So this one’s for Jonny, for his Rowley’s Record Bar, a toe-tapping thank you tune to get you down off the gallows and back on the straight and narrow – Shake a leg but don’t break it then break an egg but don’t shake it!
Ya Bnayya
This is another contribution from Jonny Hannah, Syrian farmer and wedding singer Omar Souleyman. Thanks Jonny – I got this song from a lockdown film (one of the many); Le monde est a toi (The world is yours), a fantastic French hapless gangster comedy. It was a good time to expand my music tastes, so here goes with a thumping bit of Moroccan techno (sorry, that’s an awful description). Don’t know what he’s saying, but it’s just the ticket…
Rowley’s Record Bar
For our first window of 2021 we’ve a bumper box of musical delights from Jonny Hannah, junk shop LPs reconditioned, remixed and repainted, and there’s a Spotify playlist too – Rowley’s Record Bar – 21 songs for 2021 to help us all get through another lockdown. And that’s not all, Jonny’s also written us a blogpost. Continue reading “Rowley’s Record Bar”
Paglesham
This was another walk we’d done before, so once again we were going over old ground, but not necessarily knowing the way. We may have already been here but that doesn’t mean we’d left our mark. We were backtracking but we were not remembered and we all look different every time. Continue reading “Paglesham”
The Kinetic Xylophone
A ball rolls down a mile-long ladder of wooden steps, which are in fact the keys of a giant xylophone, hidden in the forest in Kyushu, Japan. As it trips down the staircase, the ball plays the notes of Bach’s famous Cantata 147 – Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring. A gentle rejoicing melody for Christmas. This film was made in 2012 to advertise Touch Wood mobile phones.
A Winter Windowland
It’s like a compilation album with hits from all your favourite artists. They just take a bit of finding. And whilst you’re looking you might discover something new, something previously overlooked. You might even need to come inside and look around. But quick, it’s getting late. Continue reading “A Winter Windowland”
Just Like Trees
Skinny. Frail. Feeble. Twigs. Using the weakest part of the forest, this is a story of beauty and strength like you’ve never seen it before.
For a 2020 pro bono campaign with the American Forest Foundation, KSV recently partnered with London-based mixed media artist Chris Kenny to use his Twig Saint creations to humanize trees and the threats they’re up against.
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Giant Steps
Giant Steps is an animation by Michal Levy from music by John Coltrane. Continue reading “Giant Steps”
Seven Trees For Seven Sisters
This optimistic little painting was given to me by Christopher Corr. I’d told him about my idea to put seven trees on the roof of the new tower at Seven Sisters in Tottenham. Seven Sisters got its name from a sacred grove of seven elms that grew there in the seventeenth century. Christopher was very enthusiastic, but it has proved more difficult to convince the tower’s owners of the benefits of having trees on their roof. What follows begins with a Twitter thread I first posted in March 2019. Continue reading “Seven Trees For Seven Sisters”
Campaign For Wool
An exhibition of 19 paintings by Christopher Corr at Salts Mill, a former Yorkshire woollen mill in Saltaire. They tell the story of the Campaign for Wool, illustrating significant events from its history. Continue reading “Campaign For Wool”