25 books to get you through quarantine and beyond
While I’ve probably spent more time studying other people’s bookshelves on the news recently than actually reading, looking away from a screen is rewarding. Which is why I’m surprise...
Books, films, exhibitions
Armchair Culture: gallery-going from your own front room
Museum and art gallery doors may be closed, but there are plenty of online resources for Armchair Gallery-Going. And as the curator of 16th century art at The National Gallery, Dr Matthias Wive...
We LOVE Secrets of the V&A Museum on BBC2
For the last six weeks Thursday evenings have been sacrosanct. I’ve been glued to the TV watching, Secrets of the Museum – the revelatory documentary series on BBC2 about what goes on behind-t...
Dressed for War: the story of British Vogue editor Audrey Withers
Audrey Withers was not just any editor, she was the courageous woman who braved the Blitz to mastermind British Vogue (known affectionately as brogue by the Condé Nast founders) throughout the turb...
One to watch this week: The Personal History of David Copperfield
Tilda Swinton looks like she’s stepped straight out of a Tim Walker photograph, in Armando Iannucci’s The Personal History of David Copperfield. With her trademark quirk turned up as much ...
Dora Maar and Kara Walker two women artists to see at Tate Modern
According to the Financial Times, ‘ 2020 promises a revolution for women in art.’ Hooray.
We love Laura Dern
Who hasn’t been a Laura Dern fan since David Lynch’s 1986 film Blue Velvet? The award-winning actor added another Golden Globe to her collection this week, taking the tally up to five.
Kiki Smith: an artist at the top of her game
Kiki Smith is a New York-based artist whose oeuvre moves from photographs, to drawings, to printmaking to small sculptures and most impressively since 2012 to large scale tapestries. If you want to se...
A brilliant Bridget Riley exhibition at the Hayward Gallery
The largest retrospective of Bridget Riley’s paintings comes to London this autumn, fresh from National Galleries Scotland. Riley is now 88-years-old and this is seven decades of work by one of ...
Flash Count Diary: a moving book about menopause
In Darcey Steinke’s Flash Count Diary one woman compares her hot flashes (that’s flushes to us menopausal Brits) to being like a seventies superhero, ‘ I feel like I’m going to...
Diversity in the fashion industry: a panel discussion at the National Museum of Scotland
Diversity in fashion is a conversation that I’ve been involved in for many years. As a part-time senior lecturer in Fashion Journalism, I contributed to several research projects at university ̵...
Last chance to see the Faith Ringgold exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery
Here’s a true story with a happy outcome. The artist, activist and children’s author Faith Ringgold is having a solo retrospective at the Serpentine Gallery, her first in Europe.
