Today was a smorgasbord of art thanks to the excuse of showing off the lovely new Tate to visiting rellies.
The fabulous views and sheer drop did invoke some butterfly tummies but we overcame to fix a heart with a fabulous backdrop.
The relatively new rooms featuring differing approach to a variety of materials were fantastic. Phyllida Barlow's 'upturned house' and Magdalena Abakanowicz's 'Embryology' felt playful and optimistic. And I loved Sheela Gowda's juxtaposition of human hair and stainless steel.
My lenten inspiration today comes via another artist - Banksy. He's done the maddest thing since his dystopian fairground Dismaland and opened the Walled Off Hotel in Bethlehem. It has views of the separation barrier and a full size diorama of Balfour signing his famous letter. It's 2017 after all and 100 years since Britain carved up and gave away a chunk of real estate that wasn't theirs. He hopes tourists will include Israeli citizens, which may be a bit optimistic. But it seems an outlandish provocative statement which can only increase debate and keep the ongoing saga of occupied Palestine in the forefront of our news.
I always remember a bit from Banksy's own website at the time he started painting his murals on the separation barrier back in 2002. He recorded a conversation he had with an old man who approached him as he worked:
Old man: "You paint this wall. You make it beautiful"
'me': 'well, thanks...'
Old man: "We hate this wall. Go home"
No comments:
Post a Comment