‘There are no big stories left, just paths through the clutter and the inevitable soft landing.’ (Ivan Vladislavic) The other day I emailed my hero. I was thinking about Jono and my vision for Hilton, BOOMTOWN, the gallery, and storytelling. Who’s the landmark writer that I want to attach to a mural? Only one name …
We’ve all heard the saying, “If these walls could talk”. And more often than not, we’re bloody delighted that they can’t. At Gallery ZAZA, it’s about more than just the art on the walls, it’s about what the walls say – whether it’s gallery walls, or public walls festooned with the imaginings of a street …
They say I’m too beautiful to be a nun. But perhaps I’m Jezebel the Nun. ‘The ghost of Belle Starr, she hands down her wits To Jezebel the nun, she violently knits A bald wig for Jack the Ripper, who sits At the head of the Chamber of Commerce.’ Bob Dylan: Tombstone Blues Fancy a …
You probably think it’s a cup of coffee. The way I’m smelling it, and gazing at it. Like it’s got all the potential to change my day. The way I look as if I’m a chick on a coffee advert breathing in the aroma of that real slow roasted coffee flavour as described by the …
I wonder if the first early adopter Neanderthal got in kak when they decided to vandalise their community’s cave wall with crude and cumbersome representations of animals and squiggles? I imagine the angsty young Wayne wasn’t satisfied with hurling rocks, and attempting to set fire to things by rubbing sticks together (mental), he wanted to …
I wrote this piece sporadically throughout last week, and didn’t have much time to edit it, or to engage with it. In between finding last minute quotes for an extra stretch tent, making decisions about generators, doing some painting, chasing up on vendors, helping to put a gallery space together, and remembering to buy toothpaste …
‘Wake up Jaqui; it’s time to go to the Royal Show!’ On this occasion, it was 3 am, I was in Room 36 at the Hilton Hotel, and my brother Nicholas thought it would be bloody hilarious to wake me up from my slumber to enjoy a few seconds of euphoria, before realising it was …
The right stories come at just the right time. They’re like Gandalf that way. Just before every septic tank in the Msunduzi Municipality hit the fan, I sat down to watch Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. The film had a mixed response in the US, and I’m not here to defend my position on its …
Never before has dressing for one’s body type been more relevant. I mean let’s be honest, Lockdown was a fucking disaster for most of us. No gyms, limited exercise potential, 24-hour access to the fridge with zero surveillance from work colleagues (thanks to “camera off”), and ‘I deserve another biscuit there’s a pandemic out there’. …
National Lockdown Day: 272 There are many television shows, particularly of the BBC ilk, about abandoning the “rat race”, and living a more simple and wholesome life. Why not Escape to the Country (2002-present), where you sell your London studio and embark on a new life in Dorset, surrounded by lush greenery and mooing? Or …