I cannot recall ever visiting a place as covered in graffiti as I encountered while travelling through Athens last week. Barely a single surface in the city has been spared the spray can and while the overwhelming majority of jottings extend to little more than tags, anarchist slogans and profanity, there is without doubt a whole stack talented artists producing street…
Tag: War
No matter what happens, I am coming with you.
It’s a miserable and rained-out day in West London and while we’re stuck in the flat, I’ve remedied to spend some time publishing a post. We were in East London last week to catch -up with our old Hackney neighbourhood and sure enough, I brought my camera for good measure. We met my brother while we…
My Idea of Fun
I was lucky enough to negotiate a day off work last Thursday and since the weather was looking tasty, I grabbed my camera and headed to East London to see what new street art had appeared since my last visit. I took hundreds of photos and have picked the best to present for your convenience…
London Street Art Ultra Gallery Pt. 3
I wasn’t joking when I said I took a lot of photos. You can now follow my adventures on Instagram here.
I am Ayman and I am a refugee from Syria
Ayman Hirh was a successful marble and granite trader in the Jobar district of Syria’s capital, Damascus, before the escalating political situation in his country drove him and his family into exile. Because of his involvement as an activist in the 2011 uprising and President Al-Assad’s subsequent crackdown on any and all dissent, Ayman was…
I Remember the Future
I’m reluctant to say that we’re seeing a golden age of street -art in Camden Town, but there is certainly a great amount of spectacular work appearing here on almost a daily basis. This afternoon I spotted an excellent work from Gonzo design cowboy ensemble, Id-iom,as well as a fantastic collaborative work from Itaewon, Autone,…
Feminist campaigners welcome plans for the installation of North Korea’s first female despot.
North Korea, the controversial East Asian state, plans to install its first female supreme leader, delighting the legion of feminist critics who branded the previous regime as sexist, offensive and anachronistic. “This comes from high up, from the top,” said one source in reference to the decision. While no official statement has yet been released from…
Citizen, remain vigilant
The terrorist threat level in the United Kingdom has recently been raised to Severe, meaning that there is high likelihood of a terrorist attack in the immediate future. Since the British Government initiated the launch of air missions against the Islamic State in Syria, living in London feels a lot like living in the centre…
The Romans and the Moralists
I am half way through rereading Augustus, a suberb novel by John Williams, author of the equally brilliant Stoner and Butcher’s Crossing, and noticed this particularly eloquent passage that I had overlooked the first time through. The quote is taken from a fictionalised 12BC letter from the political advisor Gaius Cilnius Maecenas to Titus Livius and…
Siegfried Sassoon, Hopelessness and Iraq
Snooping around the charity shops of West London a week past, I spied a copy of Siegfried Sassoon’s fictionalized autobiography, Memoirs of an Infantry Officer, on sale for £1. The discovery of such a volume came as a revelation as although I had been aware of and enjoyed Sassoon’s poetic work (along with Wilfred Owen)…