Alistair Taylor-Young
The debut solo show of British photographer Alistair Taylor-Young coincides with the launch of The Phone Book, a series of images shot on his camera phone. “We have been bombarded by manipulated images throughout our creative history. Here is a collection of images with scenes I have captured without tricks” he explains. As an in-demand photographer who has worked on campaigns for high-profile clients from Isabella Rossellini to Armani, Taylor-Young shows his passion for the abstract with a series embracing stripped-down, experimental aesthetics. At times hazy and ghostlike, thrumming with a restrained drama, framed by a sense of distance and longing, the series is beguilingly unadorned and gently unsettling. Until 12 February.
The Little Black Gallery, 13A Park Walk, South Kensinton, SW10 0AJ
01 Feb 2011
Photographer John Stezaker
Having collected vintage postcards, classic illustrations and movie stills with great zeal throughout his career, English photographer John Stezaker’s work is comprised of a wealth of re-attributed imagery.
01 Feb 2011
Amjad — Shop assistant, Julia Wig Shop, Manchester
Shopping in Manchester is a financially dangerous and physically tiring pastime. Vintage clothing shops, independent record stores and art cafes are all within walking distance of the city’s bustling high street.
Opposite the Night and Day Cafe on Oldham Street, where I stopped to rest my bag laden arms, I spotted a shop called Julia. Through the front window of Julia lines of wig adorned mannequin heads stared blankly back at me across the street like an army of motionless clones. I spoke to wig shop worker, Amjad to find out more about his job and his thoughts about wigs.
01 Feb 2011
The landlords of quaint Greenwich market think it would look much better torn down and replaced by a boutique hotel
Tranquil, genteel, stately. Tourist guides love to roll out the cliches when they talk about Greenwich. But beneath the visitor-friendly veneer, a battle has been raging over the future of the riverside district that attracts thousands of sightseers each day. In the eyes of many locals, that fight’s just seen a high-profile casualty with the government’s decision to back the redevelopment of Greenwich Market.
01 Feb 2011
"The war on the motorist is over", say London councils. "We won."
“The War on the Motorist” is over claimed the government last month as drivers across London considered re-mortgaging their houses in order to fill their petrol tanks up.
“From now on, councils and communities will be free to set parking policies that are right for their areas” added the minister, as cash-strapped councils published plans to hike their parking charges even higher.
01 Feb 2011
Put the kettle on: City Hall would like protests to be a thing of the past
When protestors smashed their way into the Conservative Party headquarters in Central London last month the Police quickly admitted that they had been caught off guard.
02 Dec 2010
Jellied Eels: News from around the boroughs
ONE In a ‘major victory for a free press’, new government restrictions on taxpayer-funded tabloids have claimed its first scalp. The Telegraph reports that Hammersmith & Fulham’s fortnightly has been confirmed as the first council press to be kitty littered in the neutering against ‘town hall pravdas’. According to the Guardian, H&F News tried to tie in with a commercial partner to get around the changes but the department closed all loopholes. In other boroughs, Greenwich Time didn’t point to its last hour, whilst Tower Hamlets’ East End Life will become a smaller incarnation but is likely to be the least of council’s concerns.
TWO Tower Hamlets confirmed reports by the Evening Standard that one of its councilors was arrested and under police investigation. A key supporter of newly-elected Mayor Lutfur Rahman, Cllr Shelina Aktar had previously been charged with fraud but asserted innocence to the East London Advertiser on fresh suggestions she illegally let her housing association property. Deflecting from the ruckus of his election and exponents, Rahman has pushed on with borough business. According to the Londonist, he will fight 2012 Olympic organisers about a re-routed marathon that now leaves the borough without a single event.
THREE As the Comprehensive Spending Review permeates, councils are continuing to pal up. Bromley and Lewisham are synching their technology services, whilst Merton, Sutton and Kingston are baby-stepping towards a shared services agreement. According to the Surrey Comet, the talks beginning in June have now ruled out a shared executive, protecting up to £215,546 for Merton’s Ged Curran. Going it alone, Barnet will be introducing a new service model, said to save £100m in the coming decade. This follows news that huge cuts will be taken from voluntary and community sector budgets, with Greenwich reducing theirs by up to forty per cent, and thousands of job cuts across all local authorities.
FOUR ??The Guardia??n reports that Newham was forced to defend government funding this month, following questions over the projects funded by a £1.3m grant to prevent violent extremism. When pressed, the council said it promoted anti-intolerance messages through a football tournament and commemoration, amongst other events.
FIVE Equally touchy is the clamp down on strip clubs following new authorities granted. According to the BBC, ten London councils are reviewing their policies, whilst eight are proposing no new licenses in a bid to end ‘endless sleaze swamping [the] community’.
02 Dec 2010
Unsocial net: Here’s a resolution for 2011—talk to people in person
This may be my favourite news story of the year, and it is a perfect object lesson as we approach the end of 2010. According to the New York Times (22 Nov, 2010) there has been a setback in Afghanistan: NATO and Afghan leaders spent “a lot of money” bribing Taliban second-in-command Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour to join negotiations.
02 Dec 2010
Goodbye Capital Radio: London’s original radio station sheds its hometown image
Think it’s a bit early for your new year resolutions? London’s best-known radio station has already made its promise for 2011—to outgrow the Big Smoke, and to end 37 years of being solely associated with London.
02 Dec 2010
How to be a man: If you don’t think this column is funny, obviously you do not know how to take a joke
A disease has infected contemporary culture in the last 15 years. Few educated British males (and it’s overwhelmingly males) between 20 and 30 have escaped. The symptoms are easily discerned: a discussion begins between two sufferers. The subject matter is wholly innocuous. All seems safe. Then, out of blue and at lighting speed, there erupts into the conversation an Alan Partridge quote, or one from David Brent.
02 Dec 2010
Snipe Highlights
Some popular articles from past years
- Nice Interactive timeline lets you follow Londoners' historic fight against racism
- Could red kites be London's next big nature success story?
- The best church names in London, and where they come from
- Peter Bayley has worked for 50 years as a cinema projectionist in East Finchley
- Nice map of London's fruit trees shows you where to pick free food
- The five best places in London to have an epiphany
- Only 16 commuters touch in to Emirates Air Line, figures reveal
- Diary of the shy Londoner
- Random Interview: Eileen Conn, co-ordinator of Peckham Vision
- Hope and despair in Woolwich town centre
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