Spending far too much time reading the media, as I do, it is the short-term outlook that that seems the most striking feature of much of the press. The endless and permanent demand for novelty (in order to sell stuff?) means that yesterday’s major issue is quickly relegated to the file store, until the subject breaks out again.
Equal Pay Now (apologies to the original film poster for Imitation of Life)
The issue of equal pay for women seems to be much too boring for most of the media but of course it won’t go away. One story in the news briefly this week concerned a demo in Parliament about Waspi women but women are very seriously disadvantaged in the entire UK pension system. Pensions are deferred wages, not some gift from the lords and masters.
On those occasions when I need cheering up – such as after reading the news each morning – I don’t have to look far. These images are by or of my granddaughter Evie, now aged 7, dating from two or three years ago.
The endless waffle and panic about Brexit often seems to hide the on-going horrors of Fortress Europe. The U.N refugee agency, UNHCR says that, “..an unprecedented 65.6 million people (worldwide) were uprooted from their homes by conflict and persecution at the end of 2016,” and that “the rate at which solutions are being found for refugees and internally displaced people has been on a falling trend since the end of the Cold War.” Many of these people are victims of the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, as is well understood. The destruction of Libya by NATO during it’s seven month bombing campaign in 2011 is much less known or discussed, NATO refuses to acknowledge any civilian casualties from that 60,000 air sortie attack, which they claimed was, “The most successful NATO campaign in history”, a piece of hubris long since removed from their web site.
Fortress Europe free poster 2014
Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Italy are all major exporters of weapons and this is a growing trend throughout the 21stC. Weapons sales rise, refugees rise. Economic factors also massively impact, when the western world catches cold as in the 2008 crash the developing world gets pneumonia.
With the USA ramping up it’s armed forces in Africa, especially in Niger (one of the world’s poorest countries) we can expect more conflict and ever more refugees. The current business-as-usual attitudes need to be challenged.
Great night at the Tobacco Factory cafe where Just3 were performing. Most Sunday evenings the music is good and the audience chatter but last night they were watching and listening. Just 3 are a professional vocal harmony trio who perform their own arrangements of well known soul/motown, gospel & pop songs. Not the first time I’ve seen them at TB but one of the best performances – and free.
This was my final piece for the MA Multi-Disciplinary Printmaking an it is currently half on display at the Royal West of England gallery as part of their annual open exhibition. I say half because although I submitted it as a sculpture and wanted it shown in the whole it has been placed against a black curtain. Still we do what we can and endure what we must.
Welcome to Fukushima – kimono rear mixed printed and embellished fabric, 2m x 2m, 2018
Welcome to Fukushima – kimono front, mixed fabric printed and embellished, 2m x 2m, 2018.
The work references Japanese Boro coats, hand-me-downs that were patched repeatedly and passed on to succeeding generations. In the later half of the 20thC they became collectable and examples can be found in museums and galleries, such as Sri, prices on application! Interestingly the V & A gallery in London has a, ‘Make your own: Japanese ‘Boro’ bag‘ .pdf instruction.
There are many examples of Boro on pinterest, and some excellent information courtesy of Heddels.
Forever Young, Quilt, 1m x 80cm, mixed organic fibres and bamboo wadding, embroidery, embellishing and applique.
This quilt was completed earlier this year. It is made from organic fabrics supplied by the Organic Textile Company who are based in Machynlleth and are partnered with Ganesh in Kerela, India. I would like to buy all their fabric, I have to keep off their web site.
After doing nothing much with my old blog – Mixdacrete – for about a year I decided to try a new one, using a name I had tried before but not published. Mixdactete was set up as part of my MA course at UWE, and as that completed this summer I have put it to bed.
As most bloggers must know the first difficulty is choosing a theme, so after a certain amount of hair pulling I have started out with the ‘Blogger’ theme, but of course this might change. I have paid to have a ‘premium’ wordpress.com blog and hopefully this will prove a good investment.
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