SUPERMARKET, AGAIN

How often do you go shopping with a short list and end up buying a lot of stuff that has nothing to do with what you really need?

Picture: Anthony Albright

Passing in front of all that coloured-packaged food, I feel as if I really have to buy almost everything. Supermarkets seem to be made for people to get lost and waste a lot of precious time walking confusedly among the shelves.

One of the things that I’ve liked the most since I’d fled the nest is going to the shop. Finally I could decide what to eat and how to organize my meals – even if I couldn’t bother cooking for myself. Anyway.

Supermarkets have the power to fascinate customers with all those products, the plain voice of the speaker – always calling someone of the staff to the cashiers – the noise and the breeze coming from the big fridges, the sections of food, the buy-one-get-one-free offers…

Even if at first I didn’t mind spending half an hour in that attractive new place, now I feel I really have enough of it. And I’m not the only one, I guess.

Continue reading “SUPERMARKET, AGAIN”

FIGHTING HOMELESSNESS FROM THE YOUTH

Picture: ktus16

Gemma ran away from home at only 15, having too many troubles with her parents. After she had been rejected from school because she was found smoking cannabis, she started to steal money to her violent father to fund her addiction and was too scared to admit it. A friend’s sofa was better than lies and argues, she thought. But later on, she was led to face her problems and unexpectedly things turned better.

Hundreds of youths like her are welcomed every day in the centres of Depaul, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping homeless people aged between 16 and 24.

Mr Paul Benson, fundraiser of the charity, has seen a lot of these stories and is more determined than ever to find as much money as he can to support the volunteers’ activity.

Continue reading “FIGHTING HOMELESSNESS FROM THE YOUTH”

IMAGES OF NATURE AT LONDON NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM

Fitting 350 years of studies on nature in a narrow room is an ambitious goal. Eventually, too hard if the aim is to contain highlights from a collection of 500,000 artworks and illustrations, as we can see in “Images of Nature”, the new permanent exhibition of the National History Museum.

The main idea is that art has been the first instrument for classification in the scientific research, including the study of proportions, the illustrations for scientific books and the many records of exotic species from long voyages early in the 18th century.

A map of the rock types in England

But without a clear division into sections and a focus on a particular issue, the exhibition closely reminds an antiquarian shop, and most visitors give only a quick look at the walls, before giving up.

Pictures of insects are next to drawings of flowers, fossils and the painting of a rhinoceros. Moreover, there are three microscopes, some satellite images of the surface of Mars, six illustrations of the anatomy of a chimpanzee, three samples of rock types, a pap of England and also the skulk of a dodo.

Continue reading “IMAGES OF NATURE AT LONDON NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM”

NORTH LONDON ARTIST GROUP SHOWS ONLINE

A freshly formed group of artists from Harlesden has opened a temporary exhibition at the Tricycle Theatre in Kilburn High Road – to launch a new online gallery.

Paintings, drawings, sculptures, videos, installations and photographs of 24 artists can be seen at the expo until April 10th and also on the Harlesden Gallery website. This platform is created to provide a permanent showcase for the community, as there’s no arts and cultural space in the area.

Continue reading “NORTH LONDON ARTIST GROUP SHOWS ONLINE”

FROM THE ORGANIC FARM TO THE TOWN

The shop-restaurant from the outside

An enticing perfume welcomed us as we approached the tables outside Daylesford in Pimlico road: at first, it was hard to say if it was a shop, a grocery store, a bar or a restaurant.

We arrived very hungry on Saturday for a late lunch and were still confused by the large fridges and vegetables display racks in front of the main door, when we luckily found a place for two, sharing a big table with other people.

Continue reading “FROM THE ORGANIC FARM TO THE TOWN”