Fiona Holland explores the best places for art in Leeds, perfect for a Fresher’s Week visit before lectures start. Henry Moore Institute In and amongst the more conservative 19th century buildings that surround it in the […]
Kipling proves hard to swallow: The ifs and buts of Kipling
This summer, students at the University of Manchester painted over a mural of Rudyard Kipling’s poem ‘If’ and replaced it with Maya Angelou’s ‘Still I Rise’. They argued that Kipling’s poetry ‘de-humanises people of colour’. […]
The cheek of it all: the problems with Rubens’ nudes
Peter Paul Rubens, a Flemish classical artist from 1577 to 1640, is a renowned painter who is known worldwide for entrancing admirers with his nude portraits. His Baroque paintings, filled with flowers, women and cherubs, […]
Suspenseful, eerie and disturbing: Calibre review
Calibre, a recently-released Netflix thriller, was exactly what it was advertised to be. It was suspenseful, eerie and the undercurrent of tension built to a disturbing crescendo at the right moments. What begins as an […]
Jurassic World: Another Case of a Character’s Sexuality Lost on the Cutting Room Floor
Recently, it was revealed by Daniella Pineda, who stars in the new Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom film that a scene revealing the homosexuality of her character Zia was cut. The scene was reportedly cut […]
Brining Brings the Rays Once Again – the West Yorkshire Playhouse’s Sunshine on Leith
Having also directed the original production of Sunshine on Leith whilst at Dundee Rep, I suppose West Yorkshire Playhouse artistic director James Brining had a slight head start as he began work on this new […]
A forward thinking team to match a forward-thinking collection: are museums developing their internal power structures fast enough?
Looking at many museums in the world today, it is easy to see how the structure of their collections has become far more diversified. Over time, exhibitions of gallery collections in larger art institutions have […]
Giant blue penis erected as a mural: should art be censored?
The question of whether or not it is ethical to censor art is one that has been asked for centuries and one that will continue to be asked into the unknown future. Changing social expectations […]
A Novel Notion: E.L. James v Margaret Atwood
The American Broadcast show PBS has decided to launch a summer reading challenge for its nation where it pits favourite books against each other to decide the very best. A novel notion, best-sellers and those […]
Sonia Boyce’s Explorations of Identity, Britishness and Race
Until July 22nd 2018, Manchester Art Gallery presents the long overdue and first retrospective exhibition of the Black British artist Sonia Boyce and indeed through its thoughtful curation, it is worth the much-anticipated wait. From […]
Out of This World Performance: One Giant Leap
Student-produced shows can be a mixed bag of low production value, amateur performances, and poor storytelling, but every once in a while, there is a hidden gem. A show that completely exceeds expectations and reminds […]
‘Avengers: Infinity War’ is a Masterclass in Blockbuster Cinema
I was raised on superheroes; on the top shelf of the wardrobe in my bedroom there sits thousands of issues of classic comics, collected by my dad during his youth and devoured by me and […]