The winner of the British Art Prize 2024 has just been announced. Samuel Owusu Achiaw took first prize for his exquisitely diaphonous and hyperreal graphite and charcoal portrait of his sister, titled ‘Looking’. Russian Marriage Agency In Israel

We attended the awards ceremony at Southbank’s Gallery@oxo and were the first to interview the artist. 

We’d like to know a little more about you. What’s your art background?

Regarding my art education, I studied art but would describe myself as essentially self-taught. I have had previous exhibitions, notably with the Royal Society of British Artists. I have won art prizes in the past, but I’d say the British Art Prize is the biggest by far.

What is the inspiration behind the work?

My artwork, Looking, is a portrait of my sister. She’s always been a constant source of support, encouraging my practice through the good times and the bad, so I just wanted to pay homage to all the times she was there for me.

How did you get such fantastic detail in your work?

Realism and hyperrealism have always fascinated me. I took up portraiture around eight years ago, initially just in an exploratory way, which deepened my interest. I stumbled upon realism and hyperrealism and found it captivating, and this fueled my practice in that particular direction. It takes me quite a while to finish a piece because of the intricate detail, but you have to be patient and trust the process.

What are your future plans? Any solo exhibitions planned for 2025?

Looking forward, I am still working on other pieces, some of which will be themed around environmental issues, climate change, and African art, literature, and culture. I am originally from Ghana, so yes, that’s a source of inspiration. I have no solo exhibitions planned as yet, but I am working on some new ideas, which I will share as soon as everything is finalised.

British Art Prize 2024

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Tower Hill has a fascinating history and its unmissable landmark the Tower of London was recently voted the UK’s number one paid attraction. Join What’s Hot London? on a journey through its tumultuous history and intriguing royal heritage. We also stop off at its lively riverside eateries and bars and discover hidden gem nature spots.

So What’s Hot Tower Hill?

.   .    . 

History

Tower of London

Photo by Eddie Saint-Jean

Situated opposite Tower Hill station, the Tower of London was built by William the Conqueror in 1075 AD to strike fear into his Saxon subjects. His Norman forces defeated Anglo-Saxon king Harold Godwinsom at the Battle of Hastings and William ordered the construction of this imposing military stronghold to intimidate rebels and potential usurpers to the throne. The Caen stone castle certainly did that! Over the centuries, it has been used as a fortress, royal residence, royal mint and prison. It was Henry VIII who propagated its use as an impregnable prison for out-of-favour royals and enemies of the state.  Ex-wives Anne Boleyn, Katherine Howard and queen for nine days Lady Jane Grey were all imprisoned and executed here, as was his chancellor Thomas More who refused to accept Henry as the Head of the Church in England. More’s headless body was kept in the nearby All Hallows Church, Tower Hill. the oldest church in the City of London.

All-Hallows by the Tower

And if history and heritage is your thing, pay a visit to All Hallows Church. It was founded in 675 AD and its ancient undercroft is part of the original stone church on the site. In its crypt you’ll find artefacts from the Roman, Saxon and Norman periods discovered in the aftermath of heavy World War Two bombing.

St Olaves Church

St Olaves on Hart Street is a small but big-hearted medieval church. It’s inextricably linked to 17th-centrury London diarist and historian Samuel Pepys who attended services and is buried in the graveyard. There’s a plaque in the churchyard referencing Pepys mention of the church pews in his diaries. And look out for the skull carvings on the main entrance gate – Charles Dickens referred to the church as Saint Ghastly Grim because of these ghoulish carvings.

Roman Sites

Photo by Eddie Saint-Jean

You don’t have to look too far to find the remains of London’s Roman Wall. As you exit the Tube station, you’ll find a section of wall clearly marked out. The Romans built the wall in 200AD to provide extra protection from tribal incursions. There’s another section nearby just behind the Leonard Hotel. The hotel is private property but there’s pubic access to the wall, which is a designated heritage site. Look out for the wall’s slit windows where archers fired on enemies with this position offering greater protection from return fire.

Tower Bridge

Photo by Eddie Saint-Jean

It’s one of London’s most iconic landmarks and this year is its 130th anniversary. Did you know the reason it has the look of a Neo-Gothic castle is down to Queen Victoria? She saw the architects’ plans before construction and was concerned its modern, steely framework would spoil the view of the Tower of London. So the designers clad its steel frame in Portland Stone and Cornish Granite to compliment the aesthetics of the Tower. Also, it was originally painted a bright chocolate brown –  Queen Victoria’s favourite colour.

Exhibitions

Explore Inside Tower Bridge

Photo by Eddie Saint-Jean

There’s 150 years of history on show in this museum inside the bridge. Learn about the 1876 competition to design the bridge and why Sir Horace Jones’ ’see-saw’ bridge was favoured by City of London Corporation judges. The glass walkways built in 2014 are popular with visitors. The transparent floor is all that separates you from a terrifying 33 metre drop onto the traffic below and there are panoramic views of the city skyline. Your £13 ticket includes admission to the historic Engine House a short walk away, where the centuries-old steam and hydraulics that once powered the bridge are on display.

Tower Bridge Exhibition – Launching A Landmark: The Unseen Opening Weeks

It’s the 130th anniversary of the bridge’s construction and there’s a free open-air exhibition displayed along the bridge on both sides of the road. You’ll discover fascinating facts about the bridge’s construction under Chief Architect Sir Horace Jones, Chief Engineer Sir John Wolfe Barry and Resident Engineer George Edward Wilson Cruttwell. The bridge’s road was made of wood until the engineers realised that timber just couldn’t weather the heavy traffic and nature’s elements. The splashing river water caused the timber to swell.

Food

Tower Hill Thursday Food Market

Chill out to the sounds of live Colombian folk music as you sample tantalising dishes from the Ceylon Roti, Falafel & Hummus, Korean Fired Chicken, Souvlaki and Jerk Chicken stalls.There’s even a pop-up bar. The market is nestled between the Tower of London and All Hallows Church, so a handy stop-off if you’re feeling peckish. Thurs, 11am – 3pm.

Coppa Club

You might find yourself sweltering in their riverside igloos but it’s all very pretty! This restaurant and bar is an eye-catching find and right next to the Tower of London. They serve up Modern European cuisine and although there’s an intimate, romantic vibe for cosy couples, they also welcome coffee stops and office lunch breaks.

Drink

The Lawn

The Lawn

The Lawn is a vibrant al fresco bar with stunning views of the Thames and Tower Bridge. Stop off for an evening tipple here and experience the wonder of the neon-lit bridge and the magical dance of its reflected lights on the Thames. It’s situated at a lively tourist-friendly spot at the Tower Hotel where summer hordes visiting the likes of the Tower of London are drawn by the sounds of outdoor feasting and drinking. It’s mainly pizzas here and the bar prices are a little higher than the London average – but the wonderful views should swing it for you.

The Vault

The Vault

The Vault also has a pleasant spot on the riverside and  al fresco seating with views of Tower Bridge and the Thames. On the Vault walls you’ll find photographs of the bridge from centuries past. The bar was originally the bridge’s coal store in an age where coal powered its engine rooms.

Nature Spots

St Dunstans in the East

St Dunstans is a welcome green sanctuary in the heart of the City of London. It has centuries of history – a church has been on the site since 1106. Architect Sir Christopher Wren had a hand in the 17th-century restoration but all that remains of Wren’s work today is the tower. The church was bombed during the Second World War and essentially demolished – only a few walls remain. But what magnificent remains! Gothic arches and windows draped in creeping ivy and verdant magic and mystery. This green beauty spot is now a public garden, so if you work in the area, take your lunch break here.

Trinity Square Gardens

Laid out in 1797, it stands as a national memorial to merchant seamen who lost their lives in the two world wars. The Tower Hill Memorial bears the names of all the merchant seamen who lost their lives at sea and have no graves. Similarly, the Tower Hill Memorial extension, unveiled in 1955, is a tribute to the Second World War dead whose bodies were never found. The Falkands Conflict war dead are commemorated with a sculptural bronze anchor and you’ll also find a memorial to those executed on the scaffold which once stood on Tower Hill. The garden won a Green Flag Award this year in recognition of its soul-soothing natural heritage.

From Sherlock Holmes’ Baker Street to boujee French cuisine, we track the cultural and foodie delights of Marylebone. We discovered a streetful of antique shops as well as high-end boutiques, indie bookshops and backstreet art galleries. But which are our chosen hotspots?

So, What’s Hot Marylebone?

Madame Tussauds

It doesn’t take long to find out why there’s a glitzy red carpet entrance. The wall-to-wall Who’s Who of waxwork celebrities and public figures will excite and delight, regardless of whether you’re a Star Wars fan sitting in the Mos Eisley cantina with Han Solo or protesting outside No.10 Downing Street wth suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst. A waxwork of rapper Stormzy stands next to Shakespeare’s in a Battle of the Bards and the imposing and chiselled figure of boxer Anthony Joshua joins the wax-honoured ranks. The full line up of James Bonds is a visitor favourite to rival the Royal Family, who remain a big attraction even after the passing of Queen Elizabeth II.

Sherlock Holmes Museum

It is situated at 221B Baker Street, the real address of the fictional detective and is the world’s first Sherlock Holmes museum. The museum recreates the decor and atmosphere of the Georgian townhouse he rented when hunting down the likes of Professor Moriarty. The gruesome murder finds in some of the rooms in this four-storey space make it something of a House of Horrors.

Alfie’s Antique Market

It’s situated on a street full of antique shops but Alfie’s Antique Market stands out for its bazaar-style vibe and extensive range of bohemian bits and bobs. This quaintly put together art deco building houses cheek by jowl shop units selling everything from African art and carvings to rare collectibles and curiosities. Even more curiously, the life-size Great White Shark dangling from the ceiling doesn’t look out of place in this wonderfully offbeat emporium from decades (centuries?) past.

Lisson Gallery

This hidden gem tucked away on a quiet secondary street is a remarkable find. The popping, striking works on display are curated with distinction and discovery in mind. Exhibitions by established and emerging artists on all three floors.

Aubaine Marylebone

There’s a touch of class about this French restaurant. This fine dining spot has floor to ceiling windows, a low lit romantic vibe and a wine selection that holds its own in this Gallic-flavoured corner of Marylebone. Intimate dining with that special one, for sure. The boujee prices are in keeping with the quality cuisine and the upmarket neighbourhood.

                                                                                                                                                                                                            What is it about Dulwich? This charming, villagey south London suburb has been making all the right news lately and prompted a WHLondon visit to check out its attractions. With the Oru Space Cafe in East Dulwich winning the Best Cafe award at the Good Food Awards 2024, and East Dulwich included in a list of best places to live in the UK (yes, the UK – not just London!) we hung out at its cultural and dining hot spots and put together our top three reasons to check out this leafy, family-friendly neighbourhood.

The Oru Space Cafe

There’s always another cool new eatery opening somewhere in London and the breadth of choice for eating out has raised our expectations to Mount Everest levels. But the Oru Space Cafe is that bit special precisely because there is no capitulation to showy competitiveness. The cafe’s wholehearted wellness and healing tenets embrace the exact opposite. The terracotta-toned colour scheme on exterior and interior walls and decor is simple, serene, centring and gently stimulating to the senses. The local community vibe puts one immediately at ease. You get the feeling all the customers know each other; it’s probably not the case, not even with the cafe’s Wellness Members Lounge and co-working hub on site. Just that sense of comfort, community and being at one with the world. The Sri Lankan influenced food is fantastic, by the way! 

The Sri-Lankan Lentil Dahl arrived as a transcendently creamy mix of lentils, garlic yoghurt, coconut sambol, pickled red chilli, coriander and topped with kale. There’s the option of a fried egg in the dish as well. And no long wait for your grub. What tends to happen with these award-winning eateries is the resulting surge in popularity has them struggling to keep up with orders but none of that here; lots of helpful and eager staff on hand. A deserved Good Food Blue Ribbon winner. 

Dulwich Picture Gallery

You’ll find Britain’s first purpose-built gallery right here in pretty, postcard-perfect Dulwich Village. It was built in 1811 when galleries were still essentially spare rooms (albeit, very large ones) in the homes of the nobility, gentry and wealthy. Designed by leading architect Sir John Soane (1753-1837), it still reminds you of an aristocrat’s pad and is preserved true to the architecture and layout of the period, right down to the deep burgundy-hued walls of the interior. The white-walled look of today’s galleries first emerged around 1897. The gallery’s magnificent collection of Old Master paintings dates from the 1600s to 1800s, so you can check out the works of Rembrandt, Poussin, Gainsborough and Van Dyck, to name a few. 

And catch the Rubens & Women exhibition if you can – still a few more days to run. Peter Paul Rubens was pre-eminent amongst the Flemish artists who came to prominence in the seventeenth century and at his peak recognised as Europe’s No.1. You may notice some of the works repeat a facial likeness to his second wife Helena Fourment. And it’s fascinating to see his preparatory chalk and pen studies for altarpiece panels alongside jaw-droppingly awesome masterpieces such as The Three Graces, and Three Nymphs with a Cornucopia. The well-muscled female forms in his paintings show he used female sitters for the head and male models for the unclothed body. We’re informed this was a practice he borrowed from the great Michelangelo and also followed seventeenth-century etiquette. The exhibition is presented and surveyed as a diversification of art history.

Dulwich Woods

                                                                                                                                                                                                          Nestled between Sydenham and Dulwich, this ancient woodland was once part of the Great North Wood and dates back to 1272. Interestingly, these woods were once so vast that Norwood, the neighbouring district, gets its name from centuries past when the Great North Wood reached far and beyond. Today, Dulwich Woods is your green sanctuary away from the hustle and bustle of city life, an enchanting sprawl of untamed natural beauty that offers escape, recalibration and contemplation surrounded by centuries of natural heritage.

Get here. Get green. Get back to nature after your cafe and gallery visit.

The 1950s was a boom period for cinema, which overtook art for the first time as the preferred choice for culture seekers and consumers. Much of this was down to leaps in film technology but these same developments also gave artists a much-needed look in. In the early 60s, Sony began manufacturing consumer film cameras which were bought by experimental filmmakers like Andy Warhol. A few years before, German artist Wolf Vostell had made creative inroads into video art with his 1958 artwork The Black Room Cycle but it was essentially a mixed-media collage with a built-in TV set rather than a video installation or video art piece. However, in 1959, he unveiled the world’s first video installation using working televisions. 

Korean American Nam June Paik is widely recognised as pre-eminent amongst video artists; stacking his television sculptures in a style later copied by 21st-century artists and introducing the video walls we often see in installation shows today. Amongst his most well-received and prominent early exhibitions was the 1963 Exposition of Music-Electronic Television, held at the Galerie Parnass in Wuppertal, West Germany. Both Paik and Vostell were founder members of the Fluxus movement. 

The Warhol Era 

Andy Warhol’s ‘anti-films’ set out to dismantle the narrative structure and aesthetic bounds of screen culture. They were essentially video recordings of performance art. His work encouraged audiences to shift from the cosy perspective of ‘watchers’ to less passive ‘viewers’. Check out Warhol’s experimental video Sleep, a five-hour film of his boyfriend sleeping. He also created some shorter ones: Eat was a 45-minute film of a man eating mushrooms! Some might argue a 45-minute horror film of giant Man-eating Mushrooms might have been a better fit with 1960s big-screen film culture.

Andy Warhol

Indeed, the 60s was a decade where the lines between popular culture and high culture was somewhat blurred as film was formally accepted as art. The Pop Art movement, led by Warhol himself, added momentum to what was already an unstoppable force and took cultural inspiration from movie icons like Marilyn Monroe and James Dean. Few realise just how important Warhol’s contribution was. If 1963/64 were pivotal years in the emergence of video art, Warhol was unquestionably one of the pioneers; he bought his first camera in 1963 and he shot his first experimental film a year later.

The 1970s

TV offerings of the likes of Wonder Woman and Charlie’s Angels were a rich source of material for artist reworkings that ranged from the playful to the deconstructive. Artists reconfigured these images into unrecognisable simulacrum. American artist Dara Birnbaum re-edited footage from the 1970s Wonder Woman TV series starring Lynda Carter to highlight how women were portrayed as either superheroes or stereotypes – but not anything in between. Birnhaum’s practice focused heavily on television culture. 

Charlie’s Angels

So, just as one would gut a fish, TV and cinema would have its central narratives similarly extracted before being reconfigured and ‘plinthed’ in a new aesthetic as sculptural works. French sociologist and philosopher Jean Baudrillard had much to say about the disassembly of overriding narrative structures. So the next time you go to an exhibition to see a video installation and ponder whether you’re supposed to glance as you pass by or ‘watch’ ‘view’ ‘stare’ or ‘study’, remember, a French sociologist called Baudrillard predicted a lot of this. 

He would have had a soft spot for these video artists who seek to present both the real and unreal as definitively unreal. He pretty much despised high-tech realism describing it as a soulless form of digital perfection. Amongst his quotes: “Reality is disappearing at the hands of the cinema and cinema is disappearing at the hands of reality.” and “‘the intensity of the image matches the degree of its denial of the real’.                                                                                                                                                    

With this influx of new ideas around art and film came waves of interpretations, approaches and aesthetic philosophies bringing new ways of seeing. You’ll never look at a Wonder Woman movie the same way again.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      If you are visiting Regents Park to catch Frieze Sculpture 2023, it’s likely you’ll also catch sight of a half-naked man wandering around the sculpture site in a dazed state. Indeed, last week from afar it looked as if park security had finally cornered him and fenced him in!

Sleepwalker, 2014, Tony Matelli.

Well, we can confirm that rather than chasing him away they were actually escorting him in. The life-like and life-size sculptural piece titled Sleepwalker, 2014, is the work of New York-based artist Tony Matelli. His playful approach to the creation of resemblant sculptures and statues comes across as a statement about being lost in society and gives the social misfit in all of us a makeshift parkland plinth. Certainly, it’s a fear everyone can relate to. The piece exposes our most guarded, innermost concerns and presents a nonplussed, fragile figure starkly exposed to the uncompromising glare of the world. Your waking dream becomes a nightmare.

A giant Afro comb wedged into the turf also catches the eye. Hank Willis Thomas’, bronze sculptural piece All Power to All People, 2023, with its Black Power fist on the handle is a simple but powerful totem of Black identity and cultural pride.

All Power to All People, 2023, Hank Willis Thomas (The Mothership Connection, 2021 by Zak Ové, can be seen in the background)

And talking ot totems, the towering, brightly-coloured The Mothership Connection, 2021 by Zak Ové, sits in the park’s elegant English Gardens seemingly out of place in the genteel surrounds but for that very reason, getting most of the attention. Its jarring irreverence is layered with motifs of Afro-Futurism and sources cross-cultural totemic structures and Black slave history.

The Mothership Connection, 2021. Artist Zak Ové,

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      The Autograph ABP Gallery in Shoreditch has a remarkable track record for documenting the experiences of those whose stories need to be heard and holds the distinction of being England’s first gallery space for diversity in visual arts. Hélène Amouzou’s haunting analogue, hand-printed photographic works are a well-delivered fit for Autograph’s diversity aesthetic.

Hélène arrived in Belgium from Togo in 2004, fleeing war in her country of birth and her work speaks of a sense of invisibility as she seeks citizenship. Her spectral images offer reflections on existence in a limbo state with no place to call home, no sense of security and without the proximity and emotional support of family members, a continent away.

This ‘invisibility’ is a familiar experience for many migrants as they seek acceptance.  In the words of Professor Mark Sealy: “a life lived outside of the law, hyper-alert and emotionally taxed, near invisible’. And that spectral, discombobulated reality is expressed in many of Hélène’s works.

We interviewed the artist about her first UK solo exhibition and how she sourced painful experiences for those evocative images.

What first inspired your creative journey to become an artist/photographer?

When I arrived in Brussels from Togo, I had to go through the bureaucracy that migrants face but had no citizenship papers and no right to stay, which meant I couldn’t look for work. So I had to stay at home without any kind of assistance. I began going to church and met a woman there with a background in video editing who offered to train me in video and film production. I lost contact with her after she left church but I wanted to learn more. Eventually, I found a college, the Sint-Jans-Molenbeek Academy of Drawing and Visual Arts in Brussels, where I could study film and photography. A tutor advised me to focus on photography, which I preferred anyway. But I had no experience whatsoever at this point. In September, I started the course and found the younger students seemed to know which direction they were moving in but I must admit I felt a little lost. However, I soon discovered my creative path and maximised the technical and creative potential of analogue photography.

When was that transition from hobbyist photographer to artist-photographer?

I clearly recall the first photograph I ever took. From that first photo, my focus was always on producing work for myself and not for public show. In fact, one of the requirements for this three-year course was to produce a self-portrait to be judged before course assessors. Even then, I didn’t want my face to be seen so just took a photo of my body and kept myself anonymous. But the assessors encouraged me to have a more candid approach and share my story. As I progressed with the course, a teacher remarked on the quality of my work and encouraged me to approach a Brussels gallery to exhibit my pictures. But I felt uncomfortable – I was quite shy at the time. Even after the exhibition, I didn’t pursue other exhibitions because I wasn’t ready to share my personal story with the world. But I guess the transition had already occurred.

From the series Autoportrait, Molenbeek

And some of your work is connected to your feelings of displacement after leaving your country of birth and trying to find citizenship in Europe

Yes, I didn’t have the official papers that gave me the right to stay in Belgium so I felt I was always on a journey. I had a child with me yet couldn’t give her safety, security, a home or an identity. Indeed, I do have an identity but in Europe and Belgium I just feel like a nobody. I feel I am on this constant journey to find acceptance and in search of somewhere to settle down and find peace. So the pictures I create are documenting this journey to a place where you can just be yourself and don’t need ID cards and papers and can just exist as a human being.

Many of your self-portraits depict you in stages of transparency till almost invisible. Can you explain this theme to our readers?

Well, it’s because I feel invisible. I feel like I don’t exist. Yes, I have family connections – I have left family behind in Togo but here in Europe I am alone. On the streets of Belgium, no one really sees me and this is a very personal pain. It’s difficult to share and describe so I document it creatively through my photographs.

What’s the story behind the large-scale black and white self-portrait that catches the eye as one enters the gallery?

I created this photograph of myself in traditional Togolese dress to remind me of my background and heritage. Obviously, in my new surroundings people do not dress this way so it is important to have a reminder of my background and what I have left behind. It’s a part of my identity wherever I am.

“Self-portraiture is a way of writing without words. My aim is to reveal the deepest parts of myself”

Hélène Amouzou: Voyages

22 Sep 2023 – 20 Jan 2024. Autograph ABP, Shoreditch

Chelsea’s summer offering of arts, culture, food, drink, attractions and nature spots!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Despite the unsurprising British rain and a depressing July deluge, there’s still ‘Summer in Sloane Square’ this August. So head to Chelsea for exhibitions, restaurants, theatre and more!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           And count yourself lucky you can walk through Chelsea at all! King’s Road, Chelsea’s most famous shopping and fashion throroughfare, gets its name from centuries past when King Charles II fenced it off as his own private road. He needed to travel from St James’s Palace to Fulham to Kew Palace safely, discreetly and quickly so common folk were kept out. Unsurprisingly, his mistress Nell Gwynn thought it was a good idea. Here’s a little more about Chelsea’s history and heritage.

History & Heritage

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    OSCAR WILDE’S HOUSE

The Irish-born dramatist and wit lived at 34 Tite Street and there’s a blue plaque on this pleasant red-bricked house where he wrote The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Importance of Being Earnest.  He moved there in 1885 when Chelsea was a fashionable artists’ district. Pre-Raphaelite artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti was one of his many distinguished guests. Also, American author Mark Twain (Samuel L. Clemens) writer of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn lived around the corner in Tedworth Square. Check out his blue plaque while you’re there!

Art

SAATCHI GALLERY – BEYOND THE GAZE: RECLAIMING THE LANDSCAPE

This summer show features the work of seven women contemporary artists –  Emma Bennett, Kiera Bennett, Kirsty Harris, Dannielle Hodson, Lisa Ivory, Melissa Kime, Joanna Whittle – who depict landscapes quite broadly.  So broadly, in fact, that you’ll struggle to spot sunsets, valleys or mountainous backdrops of any kind in Keira Bennett’s plein air geometric, gestural semi abstractions. And Dannielle Hodgson’s fantastical, carnivalesque yet deeply-dionysian  canvases bring to mind Hieronymus Bosch  –  an explosion of gangling, grotesque monsters with the landscape element little more than aesthetic framing. Ends Aug 28.

Museums

NATIONAL ARMY MUSEUM

The history of the British army documented by military exhibits from centuries past and first-hand accounts from personnel serving as early as the Anglo-French Wars, 1778-83. Chieftain tanks amonst the decommissioned military hardware on show and a full-size army helicopter dangling from the ceiling. And look out for Lawrence of Arabia’s robes; worn when assigned to the Middle East as a British Intelligence officer.

Theatre

ROYAL COURT THEATRE – CUCKOO

A play about four chatty Scousers eating fish and chips at home and gazing into their mobile phones. Well, not just that…A subtle, slow-burning play about three generations of a Liverpool family – at the first act – gathered for dinner and engaged in hilarious but poignant working-class banter. But the chattiness masks deeply-concerning family issues bubbling below the surface. Head to Sloane Square to see this amazing play written by Michael Wynne and directed by Royal Court Theatre artistic director Vicky Featherstone.

Festivals

KENSINGTON AND CHELSEA FESTIVAL 2023

The Kensington and Chelsea Festival is a celebration of the arts, culture and performance – opera, theatre, music, dance, poetry, comedy – it’s buzzing with community character and brimming with local talent. And you’ll find spectacular, gravity-defying circus events at borough hotspots in Holland Park, Chelsea and Earl’s Court. Runs until Aug 23

Food & Drink

DUKE OF YORK SQUARE FOOD MARKET

Saatchi Gallery overlooking the picnic green.

The market runs every Saturday and is a popular foodie spot  with vendors selling Vietnamese, Colombian, Sicilian streetfood, Argentinian Grills, Caribbean rotis, mouthwatering Mediteranean seafood paellas and also local artisian dishes. Hey, champagne stalls as well. It is Chelsea, after all. And once you’ve bought your food and drink there’s a large green perfectly situated for your Chelsea picnic in the sun. And the Saatchi Gallery is just opposite if you want a mix of food and art!

Nature Spots

CHELSEA PHYSIC GARDEN – 350th ANNIVERSARY

Established in 1673, it is one of England’s oldest botanical gardens and a wonderful green space, that stands out against London’s other private and pubic gardens because of its history as an apothecary. All its plants are medicinal and herbal. And this year is its 350th anniversary! London-based painter-printmaker Denise Ballard-Wyllie‘s 2023 art residency at the garden is a celebration of the anniversary and she explored all aspects of its botanical offerings.  Her work can be seen at ‘ Summer at the Bankside Gallery’ which runs Aug 11 – Sept 10.

Robert Fields, international art dealer

The buzzing private view drew collectors and casual art lovers alike. Much discussion around the pictorial depths of the canvases and metaphors in the striking imagery.

Paige Ashley, Head of Press, Elizabeth Xi Bauer

The carefully curated tonal harmonies reflected the shared thematic references but each painting, drawing and video work imaginately addressed the health of the ecosystem in its own way. On some canvases the disclosure was stark and upfront on others nuanced and spectral.

Maria Thereza Alves’ canvas Rio doce: Sweet No More (2017) catches the eye as you enter the front gallery – at first glance because it is noticably larger than the other works. On closer inspection her depiction of Brazil’s 2015 Samarco dam disaster is a layered and dramatic exploration of the environmental disaster that saw millions of cubic metres of mine tailings released into the Doce River.

Head to the Elizabeth Xi Bauer Gallery to check out the É a lama, é a lama exhibition for yourself!

É a lama, é a lama  4th August to 16th September 2023

Elizabeth Xi Bauer Gallery
Fuel Tank, 8-12 Creekside
London SE8 3DX

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Denise Ballard-Wyllie’s artist residency at the Chelsea Physic Garden was a horticultural match made in heaven. In this interview, she shares how her painter-printmaker practice suffuses her love of nature – hence, the expressively refashioned landscapes that often feature in her work. A practice that offers reflections on sojourns to such nature spots, through a striking constituency of imagery.

She also discusses creative approaches to her residency and participation in the Chelsea Physic Garden: Celebrating 350 Years in Paint and Print group show at the Bankside Gallery, with other Royal Society of Painter-Printmaker artists. And considering the garden’s enduring position as a medicinal garden, does she believe in the healing forces of nature, herself? 

Denise Wyllie and Chelsea Physic Garden staff

Congratulations on being selected as Chelsea Physic Garden’s artist-in-residence. For our readers unfamiliar with such an appointment please tell us what that involves.

This year is the garden’s 350th anniversary so there will be lots of celebrations marking the event, including this exhibition at the Bankside Gallery, June 8-25. Some artists from the Royal Society of Painters-Printmakers (RE) are showing their work, including myself. Earlier in the year, the RE informed me I had been selected to take part in the 2023 residency at the Chelsea Physic Garden and that my work will be exhibited at the Bankside as part of the garden’s anniversary celebrations.

What are the garden’s unique features and how will they be depicted in your work? Have you sketched these blueprint ideas yet? If not, what will your approach be?

This garden has many unique aspects. It’s like a living encyclopedia of medicinal plants some of which are rooted in theories of medicine that we no longer ascribe to. The garden is arranged in areas according to genus, countries and remedies for specific diseases such as cancer and Covid-19. What fascinates me most about the garden is its architectural aesthetic. There are willow arches, ponds, sculptures and architectural features that are amazing to look at. Also, exotic plants that you don’t expect to see in London. 

There are educational aspects to the garden – it informs you about collectors and botanists as well as the well-known medicinal aspect. As regards my work, I had the opportunity to focus on these botanists, the historical aspect or elements around the plants themselves such as colour or light play. I had many ideas and had to hone them down to produce six prints that represent some aspect of this garden. At first, I was just soaking up the atmosphere, getting a feel for the place, painting the light-play and making fanciful sketches from rudimentary thoughts and ideas. The notebook I use has disparate information; the smaller paintings seem to group together but the sketchbook has many ideas I dipped into.

What processes and techniques did you employ?

I produced paintings and drawings on location. I began by studying some of the plants in detail. These weren’t neat botanical drawings but depicted as seen in the garden in their natural way. Eventually, I translated them into handmade silkscreen prints.

Has nature, in general, and London’s nature spots, in particular, played an important part in your creative output? 

Myddleton House Gardens is on the outskirts of London and has played an important part, in this respect. It has enabled me to work quietly and privately all year round while soaking up the presence of nature and allowing me to focus on and enjoy all the seasons, light-play, and the emotional and physical experience of being in nature. This garden was once a specialist place that had unique plants of interest to botanists. Now it’s advertised as a playground for children and families and is not so much of a haven but the changed purpose allows it to be enjoyed differently.

Has any magnum opus nature work emerged from this approach?

Absolutely. There have been some very significant places and times, as regards London gardens. There’s a place in Myddleton House Gardens called the Lunatic Asylum. It has very unusual plants like green roses and twisted hazel – unique and fascinating plants. There’s also a claret-coloured vine that I discovered in a pergola and I made a significantly large pastel drawing of it in autumn. The leaves are a really deep claret wine colour. The light in other areas is a very vibrant pale green. 

On the whole, it’s a very dark picture but, at first, I wasn’t happy with it and went back there the following year and reworked the whole thing. That picture is a strong example of the type of work I was trying to show and relates to my feelings at the time. 

A famous medical study found that hospital patients healed twice as faster when they had access to a hospital garden – no extra medicine needed. Do you believe in the healing powers of nature and does it revive and drive your own creative processes in a similar way?

I’d say, throughout my life, I have tried to come to terms with certain aspects of my own nature and understand aspects of myself. Like everyone else, I have gone through periods of loss of loved ones and sadness and had great comfort in putting my external thoughts aside to focus on how I reconnect with nature and how nature seems to give something back during these periods when I am drawing and painting nature.