Narrative threads: ‘Africa Fashion’, V&A, London

This was one of the most purely exciting exhibitions I’ve seen in a long time. So vibrant and visually assured, it stimulates one’s sight in the same way a complex gourmet meal explodes in multiple flavours across the taste buds. Seasoned visitors to the V&A might not be surprised by this. Quick note for those…

Alpha tale: Pete Paphides, ‘Broken Greek’

I am extremely late to this party, as ‘Broken Greek’ has now been in paperback for a couple of months. Back in 2020, its initial appearance was greeted by a chorus of rave reviews and widespread, well-deserved appreciation. It not only won the Royal Society of Literature’s 2021 Christopher Bland Prize, it was also my…

A Remarkable Meditation on Masculinity at the Barbican

  Masculinities: Liberation through Photography at the Barbican is an exploration of male identity from the 1960s to the present day!  The subject is vast and being the Barbican, it’s a big show, taking up two levels of floor space and showcasing three hundred artworks from celebrity  photographers such as Richard Avedon and Robert Mapplethorpe, through…

Don McCullin

Don McCullin, who has a fair claim to the title of the UK’s greatest living photographer, was born in 1935 in Finsbury Park – a bloody tough area of London before the war, and even more so after, when much of it had been bombed flat. The first photograph McCullin was paid for, in 1958,…