’s Magazine 2007″ width=”480″ height=”360″ class=”aligncenter size-full wp-image-16288″ />
Jayne in my kitchen eating iced fairy cakes with fellow interns Jessica and Christel.
Last night I heard the horrific news that my ex intern, pill the illustrator and designer Jayne Helliwell, was crushed to death by a bus whilst cycling down Oxford Street. She was just short of 26 years old. I was asked to comment by the Evening Standard for an article that has just gone live this morning.
Jayne was an incredibly talented and extremely likeable girl who worked on issue 08 of Amelia’s Magazine in 2007. At that stage my interns were squashed together in the kitchen, and Jayne bonded well with the others, some of whom she went on to work with later (read about her collaboration with Christel Escosa on I M / / U R here). She was one of those interns who drifted in and out because she was so busy with other projects, but I didn’t mind because the quality of her work was so good. She was quick, and she could turn her hand to pretty much any creative task with ease, be it designing, illustrating, writing or picking out the best new music.
She was really into the idea of living sustainably and I was impressed with her devotion to veganism – Jayne often eschewed what I had cooked in favour of some tasty morsel she had concocted herself, and she, like me, insisted on cycling absolutely everywhere. I really liked working with someone who had similar ideas about ways in which we can live more lightly on the earth.
Jayne has gone on to do lots of amazing work in the creative industries. I hadn’t spoken to her in quite awhile but I was aware that she was doing well because as well as being so talented she was so prolific: it came as no surprise to find that she worked extensively with musicians, amongst many others. Jayne had a great career ahead of her and she will surely be much missed by many people. You can read another tribute here.
Of course, it all seems so senseless because this tragic accident could so easily have been avoided. Why are our streets so unsafe? We are (rightly) encouraged to cycle more, and we are. There are now many more people on bikes than when I first hit the roads with two wheels nearly ten years ago. Cycling a bike has immeasurably improved my life, and yet many people I know refuse to cycle because it has become so dangerous. I’ve known three people to have been killed in bike accidents, including a Greenpeace climber that I met when we were both arrested at the Kingsnorth Climate Camp in 2008. We got on really well, swapped numbers and arranged to meet up – a month later she was dead. When are the roads going to be made safer? What does it take? How many people have to die?
I’ve cycled down Oxford Street several times in recent weeks, and every time I’ve thought “this is a death trap” – it’s a nightmare obstacle course for every kind of moving object, a collision waiting to happen. Add to this the nonchalant attitude of bus drivers – who frequently ignore cyclists and push us right into the curb – and you’ve got an extremely dangerous situation. Much has been done to educate heavy goods vehicles for the need to stay away from cyclists, but the same cannot be said for buses, with whom we share the same lane on the road. It’s utter madness.
Jayne eating lunch with the other interns.
I really really hope that Jayne’s death will not have been in vain: we need dedicated lanes for cyclists on all the major roads in London, and we need them now. Not at some spurious point in the future. Who is going to make it happen?
On my website Jayne’s contributor’s blurb lives on, but it’s worth transcribing it here. It was written by Jessica Watkins, who was an intern at the same time. I think it just about sums her up: Jayne was a laugh and so much more.
“Jayne Helliwell is a little gem to work with. The first time I saw her, she came pacing across the paving stones towards me, wearing a checked shirt to her knees and pushing a Raleigh Cameo speed bike. Jayne later informed me that it was the same bicycle her mum carried her around on when she was just a miniature girl. My initial, judgemental impression of her was that she was ever-so-cool, and ever-so-small. I wasn’t sure she would want to be my friend, but now we spend our days making each other chamomile teas in Amelia’s kitchen and laughing about elephants in the room. I suppose you have to be there. When she grows up, Jayne fancies being a draw-er, or perhaps an Olympic athlete? For now though, she works at Amelia’s Magazine, looking important on her Apple Mac Power Book. Her likes include cake, and eating cake, but only if it is vegan. Today she sampled Amelia’s mushy pea dahl, and decided that should be on her list of likes also. Jayne has great taste in music, which comes in handy when reviewing albums for the magazine, and when I feel like hearing a new band. She has so far introduced me to everything from Serge Gainsbourg to Tilly and the Wall. We’re ever so trendy here at Amelia’s. One more thing you might need to know about Jayne is that she has the most infectious laugh in the world.”
Written by Amelia Gregory on Thursday April 22nd, 2010 11:51 am
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