Purim 1984 in Hendon

I’ve been sorting through boxes of old photographs and came across a series of images I took back in 1984 when I was in my 20s. I had decided to revisit my old primary school, Hasmonean on Shirehall Lane, Hendon. It was and still is a small Jewish primary school, established in 1947. My purpose … Read more

Venice Carnival Part 1: masquerade and fancy dress

I’ve recently returned from a few days in Venice. It was the period of Carnevale, the Venetian Carnival, which culminates on Shrove Tuesday, Mardi Gras. The first contemporary Venetian Carnival took place in 1979. I studied History of Art at Venice’s Ca’Foscari University in the academic year 1979-1980 so was able to immerse myself in the … Read more

Graffiti and (multilingual) exclamations of love

This time last year I wrote a Valentine’s Day themed piece on Seeing hearts everywhere  illustrated with a variety of images that either contain or suggest the heart motif. This post is about graffiti and exclamations and expressions of love, and features  a selection of digital photographs I’ve taken from 2005 to the present. Back in 2004 … Read more

London’s Afro Cuban Night and Travels with Percussion

The first Tuesday of every month sees London’s Afro Cuban Music Night, run by musicians Vicky Jassey and David Pattman of Bombo Arts. I’ve written several posts about this night, but not since last summer so I thought I’d update with some pictures I’ve taken in the last few months.  The evening consists of two … Read more

Charlie Chaplin: iconography and the immigrant

I’ve just started reading Confabulations by John Berger, who died earlier in January this year.  Recently I’ve been reading almost exclusively on my Kindle (in a space-saving Marie Kondo-like spirit) but I decided to buy a hard copy of the book – it’s small, portable with a good-sized font, and illustrated with colour photographs and … Read more

Women’s March on London: signs of solidarity, defiance and creativity

Here are a few pictures I took at yesterday’s Women’s March on London, one of a series of international marches in solidarity with those marching in Washington D.C. for human rights and equality, on the day following Donald Trump’s inauguration as US President. As I set out for the march on my local bus, this mother … Read more

Light and Love: a personal take on decorative lights

Today is the last day of the Jewish festival of light, Chanukah, (sometimes spelled Hannukah) which lasts 8 days and which this year coincided with Christmas. The Hebrew calendar is based on lunar cycles, so the dates of festivals vary slightly each year against the Gregorian calendar. The picture below is a scanned photograph of … Read more

Exploring identity in self-portraiture: looking back in time

A few weeks ago I visited the Photographers Gallery in London to see the exhibition Feminist Avant-Garde of the 1970s which runs till the end of January 2017. Some of the images brought to mind work I did on identity and self-portraiture at college in the late 80s and early 90s. The college was called … Read more

Glow

In the last few months I’ve been increasingly drawn to looking at the way the sun illuminates objects, noticing light and shade. Maybe this is because I’ve been regularly life drawing and painting, in natural light when possible. There’s also a desire to seize the warmth and colour of sunlight, to balance out the grey, … Read more

Facades in Rome: old and new signs of culture

A few weeks ago I visited Rome after a gap of many years.  I had wanted to revisit for a while, especially after seeing contemporary films set in Rome by several of my favourite Italian directors: Nanni Moretti, Gianni di Grigorio and Paolo Sorrentino. I was immediately struck by the architecture and monumentality of Rome, but … Read more