Durham

Durham was new to me. When I was little, we had a quilt that came from there, but I didn't associate it with a city, it was just the name of the quilt. I'm glad I added it to my list, though, because it is a very beautiful place. 

And boy is it easy to navigate! My first port of call was the cathedral, and as soon as I alighted from the train, I could see it, nestled in fog on the top of the hill over yonder. I had pulled out a map but there was, thankfully, no need, and I could focus on the more important task of looking around at the scenery. 

I'd reached out to people for some recommendations for Durham, and wasn't disappointed. I had a list just long enough to fill the five hours before my final trains to Carlisle. I had been given suggestions of tourist attractions (Cathedral, Castle), places to walk (bridges), a bookshop (The People's Bookshop) and a place for a good lunch (Vennels). So, I set off up the hill, taking several tiny side alleys and steps that reminded me of mountain villages in Italy, and of the back passage around some of the Oxford colleges. By the time I reached the square by the castle, I had decided that the walking boots were about to come into their own, and took a pew to change them. And to shed a few hundred layers. I was wrong about the coldness factor in the North. It was, in fact, warmer in Durham on the top of a hill, than it had been in Birmingham. Concerning, to say the least. 

On the front door of the cathedral, I found something extremely useful. The Sanctuary Knocker, once knocked, would allow a person 37 days of sanctuary in the cathedral under the guise of a monk-like robe. This was a wonderful find for someone writing a novel about a person trying to escape somewhere...I made copious notes. 

After taking in the cathedral (and, of course, the giftshop), I wandered into the Palace Green Library. There was a poster outside for an exhibition all about people who hear voices, which I decided was definitely worth investigating. 

The exhibition includes the various interpretations of 'hearing voices' from the divine, to the creative, to the benign, and the harmful. But the overarching theme was that hearing voices is not necessarily a sign of mental ill health, that it is a fundamental part of the human condition. For example, internal monologues are heard as voices, and some, me included, do voices in their head for various things when reading. There are other voices, perhaps more sinister ones, and the exhibition tackled those too. It was fascinating, and I came out of it realising that my internal workings are not so unusual. 

The sun was setting by this point, and I had 2 hours before my train. My stomach had some very specific ideas about what I should be doing next, so I headed down towards Vennels. And, as predicted by the person who recommended it, I missed it entirely. It, along with the People's Bookshop' is down a tiny little alleyway that looks like it might be someone's back garden or access for their house. 

I made a pitstop in the bookshop on my way, struggling up the stairs with my ever-increasingly-heavy bag (I should not have bought maple syrup in glass bottles in Manchester), and found myself in a small attic room filled with bookshelves and socialist memorabilia. And an old man, who was obviously a regular, taking the weight off his feet and telling the person behind the counter (who was trying very hard not to listen) that if things got much worse, he'd have to go back to eating squirrels. I purchased 'An oral history of the female working classes' and a conference proceedings paper from a conference on women in 1974. Both seemed like great things to use for future research of novels and stories, and I wanted to support the bookshop and its ethos. Afterwards I bought myself a doorstop sandwich and a piece of chocolate cake in Vennels, before wending my way back up the hills and stairs to the station. 

Leeds

The main thing that I found out about Leeds whilst I was there, was that they REALLY like owls.

I spent the night with my lovely cousin Emma, having many wonderful conversations about feminism and literature and geek culture (and learning that she and I are definitely both still playing Pokemon Go). The next morning, she dropped me in the centre of Leeds where I set about on my wandering way.

I've been to Leeds before. A couple of times in the last few years for work, where I stayed in a Premier Inn which doesn't have a breakfast room, which requires you to eat breakfast in the adjoining TGI Fridays. Believe me, its confusing not being able to order a cocktail and a burger. On those trips, I mostly saw the inside of Northern Ballet, which, though lovely, is not very useful for my novel.

The other visits I've made are far back in the past. A family friends wedding when I was 10 and an interview at the Uni 10 years ago. I remembered my way around, though, and set about exploring the slightly hilly terrain.

My first discovery was a building that looked like it was borrowing something from Italian renaissance architecture. Inside, however, were some early-to-work office types who didn't really fit with the overall feeling of the place. Useful for dystopia future novels though...

And so I walked up towards the town hall, which I only discovered was the town hall when I looked it up on google. It seemed, from my vantage point at the front of the building, not to have a plaque or name plate on it, which seemed a little remiss. But then, the four lions guarding the entrance are in various states of decay due, I assume, to acid rain. Its an impressive building, nonetheless, including a sign talking about town ordinances, which I dutifully read assuming from it's font that it was old. Until, that is, I read the words 'skate boarding is prohibited' and decided it was just some clever typographical trickery.

'But what about the owls?', I hear you cry! I'm getting there, worry not. As I made my way up the hill, and caught sight of the inevitable Christmas Market (thankfully, it wasn't open yet, so I was not subjected to the scent of mulled wine and doughnuts at 8am), I noticed something strange about the town square.

On the top of two pillars, looking very regal, were a pair of golden owls. I decided to investigate further, and, upon walking around the building, I discovered yet more be-plinthed owls, including one with a QR code so you could hear it 'speak'. Whilst I backed off to take a picture, I glanced up at the top of the building and found, yes, you guessed it, more gold owls on the roof. I had to find out what this was about.

It turns out, that the Leeds coat of arms is flanked by two owls. Which led, logically enough, I suppose, to the creation of the Leeds Owl Trail. If you're up there, I suggest you give it a try.

There's not too much else to my tour of Leeds. Given the early hour not much was open but I got a good look around the architecture and got a general sense of the city, which was my aim.

At 11am, it was onwards, to Durham.

Manchester

I have to say, that I rather like Manchester. I’ve been here before but not for nearly 20 years, which seems like a strange thing to be able to type. I was already blessing it for the presence of a Left Luggage department, something which is sorely lacking these days. I was able to decant my laptop and glasses into a cloth bag brought for just that purpose, and drop my giant rucksack off for a few hours to play with the other luggage in daycare whilst I went to explore. 

I’d done some googling, and asked the lovely Worker Bees writing collective (Write Like a Girl grads from Manchester, who I met at GrrrlCon last year, check them out!) for their recommendations. My rumbling stomach had decided, however, that I should certainly stop for lunch first, and who am I to argue? I found a lovely cafe called ‘Moose Coffee’ which had a sign outside wishing me a Merry Christmoose, so obviously I had to go in. The food was excellent and plentiful, more than preparing me for my day of walking and note taking. 

I’d decided that the best place for me to visit in terms of my character was the People’s History Museum, and so, stopping only briefly at the now ubiquitous Christmas Market to buy a present for my writing Grrrls, I made my way unencumbered by luggage towards the riverside museum. And I have to say, I was not disappointed.

The slogan of the museum is ‘Join the Radicals’, which was immediately appealing, and entry is free, although I did leave a donation, because I fear for the future of such wonderful institutions, and a donation box with ‘Support Ideas Worth Fighting For’ was always going to get at least a few quid out of me. The two main floors of the museum take you through a history of the working people of Britain, from struggles from the vote, to the labour movement, trade unions, communism and, to my utter delight, feminist and queer history (special favourite: a badge that said ‘How dare you assume I’m heterosexual!”).

I passed a couple of hours taking notes and a few pictures, enjoying the emptiness of a museum on a Wednesday in term time, even taking a minute or two to create a stained glass window from magnetic pieces of coloured perspex; well, what’s a lighting designer to do? 

If you’re in the area, I would urge you to make a visit to the museum, it is excellently curated and very accessible, both in the sense that there is a lot for children and that it has ramps and lifts throughout, as well as a section on the history of disabled persons rights. There is also, again much to my delight, a section where they explain the conservation of textiles in the museum collection, which, conservation and lighting in museums being my master’s dissertation topic pleased me no end. 

I spent the rest of my afternoon failing to find bookshops, which was somewhat disappointing. I’d been recommended Aspidistra Books by the Worker Bees, as well as Chapter One books. I trekked over in the direction of Aspidistra first, having read their twitter bio and discovered that they specialised in LGBT books, and abhorred celeb biographies (yes, I know I’m being snobby, but I don’t care). At least I thought I was heading in their direction. It turned out that the address on their Facebook page was incorrect and they were, in fact, on the other side of Manchester, closer to where I had just been. 

Instead, I aimed myself towards Chapter One, which is a fairly new bookshop and seemed rather lovely from their twitter page. Unfortunately, they were closed due to unforeseen circumstances. I consoled myself by saying that it would be less to carry, and that, in any case, I’ll be back in Manchester in June for GrrrlCon (look that up too, if you’re a woman writer!). 

So I spent my last hour in Manchester sitting on a wooden bench waiting for my train to Leeds. After managing to get on the wrong one, and being reminded that it was in fact going somewhere else and that the Leeds train was in front of this one, I hurried into my assigned seat and settled for the third train of the day. 

Birmingham

Birmingham station has changed a bit since I was last here. I came here on tour in 2014, spending most of my time walking between the Broad Street Ibis and the Rep theatre, sweltering in the summer heat and waiting for the Library to close so the theatre could take over the air con. 

When I arrived in 2014, the station was covered in hoarding and adverts about the new exciting station that was being built. It wasn’t terribly exciting, hoarding is pretty much the same wherever you go. But now, in 2016, Grand Central, as it is now dubbed, is finished, and enormous. The outside is covered in mirrored panels, with a large eye-shaped advertising board on one side that watches you, and tries to get you to buy things. Very Orwellian, and very appropriate for my dystopian novel. I took a note of it whilst I ate some lunch in one of the many eateries, all of which were not allowed to provide bins, which in itself made the whole thing seem a little 1980s in a different way. 

I had great intentions for my time in Birmingham. I was going to wander the jewellery quarter and take notes on the warehouses and victorian buildings, find somewhere to sit and add to my word count. Those plans were slightly scuppered within 15 minutes of setting out. 

It was raining, which in itself is not a huge problem, I was prepared. I know British weather, and I’d brought a waterproof and changes of clothes. The rain itself didn’t bother me. Until. Until I was crossing a road to get to the jewellery quarter, where, somehow, I slipped over. I felt myself go and, in slow motion, it seemed, watched as my feet disappeared to one side, my backpack leant me sideways and there I was, like a turtle, on a road. It was a terrifying few seconds, until the cars started just going around me. Well, Merry Christmas to you all too. 

“Are you alright?” shouted a kind woman, who was also sporting a huge backpack, on the other side of the road. So I wasn’t still in London, and it was possible for people to give a shit about others. How nice. 

Limping slightly, and lamenting my formerly clean trousers which now had a long stripe of muddy rain water down one leg, I begrudgingy headed towards St Paul’s square. 

The church was rather lovely, at least from the outside. I have to admit to being a little grumpy from hurt pride, so I didn’t investigate inside, justifying it by saying that my character wasn’t likely to go inside a church either. 

It took another 20 minutes for me to get genuinely fed up of the rain, and to be somewhat desperate for the loo. As the heavens opened properly, I headed for the lovely Birmingham Central Library, who had a cafe, a workstation and, most importantly at that point, a toilet. 

I spent the rest of the afternoon typing, getting down nearly 2000 words of the novel, and the character’s journey. 

I spent the evening with my lovely friend Laura, who was kind enough to put me up for the night, and to invite me to join their writer’s group (PoW WoW) for and evening of ‘gluttony and ghost stories’. It gave me the idea that it might be nice to go to other cities and visit other writing groups, see how they work and hear work by people around the country. Perhaps next year, eh? 

It was wonderful in the back room of the Prince of Wales pub, warm and cosy with plentiful food. Most of the 20 or so writers there had a ghost story to tell, which gave the evening a wonderful Jackanory feeling. I have to admit, that I was close to dropping off a few times, due to the soothing nature of being read to, like 20 bedtime stories. I shook myself, obviously, because I wanted to hear the tales. And I’m glad i did, for they were of excellent quality. I hope to return some time to visit them again. 

In the morning, it was off to Manchester.

The Adventure begins...

At some point a month or so ago, it seemed like a great idea to start my research adventure on the 13th of December, even though I knew that my work Christmas party was on the Monday beforehand. I didn’t drink much, to be fair, just a single beaker of wine (they’d run out of wine glasses by the time we made it there after a show shift), but I had stayed much later than I planned putting the world to rights with a lovely colleague. So, dragging myself out of bed at 7am to pack, check my bag four times and leave early enough not to be affected by the ludicrous amount of problems on the underground, was challenging to say the least. 

But I made it to Euston on time, to discover that my train was terminating early in Northampton. Not such a good start. Trying not to worry, I lumped my enormous hikers rucksack onto a spare seat and plopped down next to it. Much of this first journey was spent staring at the scenery that moved past the window, and very enjoyable it was too; when one is used to London’s tightly packed buildings, even one open field among buildings becomes exciting. Many notes were taken in my novel notebook (yup, I have one, ask the creative collective, they’ve seen the rainbow highlighting) about scenery that could conceivably still exist in 18 years time, when the novel is primarily set. 

Having made my connection at Northampton, I managed a little snooze on the train, trying to ignore the persistent fear of missing my stop, even though the train terminated there. Hey, I can’t be held accountable for my sleep-deprived brain.

Here's my itinerary, for those who are interested: 

London - Birmingham (13th Dec)

Birmingham - Manchester (14th Dec)

Manchester-Leeds (14th Dec)

Leeds - Durham (15th Dec)

Durham - Carlisle (15th Dec)

Walking a section of Hadrian's wall (16th Dec)

Our Creative Collective (with thanks to Nadia for the title)

For much of my life, I’ve found it hard to make friends. Its not a statement written to elicit sympathy, its a fact. University was a lonely time, the years following not much different. With my closest friends far from my door, loneliness was sometimes impossible to counter. I found myself shrinking, making a smaller version of myself to become more acceptable, more palatable, less me, since, in my mind, I must be the problem. 

That all changed when I stepped into a glass fronted conference room in trendy Hackney last October. The venue was all show, no substance beneath its exposed pipe-work and hipster coffee, but the table, glass-topped and filled with books, was surrounded with comfy chairs ready for eager writers to sit and create. 

To say I was merely nervous would be a lie, I was excited and incredibly anxious. I knew the next 6 Saturdays would be inspiring and helpful, instructive, but I couldn’t have guessed the profound effect it would have on my life. 

Nine more women gradually filled up the table, took a seat self-consciously and prepped notebook and pen on the polished wood, and the conversation turned to books. As the weeks went on, we shared our work, sometimes with pencils and pens to edit or suggest, sometimes with party poppers and noise-makers celebrating triumphant sentences. Our laughter rose to the roof and strained the plate-glass windows, and gave the baby disco next door a run for their money. 

When the last class rolled around, and we parted ways from the pub after lunch, we all knew it wasn’t the end of the story (and yes, that pun is very much intended). With a selection of dates scattered in diaries, we made promises to keep it up, to motivate each other when times were hard and celebrate when success called. 

That was over a year ago, and we’ve managed it. Not only have we written, laughed and read more, but we have found something else: friendship. I wouldn’t have, couldn’t have imagined a year ago being a part of a group of such incredible and inspiring women and having the privilege to call them my friends. Having a community (a creative collective, as one member so perfectly put it) not only helps with the practical aspects of being a writer, but lifts you up and keeps you going, keeps you writing and inventing and staring into space following white rabbits. 

They do not see me as small, or quiet, or nervous because with them these shrouds disappear. With them, the loud and happy girl who shrank like Alice through school and university, through depression and fear, recognises herself again. Each time I sit with them, as we eat cake and discuss books and writing, I grow. Little by little, these women, these writing Grrrls, these creative companions give me back my confidence and zest for life; they chase away the anxious demons that whisper in my ears and keep me from being the woman I know I am, not the woman who has become so tiny that people don’t see her at all; they call me friend and my heart sings, breath courses through me and I know I can continue, both with writing, and with life. 

To all the Grrrls, and to the woman who brought us together too, thank you, from the farthest reaches of my mind and soul, thank you for seeing me, for accepting me, for being my friend and for being such incredible inspirations in everything I do.

Long may we continue. 

Who ya gonna call?

I've been called a geek, a nerd, a dork, for most of my life; people have also thought that it was important to point out that I'm female. All the damn time, like I hadn't noticed or something. I've always just thought of myself as me.

Apparently that wasn't an option.

I played gameboy games as a kid; I followed franchises and watched flash animations until my eyes were so tired all I could see were badgers. I've cosplayed, read comic franchises religiously, collected figurines and worn Wonder Woman insignia; I spent countless hours on World of Warcraft running away from random dudes trying to flirt with my character. But there's something that's been missing for so long and I think its finally starting to appear.

I could hardly ever see myself in the franchises I loved.

Sure, there were times that I could envision it: I loved imagining being an engineer on the Enterprise or Voyager; I wished for Superman's powers and Lois Lane's tenacity; I absorbed trivia and became an asset to pub quiz teams everywhere; I'm first in line to see the new Marvel films, whilst trying hard to ignore the fact that the female characters' armour doesn't cover their chests, and therefore their necks and hearts...come on, that just makes no damn sense!

But, but. I have just been to see Ghostbusters and despite a long working week I am so buzzed by the film that sleep is not coming anytime soon.

I was a fan of the original, although I will admit to not being as fanatical about it as some. I was always more of a Superheroes/Star Trek/Doctor Who kinda gal. I love the original films, don't get me wrong, but the new one is something incredibly special.

Its special because I can see myself up there; I can see four realistic women being portrayed in a 'nerdy' franchise and I swear I nearly cried I was so happy.

There are so many reasons why this film is important, but I'm going to try and summarise a few of the top priorities:

1) Girls and Women could totally love the original franchise, but if they were specifically looking for women to emulate in the playground, pickings were slim. Speaking as a woman who grew up pretending to be the Disney princes because they got to do all the interesting shit, some more obvious badass women would have been awesome. REPRESENTATION IS IMPORTANT (in case that wasn't clear).

2) This film, if people are paying attention, could really be a major (perhaps even final?) nail in the coffin of the 'women aren't funny' argument. The four main women in Ghostbusters represent many different styles of comedy throughout the film. We were laughing so hard the drink from our oversized cinema cup was basically streaming from our nostrils.

3) More than one body type is represented. And this is really important. I cannot stress this enough. No mention is made of the women's sizes at any point; they are simply four women. They are not all tiny, photoshopped and always worrying about their weight. They are JUST GETTING ON WITH THEIR LIVES. This is so damn rare in films, I can't even. You even see them eating and THERE'S NOT A SALAD TO BE LAUGHED AT ALONE IN SIGHT.

4) There's one or two brief conversations about men (mostly about the brilliant pastiche part of Kevin) but mostly, its science, Ghostbusting, research and general weirdness. This is also damn rare. Don't believe me? If you aren't familiar with the Bechdal test, go take a look on google. Go on, I'll wait.

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 SEEEEEE????

5) They trolled the haters. In the film. All those douchebags who spent the months since the film was announced whining about how it'll 'ruin the original' and how 'girls can't be ghostbusters', down-voting the trailer on YouTube and generally being asshats. I won't spoiler it too much but...its glorious.

6) The costumes are lampooned for being impractical (including a wonderful jibe at Kristen Wiig's high heels) before being changed for the practical, hard-wearing jumpsuits that we all know and love. AND THEY ALL HAVE THEIR HAIR OUT OF THEIR EYES AND FLAT WATERPROOF SHOES. Yes, I'm shouting. Have you any idea how hard it is to fight evil with your hair in your eyes no matter how perfectly coiffed it is? And don't even get me started on running in heels. JUST NO.

There are so many other awesome things about this movie, but I think I'll let you go and see it and hope that you love it as much as I do.

Finally a film for us geek girls. Finally something that we don't have to prove our credentials for or wear ludicrous outfits to emulate.

Finally we can sit in the cinema and laugh at jokes that are made by people we can recognise, people who could be our friends, and jokes which are, crucially, not made at our expense.

One of Them

Last year was my first pride, the first parade I'd attended in my new skin, in my new guise. I ignored the commercialism, the sponsorship from capitalist companies that attached themselves to buses with rainbows strewn from mirrors. None of that mattered, because I wasn't there for that; I wasn't, as it was suggested by some work colleagues, imposing myself on 'their' party. They meant no malice but somehow they didn't know not to assume, not to read me in their default way: straight.

But that's not what I am, I'm not straight.

Standing on the side of the road with my friends, an amnesty international sticker plastered to one breast, tears sprung into eyes not previously fully opened.

It was the flag that did it; the pink/blue/purple striped one waved loftily by marchers smiling enough to make their cheeks ache - smiling so wide it reached to the edges of the road and spread to everyone in the crowd,

In the wake of a tragedy like the one that occurred in Orlando, solidarity and community is needed. Given that many of the people I know still read me in the way my colleagues did a year ago, I couldn't be as open about my sorrow as I wanted, couldn't without explaining, without coming out. I was still scared, still unsure about being myself.

But the time for fear is over. The time for pretending, for passing without resistance, is over. Visibility is what our community needs, to be louder, prouder, for those of us who live in relative privilege, able to express ourself with a higher level of freedom, to shout from the rooftops about our love and lovers, about our desire no longer to hide.

I am, and have probably always been, bisexual. It has taken so long for me to be able to be open and proud about this fact, due, in part, to a lack of visibility and representation when I was growing up: all our sex education was strictly heterosexual; bi characters in popular culture were categorised by the gender of their partner, not their own definition; language and stereotypes portray us as attention seeking or greedy, put us into binary boxes based on comfortable narrow definitions.

Through meeting people who've shown me that gender and sexuality are not as clear cut as the world wants us to believe, I have learned more about myself than I thought possible. I have been able to love myself in a way that I haven't done since I was a child. I am happier, calmer, I am part of a global community that gives support and companionship, that signals with rainbows and love. I am a queer woman, and I love myself for it.

So when I say I have crushes on women, I don't mean that they'd be an exception to status quo; when I call out people using homophobic, biphobic and transphobic language (and many other slurs), it's not just as an ally; when I attend a pride parade, I am not crashing their party. I am one of them.

I am Bi. I am me. And I'm not going to hide anymore.

What a jagged little pill...

Today I took an enormous step. I talked to my GP about my depression and anxiety, both of which have been a part of my life for a very long time. And I came home with a filled prescription, for antidepressants.

Over the years, I've considered this step numerous times, but always talked myself out of it. I know that some of the reasons behind my symptoms are things that have happened in my life that still affect me in ways that I don't want to admit to myself, let alone to medical professionals. I've convinced myself that I'm better without help, but, as I've come to realise recently, this is another symptom of the depression. It tells me that everyone else is fine, why can't I cope, I must be useless. I know, logically, that everyone is not fine, but that doesn't matter to the voice in my head that tells me I am not worthy, not good enough, weak. Its a horrible voice, when it goes away for brief periods, its like it's never been there and I can go on with life, imagining I will be fine. Another lie, but its hard to want to think about how awful you've felt when you finally have some respite from it.

I'm writing about this for two reasons. For one, its depression awareness week, and if you haven't yet, check out the Blurt Foundation's hashtag: #whatyoudontsee. Those who have tweeted using the hashtag are giving a glimpse into the minds of people suffering from depression. They're extremely moving and so accurate it hurts.

Secondly, I feel like I'm on the cusp of something. Whilst SSRI antidepressants take a few weeks to start working, being about to take the first pill in the packet is momentous for me. It might just be swallowing a tiny capsule of chemicals, but to me it represents taking a step towards not feeling completely awful all the time. It may not, but I owe it to myself to try.

What I have always thought of as a jagged edged pill, one with more bad consequences than helpful effects, may help me to live my life more fully, to feel less stuck, to breathe easier. I hope that it will do all these things, and allow me to see myself as I should: not scared, not trapped, not inhibited by negative thoughts, but someone who has done and can do amazing things without fearing the inside of my head.

Away Laughing on a fast camel...

I'm sitting at the table this afternoon listening to the radio and crying my eyes out. I'm listening to 'Last Word' on radio four, on which Holly Bourne is talking about the wonderful, hilarious author and comedian Louise Rennison who died last weekend. 

Rennison's books, the Georgia Nicholson series, were the subtitles and manual to my teenage years. They were where we would go to look for advice and to forget our problems by reading about a group of girls like us who made up snogging scales and traversed their teens with hilarity. 

The excitement that we felt when she came to our school for world book day (many years ago now) was enough to make us go to the piddley-diddley department right in our seats in the tiny damp school library. We listened to her reading during the day and came back to hear the same talk and same extracts in the evening, so huge was our love for her and her stories. When she read from her work, she brought her characters off the page in an incredible way, a memory which I have always kept with me and which has influenced my own spoken word style. 

She was an incredibly lovely woman, who signed my book with a shocked face thinking I'd said my name was Jas and not Jess, laughing her wonderful laugh and not worrying about sucking in her nose or placing her tongue behind her teeth like her teenage book-self Georgia was always doing. We asked her about the characters' real-life counterparts and what happened to them after the books (at the time there were only 3 or 4 books in the series, which now has 10), looking shocked at the Sex God's choice of life partner and awwww-ing at Jas and Tom. Her performance is still clear in my mind, and I've been calling on it a lot in the last few days. 

When I found out she'd died, I was shocked. I'd just been thinking about her and how important her books were when I was a teenager, and how important they still are. She was one of those people who seemed to go on and on and who would always be there, laughing and writing. She is a huge influence on me, and on my YA writing. Importantly, she showed us a world where girls weren't there to be sophisticated and chilled out, they were people like anyone else. And perhaps most importantly, that women are absolutely hilarious. 

RIP Louise, you'll be missed by many generations of young women, but we'll be able to laugh through the tears by re-reading your wonderful books. 

Achieving a dream...

Last week I spent an evening at a book launch. For a book that I've been published in. And I was so incredibly excited that I was bouncing around for the whole day before it (A day which included a lecture about standards and policy documents - hard to concentrate, I can tell you!).

Backtracking a little bit, in case you've missed it. One of my short stories, Destiny, has been published in For Book's Sake's latest short story anthology, '(Re)Sisters: Stories of rebel girls, revolution, empowerment and escape'. I submitted the story last summer, wanting to push myself more with my writing. Working to a deadline really helps me to actually get stuff done, so I wrote the story, edited in a fury and submitted on the day of the deadline. Then I took a deep breath and tried to forget about it for a while.

Fast forward a few months to me sitting in a car with my mum driving through West Cork to visit friends when an email pops up. My instant thought was 'rejection', because...well because I wanted it not to be so badly.

It wasn't, obviously.

So there I was last week, surround by the Grrls from our wonderful women's writing group and my mum and partner, as well as lots of other awesome people and some of the other authors from the book. And I read from my story, enjoying every second of it. My new ambition, to read my work out loud more often is definitely cemented after last week.

I was high for days on the excitement and celebration of the night, achieving my dream of breaking my way into the world of published writers. It raised an important point for me, about what I can achieve, in fact, what anyone can achieve when they believe in what they're doing even a little bit; because that little bit can grow and expand. If I hadn't taken the chance, I wouldn't be feeling like this now. I wouldn't be writing more regularly and planning novels and short stories left right and centre.

I have discovered another part of my life that my anxiety cannot touch, that I am proud to speak about and not shy or retiring; I don't hedge my sentences with doubt when I speak about my writing, because unlike with so many other things in life, I know I can find solace in something that I love, that I can lose myself in and that I am completely proud to say I am good at.

Onwards and upwards from here: next, the novel!

Click the link to order your copy of (Re)Sisters from For Book's Sake. It's filled with incredible stories by incredible women from around the world, showing the variety and courage of rebel girls, empowering others to tell their stories. 

http://forbookssake.net/store/products/resisters-stories-of-rebel-girls-revolution-empowerment-and-escape/

28 years young

In just over 2 hours I will turn 28. I like to mark these dates by writing, I used to do it in paper journals, counting down the minutes until quarter past midnight, filling the pages with a stream of consciousness. This time I want to mark the changes that have happened since this time last year, the differences that have made the year what it is.

I was in Italy a year ago, working on a ballet show in a beautiful theatre with a star-scattered sky painted on its auditorium room. I ate ice cream in a warm seaside square and drank too much coffee waiting for italian theatre technicians to return from their lunch break. I searched for parmesan cheese in the rain and bought a copy of 'Northern Lights' in Italian with the intention of reading it in simultaneously with the English. I can see it now, sitting on the red shelves with its English counterpart, the bookmark still on the first page, its conjugations too hard for my medium skill.

This year I won't spend tomorrow working. Its reading week and I've given myself tomorrow off. A year later I'm a student studying to get out of my depression-inducing career, trying to kick start a new one. Maybe by next year I'll have started it.

The biggest change from last year is that there will be one card missing, one less greeting that has been a constant for every birthday of my life. In just over a month it will have been a year since my Grandma, Noddy, died, on Christmas Eve. Already the onslaught of Christmas adverts is becoming too much, I know it will only get harder as the month moves on, but now I want to remember the happy times. Last year she gave me a knitting kit: two balls of undyed cream wool, two needles and a pattern. It's beautiful. I haven't started it, not because I don't like it, but because when its finished she won't be here to see it. She taught me how to knit, I'm only starting to be able to fix the problems in my knitting myself, still expecting her to be there to pick up my dropped stitches. I will knit it at some point, but I can't bring myself to do it yet. Perhaps I'll start it on Christmas Eve, start a new tradition.

This past year has had its happiness as well. Its been the year I've finally kick-started my writing, taking two 6 week classes with some wonderful women who have become close friends and extremely supportive friends. At the time of writing, I'm 17,204 words into a novel that I started in earnest at the start of November for NaNoWriMo. I've been a writer (and not just sporadically on here) for as long as I have had a stationary fascination. As a notebook covered with the old body shop animals will attest, this too has been a long standing obsession too. I'll let you know how the novel turns out.

This year I've also made some amazing new friends, four of whom threw me an amazing birthday party at the weekend with delicious food and their wonderful company, and a personalised birthday cocktail named after my favourite musical, 'Into the Woods'. I can't adequately express how amazing it was to have people I've known for relatively little time so quickly become such close friends who mean the world to me.

Tomorrow, my mum and I are heading to see 'Suffragette' and have afternoon tea. Patch and I are going out to dinner at a diner and I'm going to make my favourite chocolate cake. Seems like a pretty good day to me. The last year has handed me some of the hardest times and some of the best, I take forward all I have learned into the next year, and sign off to go and dream of cake!

Yellowbluepink by Ann Veronica Janssens

One of the great luxuries of studying at UCL is its proximity to other wonderful institutions. The British Library, with its regular exhibitions and general book-based allure is just down the road; the British Museum is within walking distance; countless independent bookshops and cafes fill the roads of Bloomsbury, not to mention the museums and galleries which are part of the campus itself. Perhaps my favourite local institution, however, is the Wellcome Collection, where I have spent many  happy hours in exhibitions, and where I have just spent my lunch break enjoying the mesmerising work of Ann Veronica Janssens: Yellowbluepink.

It may seem a simple concept: a white room filled with a fine odourless mist lit by 3 different colours of overhead lights. The effect, however, is incredible. The work itself is exploring the topic of consciousness as part of the States of Mind season and does a brilliant job of focussing ones perception of ones surroundings and calling into question how our experience is understood by our minds. 

Allow me to walk you through it. 

You are given a lanyard and told to only open one door at a time to access the room. You assume this is to contain the haze within and happily comply. Stepping out of the vestibule (once the outer door is safely shut) you emerge into pink. Not a pink room, not a pink object, just pink. You become aware of a foggy sensation within the room which prevents you from seeing anything apart from your own feet, hands, arms...and the overhead lights which at this end are the room are pink. 

You make your way around the edges of the room, cautious at the moment not to bump into anyone and unsure if there are any objects at ground level. As you reach the centre of the wall, the colour around you changes to a yellowish green. You smile: the room is beautiful and is making you calm. You venture further along the wall, towards where you assume the corner of the room is. The colour changes again. You are unsure, until you look up to confirm, whether you are actually moving through space or whether the lights are changing above you. As you reach the corner you are enveloped in blue. 

You lean against the back wall to look back the way you have come. You can see the suggestion of other colours somewhere off in the distance but you are not worried about that. Other people are perceptible as shuffling footfalls and whispered exclamations 'this is so cool!'. They are only seen when they are very nearby and even then they appear ephemeral, so absorbed are you and they by your surroundings, or rather the blank canvas that you find yourself in. 

You go exploring. You discover windows on one side of the gallery, which at seven paces away are just noticeable through the mist, and at eight disappear completely. You go nearer, reach out, try to understand something as ordinary as a window within this new context of seeing.

You walk back towards the yellow. Your perception of the yellow has changed because of the comparison to the blue you have just left; you walk into an orange dawn, watching halos around your eyes shift as you comprehend the change. 

You want to stay for longer. You want to remain in this place that has calmed your brain from its worries and given you peace so close to so much busy-ness. You search for the door and resolve to return as soon as you can. 

The exhibition/experience is running until 3rd January 2016. The lighting design is by Jono Kenyon (Studio ZMA Ltd). Other examples of second person story-telling include the brilliant 'How to become a Writer' by Lorrie Moore (in case you were wondering what I was doing there...!). 

A new beginning...

As some of you will have seen from Facebook, I started a masters degree this week. I enrolled on UCL's MSc in Light and Lighting last Wednesday, lectures started this week and yesterday I picked up one of the course books from the campus branch of Waterstones; I think I can safely say, it's started!

I remember hearing about the course back during my undergraduate degree and thinking, since I was told it was incredibly hard to get into, that I wouldn't even try applying.

6 Years later, with a considerable amount of work experience under my belt and with much more of an idea about what I want to get out of my career, it's perhaps not a surprise that I found myself applying, still nervous about getting in but more confident in my abilities than I have been in a long time.

Some context, perhaps? Over the past year, I've found myself becoming increasingly disillusioned with the world of theatre, especially with regard to pay and opportunity for career advancement. And before you even start to think about saying 'You get out of it what you put in' or similar ludicrous aphorisms that are the mainstays of the most privileged in our industry, I have put 6 years of my life, plus the 3 I spent training, countless 12 hour days, evenings, weekends, spare moments, any time that was available to me, and anything I could think of, into advancing in my chosen field. And although I'm in a better position than I was a year ago, although I can gain recommendations from some very well regarded theatrical colleagues,  I still find it so hard to find work that it feels like a constant struggle rather than a career. Having a producer completely screw me over a month before I was supposed to start a 6 month tour was, frankly, the final straw. There have been a few articles recently about the detrimental effects working in theatre can have on one's mental health, and I am not afraid to tell you that my depression and anxiety hit their worst in 10 years at that time.

I have reached the conclusion that, although it was always my dream to work in theatre, it is not for me. This has been an incredibly hard thing to admit to myself but ever since I acknowledged it I have been happier and able to move forward with other ambitions.

I'm not so naive as to think that having a further degree will necessarily guarantee my future career, but the opportunities afforded by being a student at such a well regarded and supportive university, as well as studying further into the subject that really excites me - Light - can only help.

Every new thing I hear about what I'll be studying, every new person I meet, every opportunity I hear about, makes me certain I have made the right decision.

I will continue to work in Theatre for the time-being, enjoying it all the more because I am closer every day to moving on from a career that has caused my mental health to deteriorate, my faith in myself to dwindle daily and my sense of self-worth to plummet.

I want to mention here that I have met some amazing people and fantastic friends whilst working in theatre, and it is with no reflection on them that I make this decision. Indeed, I have had this conversation with several of them who have expressed the same frustrations with this isolating and all consuming industry. Unfortunately, no amount of wonderful people and laughing in the good times can stop the bad times from being crushing. As much as I have enjoyed parts of my work so far, and I honestly wouldn't trade some of the theatre making experiences I've had for anything, I cannot continue knowing that I'm doing so only so I can stubbornly say 'I didn't give up' when it is much better to say 'I gave it my best, now I'm going to try something else'.

I haven't taken the decision lightly but I know it is the right one for me.

Moments That Mattered

October had been quiet, very quiet, and a lack of work combined with a slight genetic predisposition towards depression joined together to bring a certain amount of career anxiety. Perhaps what I was doing was not the path for me; maybe, although I love it, i should try something else, but that too was a path paved with uncertainty.

I had a contract coming up, 2 months of solid work at a theatre that i always enjoy working at. To say I was nervous would be an understatement. What I was feeling made nervous look calm and collected. As the time to start the job grew closer, my worry increased. Thoughts of inadequacy and failure plagued my mind day and night and, like most irrational fears, repeating 'You can do this' to myself over and over didn't make it any easier to sleep.

As the first week progressed it got easier to take the worries one day at a time. I still wasn't calm, by any stretch of the imagination, but I was thinking more logically.

By the end of week one, when I was starting to feel more comfortable with my responsibilities, my boss took me aside at the end of the day and said the words that helped me know it would all be ok:

"I know you've found this week hard, that you've been worried and nervous but relax. I hired you because I know you can do it and I know you can do it well so just relax because even though you might not think so, you're doing a good job"

I don't mind admitting that this made me a bit teary. I'd not worked in such a supportive and positive environment before, rarely had a line manager so attune to his staff that he could see that I needed reminding that I was able to do the job that I was trained and hired to do. For the first time in months, my career didn't feel like a mistake - it felt like a calling again. Excuse the pun, given my profession, but it was like a lightbulb had been switched on in my mind, a warm light that chased away doubtful shadows and exposed the worries as smoke-and-mirror tricks. This is what I do, this is what I love and I'm damn good at it.

Today's post was inspired by the ever glamorous and lovely Lori over at www.rarelywearslipstick.com. Here is the original post http://www.rarelywearslipstick.com/2014/01/prize-draw-moments-that-mattered/ (and yes, it's for a prize draw but that doesn't make the words any less true :))
                    

Ribbed for Her Pleasure Scarf (Snigger)

It's back to being the time of year where knitting feels like a sensible way to spend time - by which I mean its getting colder and I need something to do with my hands. So I've dug my knitting bag out from under my bed and investigated what wool is leftover from last year's projects.

I found two balls of lovely wool that I'd got on a 3 for 2 offer when buying wool for Christmas presents; a gradient wool that stripes itself (much like this one,) with blue, yellow and green, meaning a lot of wool-based prettiness without much effort from me!

I decided I'd make it into a scarf. I've not done one before and it seemed like a nice easy project to ease back into the oh-so-strenuous world of knitting before the Christmas rush (yup, friends and family reading this, you can expect knitted things again!). Picking up my knitting book (Stitch and Bitch) again, I found the simple, elegant and, most importantly, amusingly named 'Ribbed for Her Pleasure Scarf' and decided to go for that.

It was, as the pattern suggested, very simple to do; just a 2 x 2 rib for 2 balls of wool. I think you'll agree, though, that it's rather pretty:

 

(Not the longest post in the world, perhaps, but I've got about 3 other knitting projects on the go so perhaps there'll be a more detailed one soon)

Coming out as a Cosplayer...

It'll be no surprise to those that know me that I like dressing up. In fact, I've always liked it, every part of it: choosing a character to emulate, creating the costume (almost always from scratch, much more satisfying!), getting into character...any excuse and I'm there!

So really it was only a matter of time before I started cosplaying, it was completely inevitable. In fact, I think I've actually been a cosplayer for years but haven't ever attached the term to myself! So here I am, coming out!

I should've seen the signs really: at 4 I insisted that my Bianca the Mouse (from The Rescuers) costume for Halloween couldn't possibly include plastic bags to carry sweets, because Bianca was only ever seen carrying suitcases; at 8 my Grandma made me a Simba the lion costume and whilst I had it on, I wouldn't walk on anything but all fours; at 17 I attended my first Rocky Horror Show in full unashamed regalia; at 18 I wore a Venetian mask to my sixth form ball (not a masked affair, officially, but when opportunity knocks...); the first time I played dungeons and dragons I drew my character and dressed up in my created costume (complete with elf ears); when a pub down the road from me had a 50s themed opening, I came up with a costume that was apparently so convincing that people thought I was a member of the swing dancing troupe who were in attendance; and, last week, after years of desperately wanting to attend, I finally made it to London's MCM Expo ComicCon in my hand created homage to Linda Carter, my Wonder Woman costume.

I've dressed as Wonder Woman a few times before but this was a few years back when my skill with a sewing machine was considerably less accomplished. I was determined to do the Amazon Princess justice this time (well she is a member of that league after all...no? You were expecting me to give up on the bad puns? No chance!).

So I did some research, in a large compendium of WW that my dad had bought for me many years ago. I decided I was going to go for the Linda Carter style costume with one important exception: the double W that emblazons her chest. The Linda C version of the costume had, varyingly, the full on American Eagle and a more stylised version thereof (involving angular gold feathers), neither of which, as a lady of a less American persuasion, particularly appealed. The double W, however, did appeal, in the same way that Superman's 'S' appeals: it is a symbol, a recognisable icon to inspire courage and strength. So, despite a technical inaccuracy, I went with this idea because part of the point of cosplaying is the fact that it allows one to add personal touches to well known characters.

The most difficult part of the costume, as far as I was concerned was the silky shorts/hot pants adorned with little white stars. These are readily available in Australia and America (in the form of dance shorts) via the medium of eBay but I decided against this option, for various reasons, cost and time being the main ones, as there was no guarantee that they would arrive in time and then I'd be up a certain famous creek without a paddle...and there was no way, despite my exhibitionist tendencies, that I was going sans hot pants. So making them myself was really the only option!

So I bought some shiny electric blue poly-satin from my favourite fabric shop on Goldhawk Road, A1 fabrics (they always seem to have what I want, at very reasonable prices...if this sounds like an advert, it is! Go there!) along with some white felt. I've never got on that well with commercial patterns, I much prefer making things myself because I tend to find it easier to make them fit (contrary perhaps, but as you'll see, it works for me!), so instead I found a pair of high waisted shorts in a charity shop that were the right general shape and fit me well. I made my own pattern with grease proof paper (Top Tip! Much cheaper than pattern paper or tracing paper!) by drawing around the shapes of each section of the shorts. I cut the shapes out of the fabric, sewed them loosely together and tried them on...miraculously, they fit. True, I spent a couple of days fine tuning and getting the hems to be the right shape (a sharp V from the crotch up practically to the hip bone) but all in all it was quicker and easier than if I'd attempted a shop-bought pattern.

The other main part of the costume was the top, which I have to admit I didn't make myself. Partly due to time and partly due to the fact that corset making is not currently my forte; I wanted the top to help me accentuate my figure into (even :-p) more of a 50s hourglass so some proper corsetry was required. And for this I headed to my usual merchant of choice in this area (and yes, I'm the sort of person who has a regular corset proprietor, are you really that surprised?), Corsets UK (another advert! Cor, this post's like that bit in Wayne's World with all the product placement...) who provided me very quickly with the perfect cherry red, satin top with a deep V neckline (perfect for the addition of a W or two!).

The other bits and pieces of the costume (bracelets, cape, headband, belt, earrings) I either already possessed or I adapted from the previous versions of the costume I had made. The boots were the only thing that involved no making or adapting on my part, I got them in a sale at the wonderful Escapade in Camden (advert number 3, and we're not done yet folks!) for £20. I was a very happy bunny the day I found those!

I spent almost all of my free time over the last couple of weeks sewing, thinking about sewing, planning or shopping for details and fabrics. The last thing I purchased was the wig. I'm not dark haired (as you may or may not have noticed...) and I certainly have no expertise in curling my hair (apart from one wonderful experience with a skilled friend and her GHDs, it always, without fail falls out within an hour) so a wig was really the only way to go for authentic dark, tumbly curls. Being a Brixton resident, it would have been terribly remiss of me not to get my wig in one of our many (no seriously, you've never seen so many wig shops in one place, pay it a visit if you don't believe me, or want a good quality wig at a low price (see?)) fine false hair merchants.So I purchased a 'Queen 1', which you'll all be happy to know is curling iron safe and can be washed with shampoo...

Cut to Sunday morning and I'm putting it all together. Having previously decided to put some form of clothing over the tops of our costumes, my friend (who went as Syndrome from The Incredibles, cool right?) and I threw caution to the wind and stepped out onto Tulse Hill, our capes billowing in the breeze, in our full comic-book glory. And to be honest, we both loved it; from the honks and waves in the street (to which we responded 'Thank you, Citizens!' to the people on the tube being ever so British and trying not to look directly at us as if we didn't realise we were dressed that way in public and to look at us might just confirm our madness...

As we got closer to the ExCel centre, more and more costumed folk appeared on our train until we were part of a sort of parade heading for the entrance. And there were some truly amazing costumes there, but that is another post, dear reader, for another day.

For now I shall close by informing you that I'm already planning my next forray into the cosplaying world. I'm not going to tell you who it is but I will tell you she's a character from a recent popular video game...

Wonder Woman out!

Review: Light Show visited by Show Lighters...

As a student of art, many years ago, I wrote a final essay arguing that all forms of theatrical design could be considered to be art, but that the context might be the thing that was stopping people from seeing set, costume and lighting design (among others) as art in a pure form. The trouble being that, much as I might have tried to convince people with my own slightly feeble attempts at light installation art in the school drama studio, it wasn't often that one was invited to look upon light as an art form rather than as a means to illuminate something. So it is perhaps unsurprising that when the Hayward Gallery announced its intention to hold an exhibition of light installations that I would want to see if it lived up to my expectations.

 

Very helpfully, being part of an organisation that is somewhat involved in light and art (Ahem... just somewhat involved...) has its advantages and this morning, along with eighteen other ALD members, I headed into the Hayward's galleries not really knowing what to expect but interested to see artist's interpretations of light as art. As an added bonus, we were joined by the electricians who put the show in who were able to shed some light (yes, I know, awful pun, are you not used to this by now?) on the practicalities of making art out of lighting fixtures.

The main gallery contains five works, the most dominant of which was Leo Villareal's Cylinder II (2012), a cylinder (funnily enough) made up of concentric circles of LED strips floating just off the floor. An image is mapped onto it to give the illusion of random patterns which are in fact created from a picture of a cloud. I was reliably informed that it is meant to be viewed in a room with no other light sources to experience its full effect, something which appeared to have been ignored in this particular instance. Although I agree that it would be a different experience were one to view it alone, I didn't think it suffered from being in a context with other works. For example, on the wall to the left of it was a multi-coloured work and behind, on a slightly higher level, several pillars of light and a neon tube installation, all of which reflected off the well-polished silver surface of Cylinder II, giving it added dimensions. 

Image via google images: www.theartsdesk.com

Upon walking up the slope to access the upper level of the main gallery, I encountered the first of a few theatrical fixtures. In this instance, it was a profile on a stand with a splat gobo in it. I've seen this work before and apart from an initial reaction that from a distance it does indeed look like a paint splat on the floor, I couldn't help but think it was a tad simplistic. I think my main objection to it was that its obvious that the splat is made of light, despite seeming to want to trick the viewer. Another work by the same artist, Ceal Floyer, which consisted of a light switch projected on a wall, was more successful at playing this game as most people, understandably, tried to switch it on. I couldn't help but think that this work would be more successful removed once again by context to a place where people might actually mistake it for a paint splat, although perhaps I have missed the point and it is in fact attempting to show us, simplistically, that light can be used in a similar way to paint. I showed the image to my flatmate (also a production electrician) and, amusingly, his main objection was not the 'light art' itself but the (presumably conscious) decision not to tape the connector to the stand. 

Two of the works in the exhibition employed the use of a haze machine, something which to us theatre types is not that groundbreaking, but to the general public, creates amazing and mysterious effects. I walked into one such piece which to the trained eye was clearly a video projection through some haze, creating what appeared to be solid lines of light in the air. Most people in the room were batting at the lines to work out if they were solid, and I'm afraid my cynicism kicked in slightly. It is, however, a good example of context changing people's views of things. Most people have probably seen a similar effect done either on stage or in a club but when its close to it becomes all the more fascinating. I suppose this is part of the point, that the general public don't have access to 'artworks' like these on a daily basis and to them they are as fascinating as a dancing fountain would be to others (although a fountain installer might see it as something menial and everyday, the majority see it as beautiful and intriguing in its own right).  

Red/Blue Rooms of Chromosaturation

Possibly one of the most interesting pieces in the exhibition from the point of view of colour theory was an exploration of red/greee/blue (although admittedly in a different order), called Chromosaturation (1965-2013) by Carlos Cruz-Diez. For those unversed in colour theory, exposing ones eyes to first an entirely blue room, followed by and entirely red room, followed by and entirely green room changes ones perception of each colour. For example, although the blue room did not feel particularly blue when standing in it, looking back at it (and a helpful suspended white cube hung at a 45 degree angle) from the vantage point of the red room makes it appear much bluer. As was pointed out by one of the other members, it is not often that you get to experience colours individually (especially in a white room) without any distraction from other sources.

Hanging from a normal plastic pendant fitting in a slightly grey room by itself was Lightbulb to Simulate Moonlight (2008) by Katie Paterson. Although an intriguing idea, I have to admit that I was not convinced of its moon-like quality. The scientific nature of the work, however, was quite fascinating and one has to give the artist points for effort on that front. She measured the light, amperage and temperature on the night of a full moon (presumably in an area with no light pollution, since the aim of the piece was to re-create moonlight in a form lost to us urban city-dwellers) and translated it into a halogen bulb specially manufactured for the purpose. The point still remains, however, that I have seen more convincing moonlight on a stage many a time so I'm afraid I shall take my moonlight in the countryside or, failing that, with a bit of 201 in front of it. 

On the upper level of the gallery, which was almost entirely populated by works made of white light (mainly fluorescent tubes), was another example of a theatrical effect taken out of its usual context. In a white room , behind a closed door was this work, entitled Rose (2007): 

 

Rose (2007) Ann Veronica Janssens

As you can probably see, its seven lights that appear, again with the addition of a haze machine, to create a floating shape. If one stands anywhere else in the room, however. the illusion is lost and it appears to be seven random spots of light on the wall (one of which, the slightly picky part of me wants to point out, needed its gel changing). It was, nonetheless an interesting effect and although its something that most of us had seen before, it was interesting to view it in its own right.

The final work in the exhibition was Olafur Eliasson's Model for a Timeless Garden (2011). It carried with it a warning seen on many an auditorium door 'This installation contains strobe lighting', and it wasn't lying. The piece consists of a line of strobes, masked to focus downwards with the use of some black wrap, pointing at a line of twenty-seven fountains. The strobes being the only light in the room makes the fountains appear frozen and each flash reveals a slightly different view. I have to say this was my favourite piece as I felt it had artistic merit of a different kind; it was something completely different to the rest of the installations and, unlike most of the others, was housed in a black room to accommodate the effect. It formed an illusion with light and was really quite simple in its make-up, but it completely changed ones view of the water, something relatively everyday when you think about it. The main disadvantage, according to one of the electricians, was that strobes do not last as long as they might in a theatre when left on all day every day and hence had to be swapped out regularly. 

All in all, I did enjoy the exhibition, especially when I started to get into it a bit more and leave my scepticism behind. I suppose as someone who has always been affected profoundly by light, and who works with it on a daily basis, I was bound to be more critical than your average member of the public, but it certainly does have some interesting pieces. I still find it amusing, though, that the context of a gallery can so easily lead people to refer to something as art. Looking at one particular piece with a colleague, I quipped, 'It's less art, and more fluorescent tubes...', which I humbly suggest to be the slogan for the next edition of Focus...