PONDER

Grayson Perry and The British Museum are two institutions that one would not normally expect to join forces to create a new exhibition.  But come together they have and in quite remarkable style to create a new exhibition that is nothing short of a wonder, of artifacts new and old.

Perhaps Perry is known by many for his lavish pots, lavish dresses and lavish winning the Turner prize in 2003 and from conversations I have had in the past, seems to divide opinion as to whether his work is brilliant or over the top and hideous.  Personally, I am a fan of his work and think the contemporary reflections of life and society that adorn his pots are both visually stunning as well as politically poignant.  Like many and possible quite naively, I only really became aware of him through the Turner prize but have enjoyed his output ever since.

So when I heard that he was curating a new show at the British Museum displaying new works alongside items picked out of the museum’s collection, it sounded like a show that should not be missed.

INSPIRATIONAL ARTIFACT

The concept is a simple one, Perry created works and selected some from his back catalogue and then scoured the museum for items that in some way appeared connected to his own output.  As you progress through the exhibition it becomes apparent that the museum (and no doubt others like the V&A) have always been an integral part of his work and a source of inspiration and reference in his own art.  No doubt any artist of note could go through a similar process to find old arts, craft and artifacts that appear to relate or sync with their own work, but at times the similarity between the artifacts chosen and Perry’s work is startling.

This is a real strength of the whole exhibition and concept, because I believe it makes an interesting point about the evolution of creativity and our visual history.  Effectively, what Grayson Perry has done is to reverse engineer his own works of art.  Like any artist, or any person for that matter, he has been partially shaped, moulded and influenced by all that has come before him.  Like all of us, he would have been bombarded with these references throughout his life – whether intentionally through repeated visits to museums and galleries, or subconsciously through media, marketing and our everyday exposure to all things visual.

FACEBOOK IS MENTAL ILLNESS

HOLD YOUR BELIEFS LIGHTLY

Given this fact, is it any wonder that references in his own work are found riddled throughout ancient artifacts? I think not and believe the show is a fantastic way of paying homage to all those who have come before him and will no doubt come after.  I have used the analogy before that in Science, someone investigating a new problem does not conduct every experiment needed to prove their theory.  They take it as read that for hundreds of years scientists have worked on and proved a great many things.  They start from this point of already existing knowledge and take it to the next level or develop it to work within a modern context, for example they don’t have to first re-discover the boiling point of water each time they use it.  This is the same for art – we all take the experiments those have come before us as a starting point and, whether aware of it or not, we move on from that point.  When I take a photograph of an industrial structure, I may not be thinking of the Beecher’s whilst doing so – but I am certainly aware of their work and therefore it has had some influence on my stance and approach to that subject matter.

INFLUENCED BY EVERYTHING

Throughout the exhibition, Perry commentates on the items that he choose from the museum’s collection, talking about why he is interested in them, how they relate to his life and modern society and of course the visual stimulus that lie therein.  You also get the impression that this is a show Grayson Perry has been waiting to do for years, perhaps even his whole life. It is rare and quite unique that all content is directly chosen by the artist themselves and this extends beyond the exhibition to the essays written by Perry himself in the accompanying catalogue.

SUNDAY BREAKFAST

An artist that lives and breathes the Post Modern you would have to travel some distance to find and Grayson Perry joins alongside artists such as Tracey Emmin or Gilbert & George who very much explore and include their own life within their art works.  The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman is centered around Perry’s childhood friend and teddy bear Alan Measles.  Alan Measles seems to have been an alter ego, father figure, hero and friend that filled his childhood and provided the catalyst for numerous adventures and explorations.

POWER

Measles was an explorer, emperor, warrior, professor and a thousand things more and in this show enjoys a second coming where he gets to explore the history of the world and be cast into a myriad of new roles that sit alongside contemporary culture.  As the title of the show suggests, there is a respect and acknowledgement here to the unknown and unnamed craftspeople whose work, millions of people appreciate each year.  So in Perry’s exhibition, Alan Measles becomes a face for all of these artists both alive and dead.

The concept of the omni-present teddy sits well with me as I too spent large chunks of my childhood immersed in a fantasy land ruled by soft toys that became ever more elaborate and complicated as years passed.  Perhaps it is easier to dissect and place understanding on the world when it can be reinterpreted and reenacted through something as simple and innocent as a childhood toy.  So I think Alan Measles probably has something to say to all of us and we can all relate to the multi-fasceted hero character that he has become.  Almost like a reflection on the possibilities in modern culture itself through advanced computer games, celebrity culture and mass media, Alan Measles is no longer confined to the imagination of one child but can become the realised product of his dreams.

There are numerous of Perry’s own works on display throughout the exhibition and this is the first time I had come fact to face with any of them in the flesh.  Whilst I had always been drawn to the colour and stylistic charactertures in his work when looking at it in pictures, I was not prepared for how beautiful they would be in real life.  Perhaps beautiful seems an inappropriate word for what some would call garish pots, but seeing them close up, the skill and intricacy involved in their creation becomes apparent.

MAP OF TRUTHS AND BELIEFS

The exhibition firmly breaks him away from just being a ceramicist as it contains tapestry, sculpture, drawings and even a motorbike.  All have the same Perry style and present a similar set of messages about the world and how it is viewed by modern man and all are equally skilled.  His mammoth tapestry is a wonder to be in front of and his drawing, which depicts him and Measles making a pilgrimage to the tomb is simple but striking.  So much so that I even bought the tea towel…and that really is a first!

TAPPESTRY DETAIL 1

TAPPESTRY DETAIL 2

What also becomes apparent is that Grayson Perry is clearly an artist coming from the roots of a craftsman first and foremost.  So many of the objects he chooses to share from the museum demonstrate high levels of craft, and so in his own work, this skill and fine working is at the forefront.

PILGRIM

In a poetic way, his dedication to this exhibition pays a humble homage to the these craftsman and makes specific reference to the fact we have no idea who many of them are.  The tomb of the unknown craftsman the British Museum truly is.  Read almost any caption in any exhibit and you will rarely notice the name of a creator, the history of the person who made it and certainly not an image of them.  We might no the rough period something was made and where and for what purpose – but whose hand helped to shape such objects remains a mystery.

It is easy to overlook this fact when going round a museum and perhaps too the same is applicable for art in a modern gallery setting.  Like his work or loathe it, there is no dispute that Grayson Perry is firmly placing the art back into the heart of artisan.

Grayson Perry’s ‘The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman’ is running until 19th February 2012 and I strongly urge anyone and everyone to go and see it.  Not only rewarding visually (whether you are a Perry fan or not), for me, this is surely set to become an iconic and influential exhibition that will be referenced for years to come. Go, seek and be inspired.

More information about the show can be found at: www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/exhibitions/grayson_perry

PAGE FROM MY JOURNAL WHERE I WAS RECORDING VISITOR NUMBERS

A couple of Saturdays past, I spent the day in the belly of the overbearing mother.  Perhaps that is too abstract, rather I spent the day in the belly of a shipping container. Perhaps still too vague, I feel I should step backwards and address this from a place that bears a greater background!

I was lucky enough to meet one of the co-founders and curators of LIDO, a gallery space in St Leonards adjoining a set of artist studios.  From what might appear a modest establishment from the outside, LIDO has an impressively ambitious program of exhibitions, events and commissioned art works which puts pay to the ‘I’d never get the funding’ attitude of the rest of us.

The man in question was Dan Howard-Birt, a painter and curator who – as coincidence would have it, was born in the fair town of Aylesbury where I myself hail from (but we won’t dwell on that as I haven’t yet had a chance to bemoan the delights of the town with Dan himself).  The story of our meeting is also irrelevant, apart from to say I was surprised but delighted when I received a call from him asking if I would be able to invigilate part of a show he was involved in as part of Hastings annual Coastal Currents festival.

The project in question very much appealed to my sensibilities and so, without much further of a do, I found myself one Saturday morning in a rather blustery September, walking along the seafront of St Leonards to LIDO and was soon confronted by the structure that would be my home for the day.

The structure in question was the first outdoor sculptural commission by LIDO, created by artist Dylan Shipton and entitled ‘The Overbearing Mother’.  LIDO itself is so named because it fronts onto the site of the now grassed over outdoor swimming pool that once proudly boasted its way onto the seafront site.  At its conception the original Lido was massive – on a scale only matched by Blackpool’s and sadly, this grandeur was also it’s demise as the eyes of Hastings & St Leonards council were sadly much bigger than the belly of the public prepared to visited.

So now what was once an epic mass of water and bathers is now a large grassed area used mainly by dog walkers and Sunday Strollers.  Without the honor of a gallery space now named after it – it would to many, pass completely unnoticed.  What remains of the structure are two large concrete platforms, which rise up unannounced from their now inconspicuous surroundings. It is on one of these platforms that The Overbearing Mother sat through the lion share of September.

The sculpture consists of a beached shipping container that is encased in a Day-Glo protuberance on each side.  On the west face this forms a sort of veranda that appears as if it has something to announce or present.  To the East, a large advertising hoarding reaches up above the container shouting its message to the onlookers of Hastings and the sea beyond.  Shipton commissioned Ben Fitton to create the sign for the location, which in barely legible font reads: “The gap that has been left by the departure of / will soon enough make itself felt”.  Interestingly and I think intentionally, the banner was loosely fitted and so when a particularly aggressive gust of coastal breeze came along, the words came free of their tetherings and flew out to sea, perhaps to be one day to take on new meaning as they are found by a confused fisherman.

The sculpture is perhaps a comment on the changing use of space and surroundings.  The whole structure emerging from one of the few remaining aspects of the Lido to still exist and the advertising hoarding itself paying testament to considerations on how, as our landscape changes, and perhaps when things that were once important are removed or replaced, we only then become fully aware of their impact, resonance and relevance in our environment.

And so Shiptons Overbearing Mother takes on these metaphors – with its bright nu-rave coloured and complex shapes being spun out of a shipping container as if it had always been there but stood unnoticed.  How apt also that the sign that ties the piece together with its surroundings was eventually lost to the winds.

This work is very much a continuation of his previous incarnations – where his sculptural pieces seem to be a comment on the properties and limitations of space by constructing architectural shapes

THE OVERBEARING MOTHER 4 (2011)

and frames.  Whilst sometimes standalone, they often appear site specific and take inspiration and message from their surroundings.  Especially interesting are his tape works whereby large bodies of form, colour and shape are made entirely from an assortment of different tapes (see them online here).  Looking at previous works in context, it is almost as if Shipton is exploring and investigating the possibilities of a potential futuristic landscape with strange developments and structures emerging from their surroundings – both challenging and accepting the expected norms at the same time.

But, I know what is going on behind those slightly glazed eyes – your mind is questioning how I ended up spending a day inside the mother.  Very well (you are saying), we are interested in hearing about this sculpture (you continue), but your title drew us in and now you are leaving us dangling with curiosity (you finish).

Well, The Overbearing Mother had a double life and four weekends in a row, played host to a micro cinema, which nestled in its belly.  This part of the instillation was organised by Christine Gist at Interface and was a brilliant complement to the sculpture itself and the concept a stroke of genius.  The idea being that on each of the 8 days it was open, a different artist would be asked to curate a selection of films to be shown.

Stepping through the heavy blue doors of the container, the un-expecting visitor was confronted by a black curtain, which, upon opening revealed the secrets behind.  A large screen at the far end onto which a projector beamed at full capacity.  A set of wooden benches around the perimeter for film perusal and the usual ample selection of information and intrigue.

Over the different weekends, artists choose a huge array of different films – some showing just one long feature, others opting for numerous shorts.  The day I was asked to be ringmaster to this celluloid cinema, it was the turn of painter and co-founder of Lido, Jacqui Hallum to be the selector.  Jacqui selected three different films to show on rotation, all quite different from one another – but all equally brilliant.

THE OVERBEARING MOTHER 2 (2011)

As a quick and interesting (to me anyway) sideline – on quizzing Jacqui about her film selection, she told me that she had initially come across the films or their directors on Channel Four some years back.  It turned out that this inspiration had emerged off the back of Channel Four’s long time deceased late night short film seasons, which until this point I had completely forgotten about.  This sparked a string of memories for me of staying up to late obsessively watching the short films with my brother and being both amazed at how strange they were and wowed at the skill and variety of the film makers.  For a memory I had until then forgotten, it seemed to resonate as having been an important part of my creative education!

Unlike Jacqui, I wasn’t wise enough to commit the names of the directors I liked to paper and my ailing memory was never going to retain such information – but perhaps with a bit of cunning research, I can be reacquainted with some of my favourites from this period.

THE OVERBEARING MOTHER 3 (2011)

The day in question was a windy and slightly gloomy one, the sort of day where the seafront comes alive and everything feels more dramatic than it perhaps is.  So being in the trailer was no different, as the wind pounded the sides and flapped the curtain into a gentle sway, it sounded like there was a full blown gale outside the confines of the cosy cinema.  Of course, being in a metal crate it sounded far worse than it was, but this added to the experience of feeling somewhere unique in a refuge against the harsh world outside.

This also complemented Jacqui’s choice of films delightfully, as each one was slightly edgy and uncanny in its own right, whilst maintaining enough of a vein of dark humour to keep them from the dangerous precipice of severe paranoid viewing.

First up was Jan Svankmajer’s Food.  A brilliantly inventive film that uses stop motion animation using real actors and some cunning use of plasticine prosthetics.  The film is split into 3 parts – Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner and follows the stories of sets of diners eating their meal and often much of their surroundings (including their co-eaters!). Dark, surreal and amusing (in a Czech sort of a way!) and expertly filmed and put together.  I have seen some of his work before and would highly recommend checking it out. To get you started, here is part 1:

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Next was Andreas Samland with Tag 26 which follows the fortunes of two lone survivors of an undisclosed biological world wrecking super hazard! Without giving too much away, the film touches on raw aspects of humanity and how people would deal with such a situation but again in a rather surreal fashion.  Coming in at 18 minutes long – amazingly the film was put together for around 7000 Euro, which doesn’t show from the clever direction of Samland.

Last but not least on the triple bill was a film called Kitchen Sink by Alison Maclean.  This is a kind of urban nightmare scenario with some loose overtones of Frankenstein influence.  Essentially, a giant ball of hair and gunk from a woman’s kitchen sink gets transformed into a real life man!  Imagine that.  Well, watch the film and you don’t need to.  Funny enough, I thought this film was quite amusing, but a few of the watching visitors said it was the most disturbing to them.  Does that mean I am warped or they are wimps…who can say?  Shot in black and white and filmed with an interesting sense of mystery and suspense, it is no wonder the film went on to win 8 awards at Cannes. Watch the full 14 minute film on Vimeo below…

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All in all – a good day out was had by all and probably especially by me.  The cinema proved popular with those who visited it and was rather snug once inside.  The odd thing was how natural one felt sitting on a makeshift bench, in a shipping container, on a windy Saturday afternoon – watching strange films.  One kind visitor even bequested me with a clutch of apples (later transformed into an Apple & Cider cake as well as a fine crumble) for being the guardian of her bike for the duration of her stay.

If you are in the area, check the LIDO website for their current exhibitions and projects and pay them a visit. www.lidoprojects.com

THE OVERBEARING MOTHER 1 (2011)

Often on my travels through the world I am struck by the lengths people go to in order to add a small but poignant piece of graffiti to a public space.

Now, I am not talking full on Graf art here – I can obviously understand that effort.  I am not talking tagging either – as that kind of falls into its own category and we could debate the merits of leaving your (often slightly shit) mark around a town or city for pages and pages! What I am talking about is those little messages, comedy quips or phrases that are crudely written on things. I am obsessed with them  – the more random a place and piece of writing the better!

What I really like to imagine, is that somebody has deliberately sat at home…thought of something they have seen…thought of a comic message they could write on said thing…got a big fat magic marker…gone out to said location…written the message they thought of…gone back home…smugly thought of all the people that would emit a very faint smirk at seeing it.

This is the sort of dedication we need in life from people – however, what we do not need is people who decide they will do the same process as above – but instead of a comic quip, they go for something wrong, spiteful or just plain fascist.  I find it affects me in a strange way to see graffiti of this kind – whether its a bunch of kids thinking they are being funny but seriously misjudging it, or someone who genuinely believes in the bigoted message they are writing, it is sad that anyone in our society feels the need to spread such propaganda.

NELSON OR NAZI

So here I present to you two examples I came upon recently – both of which in the Forest of Dean and within a 5 minute walk of each other.  One is funny and written in a comically appropriate place.  The other, is fascist in its purist form and is written in such an inaccessible place that you have to admire their determination if not their message!

So then friends – when you next step out with your magic marker…lets remember to keep it kind!

Just a quick one – was walking down old London Road in sunny Brighton yesterday, when my eye was drawn to a hand drawn poster.

It is perhaps the greatest missing item poster I have ever seen and I felt deserved to be preserved in the history of the world wide web!

So behold below and enjoy as much as I do!  I have removed the authors phone number for their priovacy, but if you see this jumper – be sure to track them down!

I WANT YOU BACK (MISSING JUMPER POSTER)

A bit late off the hoof you might say, but sod it – thought I would do a little post about a summer trip (last summer I am talking here) to Bexhill on Sea and the De La Warr Pavilion.  I started writing this post not long after and have only just re-discovered it, nestled amongst some draft posts waiting to be given the chance to breathe the fresh air of Internet publication.

In fact, once I started sorting through the pictures, I figured I would do two posts.  That’s right people, a TWO POST DE LA WARR EXTRAVIGANZA – that is what’s coming your way.

So this, Part i is about the exhibitions.  Part ii will be about everyone’s Fav Pav.

TOMOKO TAKAHASHI RETROSPECTIVE

First up was a retrospective (her first in the UK) of a Japanese born artist called Tomoko Takahashi.  Takahashi is generally regarded as an installation artist, who has been working in the UK for over 20 years.  I must confess to not being aware of her work before seeing this show, but to those with a more keen eye on the art world will probably be aware of her creations. In 2000 she was nominated for the Turner prize, which makes it even more surprising this was her first retrospective in this country.

Her work is perhaps best described as playful, with a huge emphasis on found and recycled objects and a definite interest in Japanese culture – especially cartoons and Manga.  For me, a lot of her work spoke about how we read the world in terms of consumerism, marketing and possession . What was unique was the element of fun in her work.  So often in the art world, fun is a dirty word.  Critics hate fun, so called “serious” art lovers often hate fun.  For art to be good – it cannot be fun.  It must be stark, serious, depressing and full of meaning that will bring you crashing back down to earth.  It is this attitude, I think, that puts many people off modern art and makes them view it with scepticism and a sense of hatred.

Takahashi’s work sticks a finger up at this concept.  She finds colourful and interesting objects and arranges them in a seemingly hodge-podge pattern accross a floor or table.  She will make installations that must be impossible to recreate exactly for a second time.  But for me, looking at her works – I do not care.  It is the process of the collecting and then the choice of what to show side by side that is important and that interested me.  Whether a sculpture created out of brightly coloured kids plastic toys, or an entire corridor created out of parts of clocks and other found objects – looking at these works you create your own comparisons and meanings.  For me, this was generally about consumerism, brands & marketing, our obsession with collecting and all that lies inbetween.

Her work is varied however and not confined soley to these collections of objects and she touches on a myriad of different mediums and methods of expression.  I always find it exciting when someone has such a thirst of interest in the world and such a range of skills that they can apply their creative ideas in multiple forms (I also hate them for being multi-talented!!)  Takahashi certainly falls within this group. She has worked with film, photography, performance & mixed media – it seems that the approach is to find the best solution to the question she wants to answer.

One of the stand out pieces was Word Perhect, the concept that involved her creating a fully working version of a word processing programme that questionions the users ideas about language, syntax and how computers are used and have influenced our language.  The user is asked a series of questions about the document they want to create and then taken into a hand drawn interface to type their document.  The programme has all the expected buttons…but they have all the unexpected functions.  I have tracked it down online and urge you to have a play as it is strangely addictive and rather genius:

http://wordperhect.net/

Takahashi also created several new works for this show – some were large scale wall hung pieces, created from objects she had found in and around Bexhill. It is hard not to be drawn into works like this as they have a fascinating charm – and we are well versed at looking at everyday object within a gallery space and accepting the new meanings they take on.  However, I didn’t feel they quite had the draw of some of her earlier pieces.  Similarly a large scale piece made from hundreds of photographs was a little bit old hat for my taste, didn’t really do anything new for me although it was still very nicely executed.

THE ART OF SHEDS

But there where two new works that I thought where amongst the best in the show – both involving sheds, whether there was a link for her between Bexhill and sheds I am not sure!  First was a shed that stood lonely in the gallery emitting a warm white glow from inside.  Upon entering, the entire space was covered perhaps even littered with photocopies from Manga magazines.  they covered walls, floor and ceilings.  Taking this in – you turned in the space to see the light source was a lone photocopier sitting in one corner, presumably the alleged mastermind behind this photocopy heaven.

The other shed related creation harked back to some earlier work (mostly whilst at University I think) – in this work she created a sort of bedroom scene within a shed, in which everything was painted white.  This removal of colour gave a different feel and emphasis to the form of the objects within it and somehow the loss of the colour removed a sort of distraction that allowed you to really observe what was contained within the walls of the shed.  Much like a black & white photograph can be more about tone and texture – so the scene within the shed asked the viewer to look upon it in a new light.

There were numerous other pieces which deserve mention  – such as the re-creation of a ticker tape parade from a fire station tower in London.  Entitled ‘Parade without a parade’ this film simply shows Takahashi throwing hundreds of bags of shreded paper from the tower and the reaction of onlookers and subsequent crowd that gather below. Most touching perhaps, is the fact that the same crowd then muck in to help clear it all up at the end.

Hher work was playfull and witty but also had something to say on modern society and the way we catalogue, brand and collect pieces of it.  Her works invite questioning of the familiar but for me where witty and open enough to be accessable and thought provicing. If you get a chance, check out her stuff as it is unique and thought provoking.

ANTHONY GORMLEY – CRITICAL MASS

As a sort of double whammy, the roof of De La Warr was taken over by Anthony Gormley’s Critical Mass.  I won’t bang on about this one too long as no doubt many will be familiar with this, one of Gormley’s best know works.  It features 60 life size cast iron scultpures of his own body in a variety of poses, scattered accross the space. The forms look serene and like they have been dropped and fallen into the positions they are found in and are waiting for some moment that has not yet come.  Crouching, arching, lying or sitting – you cannot help but give personalities to the creations and wonder what their purpose might be.  Their weight gives them a sense of rigidity and stability as though they are people cast into stone and frozen in their final positions for eternity.  Imperfections of the mould clearly shown on the outside of each cast, their forms are as interesting individually as they are collectively. A really poetic piece and like much of his work a joy to see in an outdoor setting where is sculpture firmly belongs. Sitting on top of the pavilian seemed very apt and with so many of his sculptures they blended beautifully into the outside world.

So all in all a good day out at the Pav – it was my first visit there and I was pleasantly suprised at the quality of work on show.  As an added bonus Bexhill has an amazing collection of charity shops and the De La Warr itself is a truly beautiful building…but that is for my next post (coming in a day or two and basically just photos of the De La Warr!)

FENCE SITTERS (2010)

Is it just me, or are you frequently baffled by why benches are put in certain places?

Sometimes I see a bench in a public space or park area and wonder who made the decision to site it and why.  What could their motivation possibly have been.

I then wonder who sits there and why.  For me a bench is not simply a convenience but must have an interesting outlook – whether a nice view of a perfect people watching spot.  If no such suitable bench is available to me…I perch.

Yet I frequently happen upon a cluster of benches that just do not compute with my brain.

Perhaps I should be a town planner.

Other times…I enter a public space and wonder who uses it, why and for what.  Sometimes these places seem to have little appeal as a place to spend time in and I wonder what sort of people frequent them and what their motives are.

Sometimes I see people using these spaces and get to give myself an answer by looking at them in situe and making a judgement based on the few facts I have.  Judging by the suitcases I like to think the bench sitters in the image below are one of three things:

A) Just flown into London and are fresh from the airport
B) On their way to travel somewhere and killing time before their train/plane
C) Just moved to London and looking for a place to live

Perhaps I should be a detective.

BENCH SITTERS (2010)

Just a brief one for you – something that struck me this morning on the way to work.

Walked past a shot that I would always have photographed.

However, given the earthquake & subsequent tsunami in Japan last week, the image immediately takes on a completely different meaning, relevance and impact than it normal would have.

I find it fascinating that as events take place in the world and we are bombarded with information by the media, photographers, film makers, writers etc etc – we become saturated with thoughts and ideas on a subject that we otherwise would have been ignorant.

This photo, on any other week, would have been about texture, tone, colour and the streets.  Today it is about sympathy, tragedy, natural disasters and how we like to think we are strong but in reality are very very weak.

The meaning and relevance of an image can change from minute to minute as our visual consciousness evolves based on events and information we absorb.

Food for thought and best wishes to all in Japan – thoughts are with you all for a speedy and safe recovery.

ROADWORK EARTHQUAKE (2011)

Hello friends – native and foreign.  That’s right, OurWorldMyEye is an open blog, a friendly blog and an accepting blog - we do not close our borders to anyone and consider any reader to be a citizen both of our world and my eye.

UNDER THE UMBRELLA OF BRITISHNESS (2008)

UNDER THE UMBRELLA OF BRITISHNESS

Today I have something a bit different for you – it is both exciting and depressing.  Informative and laughable. 

As you may or may not be aware, after the massive fuss that was made about immigration a while back (remember that?  An apparently huge political and election time issue that has not been mentioned since?  The media creating another shit storm to sell papers do we think?) the government in their infinite wisdom instigated a new, more complex and bureaucratic system of rules about who could or could not come into the country.

Part of these measures was the introduction of the… Life in the UK Test, that is now required for settlement (indefinite leave to remain) in the UK or British citizenship.

I learned of this test a while back when a student I was working with – who had lived here all his life, but had an Italian passport, was being made to take the test before he would be granted British Citizenship.  A young man who was in every way British and part of British society – being tested on life in the UK to see if he was worthy of being granted indefinite leave to remain.  He told me some of the questions that were asked in the test and they were a joke.  And how demeaning for someone who has lived here all their life, to have to take a test to see if they are British.  I wonder how many people in the country would pass this test if we were all made to take it tomorrow?  If the general populous of Britain were to fail it without revising, then what would that imply about the test?  Perhaps that the questions, in fact, did not relate to being a British Citizen or life in the UK at all.

At the time, I scribbled a note to myself to look into this more, but, having many notes and many scribbles I forgot.  That is until I couldn’t sleep the other night and I randomly started thinking about this again.

So, I have been doing a bit of research into the Life in the UK Test as I think it is quite an interesting topic.  I also thought I would take the online practice test to see how I faired.

I SHOULD TECHNICALLY BE KICKED OUT OF THE COUNTRY

The results my friends – I should technically be kicked out of the country!  That’s right, I failed – getting a quite poor 15 out of 24 correct answers.

I AM A FAILED CITIZEN

Now given it is a Friday and it seems appropriate we have a little test and a bit of fun – my challenge to you is to also take the practice test and then post your results in a comment added to this post.  I would be very curious to see what other people score and you would be assisting me in my research for perhaps a greater project that I have in mind.

Interested?  Of course you are.  Simply click on the link to go to www.ukcitizenshiptest.co.uk take the test and then let me know how you do!

As always, thanks for listening.  Now go and see if you are British enough to be an authentic UK citizen! (and don’t forget to post your results as a comment on here)

A rare glimpse of me photographic and Goodrich - no doubt falling foul of the tourist trap of heritage

ONE SUMMER, TWO VISITS!  THE PETWORTH ESTATE & GOODRICH CASTLE

A while back I took a trip upwards to the Petworth Estate in West Sussex.  Petworth is funny because it is a bit like Picturesque England summed up in one National Trust property!

Shortly after when camping in the beauty of the West Country, I also dropped in on Goodrich Castle to check out some classic border castle history and buy into the myth of romanticised knights in castles and maidens running round.

But lets step back a bit – I have started further on than intended with no form of rhyme or reason yet given.

I have touched on  this in previous posts, but I often find myself not photographing a place or location, but being more fixated on the people within that space and how they interact with it – or the smaller hidden details in a landscape that, for me, reveal so much more about a place and its people.

Social history is also a fascination of mine providing a basis for trying to understand the motivations of people in the past and how this has affect our society day.  Especially how today, we try to engage with, and form a picture of the past, to fulfil a need of our own.

THE PETWORTH APPEAL – ENGLISHNESS SUMMED UP IN ONE PROPERTY!

The Petworth Experience

I was reminded of this interest when I visited Petworth a while back.  Now for me, Petworth ticks quite a few boxes of my key interests:

• Its National Trust and I have a bit of a fascination for Stately Homes and the organisations that preserve this part of our cultural history
• It was owned by a very rich family!  Again, the insanely rich upper classes and their position in society is another topic I like to explore
• Petworth’s gardens were created by Capability Brown.  Brown’s gardens try to replicate a picturesque ideal of the British countryside which I find an curious phenomenon
• It’s massive
• Artists such as Turner stayed at Petworth and created a lot of work there – so the house is riddled with paintings by famous and classic British landscape and portrait painters
• There is a deer park – you don’t get posher than that!
• It is a tourist attraction and places people visit for recreation holds a keen interest with me.

So my visit was somewhat of a double whammy – not only is it interesting historically and visually – but there are loads of people engaging with the space in different ways who I can watch and photograph!  I wonder how images of this subject can allow us to question the relationship with our own heritage that is today a huge industry.

trompe l'oeil i

trompe l'oeil ii

THE GREAT BRITISH LIE – THE PICTURESQUE LANDSCAPE

John Constable - Parham Mill at Gillingham

Petworth is perhaps a definition of the picturesque – a topic rather keen to my Photographic sensibilities.  For me, the Picturesque is a strange phenomenon – a false visage of Britain, created during the Industrial Revolution as a way of attempting to preserve an old nostalgic impression of the country, held by the more privileged classes.  This impression of an idealised land was born out of the works of painters like John Constable and Photography quickly took up the mantle with Photographers like Emerson and Robinson selecting their photographic subjects in a way that could preserve the ideal they longed to protect.

However, what really interests me is the fact this has idealised sensibility has been maintained – for generations ever since.  A large percentage of people still consider the classic picturesque landscape as the ‘real’ Britain – yet in reality, it never existed. People still hanker after Constable reproductions, visit National Trust houses and view them with a romanticised nostalgia, frequently singing the praises of what I think, are very bland Photographs of the staple British village or a thatched cottage or a horse looking out over a landscape.

SUBVERTING THE PICTURESQUE

I love Photography that subverts this and suggests that there is something else beneath this glossy veneer.  The likes of Martin Parr, John Davies and Paul Reas (to name a few) all work with and around these themes and I think produce work infinitely more interesting, beautiful and important to our visual culture than any traditional landscape image can.

Martin Parr

John Davies

Paul Reas

So, lets turn back to Petworth and you can see these places hold such an interest for me.  In fact – most National Trust and heritage sites in general have a similar appeal, the Trust itself being formed in 1895 right in the middle of a time of massive industrialisation and social change.  Visiting sites like Petworth is great research for a variety of ideas I am constantly mulling over and looking to explore photographically and I am constantly intrigued by how people interact and use such places and what they get out of it.  How the public are responding at heritage sites is often more interesting than the place itself.

HISTORY SHEEP

A similar curiosity took me at Goodrich.  Visitors seem to follow a rather set path around these sites, following the carefully set out paths and markers and more often than not, cutting off one of their primary senses by grasping an audio tour handset close to their ears.  It is as if we go to historical sites with the intention of being given a fully crafted heritage experience – complete with designated views and points of interest, a potted history and a distinct and designed impression of a place and its people.

But stepping out of this world and taking in the environment a a slight distance lets you not only gain your own perspective of history, but also bare witness to how people engage and react with it.  I wonder whether we all crave to experience and justify our views of British history and seek visual evidence for an impression of Britain we have crafted in our minds.  Maybe we choose to visit historical sites based on which of these ideals we want to preserve.  Whether that desire be based upon the lie of the picturesque or something more modest – I wonder how much we are all manipulated by and the sold the story of pop history.

I also find myself drawn to the signage dotted around and how they provide a very blunt and immediate block to the historical illusion we have gone to absorb and subscribed to.  It becomes impossible at best to disengage with the present day and get what we really desire from the place – the picturesque itself falling foul of health and safety, public control and conformity.

Dark and Narrow Stairs

Moat

I was down at Brighton seafront the other day, walking the dog and checking out what there was to be checked out.

When you live by the sea, it is sometimes nice to visit it of an evening you see.

As seems to be an inevitable inevitability, there was a really lovely sunset.  Not sure if there is always a nice sunset on Brighton beach, or if there is always a nice sunset on any beach.  Or perhaps I am just lucky and always see a nice sunset when I visit.  Or, bare with me here, perhaps there is something about my magnetic field or sunny aura that creates a nice sunset!!!

What they came for (2010)

Anyway, as mentioned in a previous post, I have had my fill of taking photos of it.  Done and done – can’t be bothered no more.

WATCHING OTHER PEOPLE TAKE PHOTOGRAPHS IS SOMETIMES MORE SATISFYING THAN TAKING THE IMAGE YOURSELF

BUT…what I have always been interested in, is watching other people taking photographs of the sunset.  Brighton is particularly fruity for this hobby as an army of semi-professionals seem to descend every evening and carefully compose their scene which comprises of:

A) The Sunset – preferably reflected in the sea
B) The dilapidated West Pier glistening in the evening light
C) Some seagulls either flying or standing in the shores of the water
D) Maybe a person silhouette
E) The high rise buildings of shoreham forming a backdrop

Get all five and your on to a winner.

So, my new favourite thing to photograph on Brighton beach is not the lovely sunset – but the lovely people taking a photograph of the lovely sunset.

You have to take it seriously

And it can get quite crowded

See – sometimes people are more interesting than places!!!