My artwork, economic turmoil, and cronyism in the arts in the UK.

 

I have started working on new art projects, which I am very excited about. But, due to the cost-of-living crisis, I have been going less and less to central London to view exhibitions, this is due to the high cost of trains, to trains being run at over-capacity, trains being constantly delayed or to continuous strikes. I have hardly been using public transport and have just been getting around thanks to lifts from friends with cars. Some of the exhibitions have been rather expensive to view, so I decided not to bother to see them at all, which is sad, I know. An example of this is the Hilma af Klimt and Mondrian exhibition. I love both artists and I would like to think that it is thanks to my earlier blog entry that Hilma af Klimt is more well-known, but this exhibition costs £20, which does not sound much for these two well-known artists, but if you add it to the cost of the train and the cost of something to eat, you are looking to fork out a minimum of £50 for the day. This equates to roughly $63.43 dollars for a day out for one person just with the bare minimum: train, transport, the visit to the exhibition, and something basic to eat; not much of a fun day out when you might be prioritising which bills to pay or how to keep a roof over your head. I am not sure how can a family or a disabled person can afford this (the disabled discount for the above exhibition is just one pound cheaper), most disabled people are on really low incomes and find it hard to get employed or find a paid job in galleries, museums, or places in art competitions, but the same system is happy to charge a disabled person the same price to a non-disabled person for expensive art courses or art degrees that seem fairly unlikely in getting them a job where, in actuality, such courses are likely to put them in debt. The reality is that a disabled person is going to find it hard to get a job in the art world or more generally in the real world. There aren't many opportunities and there is still a lot of stigma, especially for people with an invisible disability like myself.

With councils going bankrupt due to mismanagement or corruption, or both, the first thing that is going to disappear is funding to essential services: there will be further cuts to an already underfunded arts sector and cuts to services to the disabled. I find it funny that now they are interviewing George Osborne and David Cameron about austerity; back when they came into power, I did forewarn about them on Twitter, and I was correct. I could see what was going to happen. See below some of my photographs from that period at Tent City St Paul's Cathedral (Occupy London Protest).

Anyway, I have applied to LensCulture with one photograph to their Street Photography Competition, (see link below).

I am making new artwork which I am happy about. I have been doing well thanks to my self-promotion and the Internet (Google & Microsoft); a collector contacted me recently wanting to buy a couple of my paintings. Overall, I don't feel I have had the same opportunities as a non-disabled person or someone with contacts with my level of experience and qualifications. I was just chatting the other day to a friend of a friend, and I asked them, how did they get the solo exhibition in the famous gallery in central London? They replied that they knew a friend that works at the gallery, that's how they got the exhibition

A couple of years back, I asked one of my teachers at my art university how she got the job at another art university. She replied that she was put forward for the job by a friend of hers who already worked in the famous art university in London!  But it left me wondering how many people in the media and arts are getting jobs in England thanks to knowing someone else inside of the company, is it a widespread practice? I was thinking about how the intern who was also the ex-lover of Phillip Schofield got the job at ITV. I am afraid we are not equal when it comes to applying for jobs, especially if you are disabled or have a chronic condition, or you come from a poor background.

Even in the heat, I have been able to make art - see some of my paintings. I am also currently working in creating a new installation with found objects.

If you want to support my artwork, send me opportunities, pass my blog to others and if you like my blog ask me to write a paid article for your paper.

After Life Series 3 by Ricky Gervais. A Touching Portrait of Grief, Love and Friendship.

Here in the middle of February, I am almost experiencing  a state of hibernation, that's how I feel at this time of the year, with a continuous deluge of bad news that causes more uncertainty because of this, I decided to watch the third series of After Life, about grief. The series is about how good it is to be close to someone you love so much that when they have gone in this case it's very difficult to more on with your life.

In this series wife Lisa ( Kerry Godliman) an artist, who died from breast cancer has left behind a local journalist of the Tambury Gazette. His name is Tony (Ricky Gervais) and he is unable to move on,  who spends his evenings drinking wine with his dog and watching films of his wife on his laptop. He often chats to his friend  nurse Emma (Ashley Jensen) who fancies him and who hopes to get together with him. Emma works in a nursing home and looked after Tony's dad Ray (David Bradley) who has previously died of dementia. In the third series Tony lost both his wife and father. There is one particular scene where Tony draws a face on a lemon and shows it to Emma but she doesn't get the joke; the same joke that his wife would have understood. You feel his pain, how impossible it is to move on and replace someone you have been close to.

Grief is not an easy subject to portray, the stuckness of it and the monotony of daily routine, the evenings, and the heaviness of losing someone is shown very acutely, the depression looking at the past,  and the rage he expresses towards others but he is also free to say what he wants outside of social media which reminded me of the early 2000s. As  part of his job Tony interviews people in their houses for the Tambury Gazette. 

Every story even the most meaningless has value, from psychic Penny (Kate Robbins), to the elderly lady who had been burgled, to the swingers, and finally the children with cancer that give Tony a renewed sense of purpose. We first see him interviewing Penny who writes self-published erotic medical books. The way Tony interviews her is very funny, saying things like: Do you have any medical experience in writing this book? To which Penny replies that she doesn't need any experience! Tony quips, asking about who published her books she tells him she has self-published all these books and she now makes money as a psychic. What a hoot!

Tony's always makes fun of his brother-in-law Matt (Tom Basden) sometimes by playing pranks in the office. Matt is polite, mild mannered and is trying to find a sport he can beat Tony at. He tries tennis, table tennis, and squash but Tony always trashes him, I think he is also trashing his social class, which is funny.

Kath (Diane Morgan) is Tony's colleague at the Tambury Gazette. She is single and looking for love and regularly goes on dreadful dates. Sometimes her dates are truly awful, sometimes she pretends  to be something socially that she is not when she is on her dates, or she doesn't know what to say which is quite common when you go on dates with people you don't know. Her attempts to meet someone are both awkward and funny.

Postman Pat (Joe Wilkinson) went out with Tony's friend the sex worker Roxy but she doesn't appear in the series. We see Pat regularly ringing  at Tony's door completely oblivious to any boundaries, saying he can't cope with Roxy's job, and the fact that he has to share her with all the men he delivers the post to, it's tragic and funny.

Anne (Penelope Wilton) the widower who regularly meets up with  Tony on a bench opposite  his wife's grave, and are very convivial  with each other, it's a joy to watch.

The characters represent everyday England, not the handsome, wealthy people with successful lives but the people on the side-lines that you don't see in the main media in their daily lives. The divorced hoarder, Brian (David Earl), and his friend James (Ethan Lawrence) have a strong friendship. James  wants to work as an actor but doesn't get any parts apart from a stint at the local fair towards the end of the series. He still lives at home with his parents. Because of the pandemic and losing their jobs, I know a lot of people that went back to live with their parents to save money, is more common than you think.

Or the new employee, Coleen (Kath Hughes), who used to work in a supermarket in the previous series, and who is not really qualified for the job but gets it. She is looking to get away from her alcoholic mother, and goes around with Tony looking at accommodation to suit her budget, but she sees atrociously small accommodation - this is the real England the main media doesn't want you to see it. Then she gets a room above the local talent agent's office and the head of the local drama company, Ken (Colin Hoult), who helps her out and who keeps barging into her space with his over-the-top personality, it's very funny and very real.

Some critics say the characters represent eccentrics, but actually they represent normal people not seen enough in the main media, with their faults, problems, and flaws open for all to see. This is the strength of the series. It seems also that Tony's rage is directed towards the four by four guy who doesn't stop at  zebra crossings, at the well-off young hipster guy with a child, who he makes funny loud noises to in the cafe while the underdogs are the main characters. 

What shines in the series is the friendship between the characters, the fact that they are there for each other no matter their flaws and what is going wrong. It is very humane, the way Tony's grief and depression are shown,  and how hard it is to push through these, is very touching.What transpires from the series  is Ricky Gervais' love of comedy, animals, art and music, which are all represented in the programme. 

Above photographs courtesy of Netflix.

My New B&W Photographs + More Support Needed for Disabled People in the Arts.

For the start of 2022 I decided to post my new black-and-white photographs. I am happy to say that even if 2021 was a challenging year, I was able to make more work, both in terms of paintings, installations, sculptures and photography. I would like to thank my collectors for supporting my work during the pandemic. Due to the pandemic, I hear from musician friends of mine and other artists that have been fewer opportunities to exhibit or play music in public; hopefully things will improve with the pandemic and restrictions easing. The Christmas period was much better than the previous two years with no building work opposite me and I was able to see my friends - it felt like a return to some sort of normality. 

There is also a problem with some galleries not supporting artists with disabilities, I think a lot of people with disabilities struggle to showcase their artwork, if they don't know someone who is tech savvy, business orientated or are not tech savvy themselves. Some disabled people have complex needs, which might make it very difficult for them to successfully promote their work to galleries; others find themselves in a highly competitive art world, where  how you look, and how you speak is more important than your actual work. I have seen time and time again artists who are very good at talking about their work and themselves, basically promoting themselves getting all the support from galleries, collectors while other more introverted  artists with better artwork not doing so well. 

Than there are artists who successfully sell online on different platforms but again it requires them to have the basics: a decent laptop connection, a space where you store artwork,  a decent phone with a decent camera to constantly upload content to your online platform - none of the above comes cheap. Nowadays some galleries only accept artists with an Instagram account  - isn't this discriminatory? You might find that some people with disabilities are low waged and don't have access to any of the above, making it really difficult for them to compete with other non-disabled artists in the art world. Very few disabled people actually get any support to promote their artwork to allow them to do well  no matter what age and background they have, and no matter what kind of disability - visible or invisible - they have. While there are many disabled artists, the funding to support them has been squeezed time and time again, so in the end it will only be available to few disabled artists while the rest are left to fend for themselves or with support from their families if they are lucky. This situation has gotten worse with the pandemic.

I am grateful that I can continue in my artistic endeavours thanks to my own stubbornness in going forward and to my collectors who believe in me and my artwork even if I am an esoteric artist - they tell me that they find my artwork stimulating and that I never fail to amuse them. They admire my tenacity in keeping my artwork going no matter what, even if I have continuos dizziness most of the time, so even making conversation takes a lot of energy and focusing on objects or people it's challenging, especially when taking photographs as everything is moving for me. 

In the past year, and most recently, I have been continuing to take black-and-white photographs with different cameras. Most of them don't include people this was because many were taken during restrictions; others were taken when I was away experiencing freedom again and actually saw some real human beings!

Margate Art School Exhibition - part of Margate Pride and My Black and White Photographs of My Experience of the Pandemic.

August so far is going well, I am enjoying the mild temperatures and the daily grey weather, I have been able to get a lot of work done, painting, filming and participating in The Margate School Exhibition Red Flags II - Flags for Queertopias part of Margate Pride. I am really happy that it actually did happen unlike London Pride that was cancelled, which was surprising. I was also included to present  a voice piece, soundscape for Margate Radio as part of the show. So many exhibitions, events have been cancelled this year due to the pandemic, there are a fraction of opportunities as prior to the pandemic, with venues shut for so long. So it was great to participate with others in Margate Pride and show work at the Margate School; below is the link and photographs. The project was to create my own flag for my isolation island, my own Queertopia in the tradition of Pride and to conceptualize the lockdown experienced as an island. My flag is the last one on the right-hand side (see photos below). I have to thank Lo Lo No (Alex Noble) the curator for including me in the project exhibition.

Poster designed by Lo Lo No (Alex Noble)

Red Flags II - Margate School Exhibition

Throughout the pandemic and the lockdowns I managed to take some black and white photographs as a way to keep creative, busy and to show the different stages of the pandemic as a visual record of what was happening. I experimented with different cameras; photos are not taken with the same camera (see photos below).

The first photo below was taken during lockdown; cafe empty, no staff, no customers. This cafe in normal times is teeming with people queuing to get in and get a pastry, coffee and lunch. It was surreal seeing it so empty for month after month.

Photo by Mirta Imperatori 2020

In the second photograph below  is a photo booth that was forgotten and left open to use during part of the lockdown, I managed to take a photo of it before  they actually realized it was there and useable. It was completely removed soon after the photo was taken while I was going to do my shopping at the supermarket.

Photo by Mirta imperatori 2020

The photo below was taken during lockdown while I went to buy essentials at the supermarket. An empty shopping centre which is usually busy with people. It was all very strange seeing it so empty, almost apocalyptic.

Photo by Mirta Imperatori 2020

During the pandemic because we  were all being told to stay at home, hardly anybody used their cars, so dust accumulated on top of the bonnet of the cars. I took the photo after one of the lockdowns when things where slowly reopening, I don't think they drove the car for a year or more.

Photo by Mirta Imperatori 2020

Random acts of kindness by locals leaving herbs, plants or books for people to take with them. Just seeing this small act of kindness cheered me up on my walk. A stranger, someone that was thinking of others, reaching out during these trying times.

Photo by Mirta Imperatori 2021

At the local centre I went to volunteer to clear things that had been there for months. Below is a photo of glasses that had stayed wrapped and unused throughout the year.

Photo by Mirta Imperatori 2020

In this photo what I found ironic was the juxtaposition of the sign Dreams in contrast to all the signs

on the same door about social distancing which hints at the nightmare we have been stuck in for a while. I have never seen so many signs put on the doors of every shop, library, college, offices, banks, bus stop all repeating the same things, telling you what to do. The Government and their warnings all over town. Prior to the pandemic you hardly heard from the Government, there where no posters anywhere telling you what to do, no televised daily briefings, now the Government suddenly was ever so present in your daily life - something you didn't miss, and you will be left wondering will this ever end?

Photo by Mirta Imperatori 2020

After the lockdown finally, when we arrived to the summer and it was declared officially 'Freedom Day' by our great leader Boris. I was allowed to move out of my area for the first time with my friend and we went to the seaside. It was beautiful to see the sea,  the open space and to be able to walk around in a different area, to see people, different shops open and to sit near the beach while having fish and chips with our favourite drinks. It was exhilarating; we both felt emotional, like we were doing it for the first time. We were both glad to be still alive.

Photo by Mirta Imperatori 2021

After freedom day I was also able to go and see another musician friend of mine and have a chat and cup of tea and tea cake in her house, in the garden. I took a photo of the hand towels; weirdly I missed them and a beautiful flower. I missed being with my friend and her flowers.

Photo by Mirta Imperatori 2021

Photo by Mirta Imperatori 2021

The Importance of Human Contact!

The first week of the Tier 4, time went really slow, it took some time visually to adapt to the shops being closed again; not seeing anybody around. Long term I actually enjoyed it as I found more food inside the supermarket, I didn't have to go at a specific time inside to get what I wanted. I didn't have to worry about people walking too closely as it was so quiet, like I have to now. Sadly, more shops shut for good during lockdown while other shops have adapted as click and collect or take-aways only. In comparison to the first lockdown, there were slightly more people about and it was very busy in the park. It is the first kind of a lockdown in winter and I have noticed that neighbours have disappeared, I have not seen them as much as in the first lockdown. If it wasn't for chatting to my friends online I think I would have felt isolated and the weather has been cold and rainy all day every day, one feels like being stuck inside of tank with no light. To amuse each other the other day, me and my friend started looking at kitchen mittens on Amazon, we were scrolling through pages and pages of kitchen mittens, so I said to my friend via Zoom we are really scraping the barrel here, we spent an hour just finding some kitchen mittens as a present for my other friend, we were laughing and we said to each other: If someone ask me how I survived the pandemic of 2020 I would say by spending hours checking out kitchen mittens, there is an endless selection of them on Amazon! Yes, because generally in a crisis one is told by the government to help others, this time we have been told to do nothing and stay at home, which feels really unnatural to me and I am sure to many others. I would rather be outside volunteering, helping others, even my volunteering has died down, as have all my Christmas parties which have been cancelled.

A couple of days before Christmas, I am happy I have finally been able to see my neighbours outside to have a chat and see how everybody is doing. We exchanged presents so things are looking more positive. Did a round at the supermarket and it was all stocked up so no need to panic buy, frankly as a nation I think we could do with eating less and the supermarkets should be selling smaller portions. Because the Port of Dover was closed over the last couple days, the French Government decided to put a ban on freight coming in. People over here were panicking, things seem to have calmed down and the border has re-opened and it seems we have got a deal, till the next crisis comes along! We seem unable to go out without a crisis at the moment! 

 

I am looking forward to Christmas day, to have a nice meal, opening presents despite all the fearmongering from the government. We have been put in Tier 4 but the rules don’t really apply to the people in Government so a lot of people are just not following the rules, they are fed up. I bumped into a couple of friends by chance in the street, so it was really good to have a chat. The pandemic is reminding me how important human contact is, it can’t be replaced by a session on Zoom, but it is good to keep in touch regularly with people by whatever medium. It is about supporting each other, being there for others. I am grateful to my friends; who have made the last long 9 months more bearable and vice versa. Several people have told me that since being in lockdown and not seeing people enough, they are struggling with talking, so I made a point to call them regularly and to speak to them as long as possible. Lockdowns, tier 4 whatever you want to call it, can give long-term mental health problems, some people can retreat within themselves, which is not healthy.

I am just happy coffee shops are open for take-aways. I support them and local businesses. It’s nice to sit in the park with a good coffee at hand while still seeing people about getting some exercise.

 

Then there has been the saga with the mouse in my flat. I woke up one morning and I found my Christmas presents eaten by a rodent as well as the wrapping paper, the neighbour next door has been complaining about rodents for the past year at least, although we have never had them in my flat. I think what’s been happening is that all the building work in the opposite building has unearthed the land there and is sending mice towards our building. A friend of mine told me that the same thing happened outside her building last year, when they were doing major building work. Anyway, I have bought some electronic ultrasound and it seems the mouse has not been back but as a precaution I have moved most of my paper artwork, photographs I have made into  my friend’s garage. Mice and rats can eat anything! Just the thought of a mouse sending all my artwork to smoke gave me nightmares. This on top the lockdown crisis, the Covid crisis, the Brexit crisis and now the Dover crisis and possibly the food crisis and civil unrest after Christmas … anything else???!! It was a real joy to move most of my stuff just before Christmas!

 

All the while thinking yes that I am in a nice flat in a good area with friendly flatmate, but I am monitoring daily the mice situation on top of the damp situation which has not been fixed properly and it keeps raining... I really don’t know in which realm of Dante’s Hell we are going to be in 2021, I try not to think about it too much, plenty of stirring from the media already. For me, in 2021, I would like to have an art studio where I can focus on painting and wandering around central London like things were before the pandemic.

Covid… Let’s Make It Through To Winter!

The summer flew by … we had a long summer and it is weird to say this but it was good in spite of Corona. I was fine till about a month ago but the fact that I can't go to galleries, museums, restaurants, bars or the gym has had an effect on my mental health somehow. I didn't even realise there was a problem but then I started feeling excluded from many activities that have reopened, especially the gym, so I have been experiencing isolation. Why do I not join in? How am I going to self-isolate with the builders outside that have not stopped working since March with such high noise levels? It would be challenging to say the least to self-isolate in a tiny environment in a shared household. So I have been avoiding the general public as much as possible.

I have recently seen a friend at a distance who I have not seen in six months and I have to admit it was great but nerve wracking at the same time. We were both worrying about standing too close to each other and about where to eat. We were wondering if the ventilation was good enough in the coffee shop. Did they wash the crockery with a dishwasher? Did the waiter wear a mask and gloves? So, in the end we decided not to go in and we just bought a takeaway and a coffee and went to the park. It was a freezing cold, rainy day, we were looking at each other in disbelief, worried, saying how are we going to manage a dark, cold winter without sitting inside coffee shops?! We used to spend the winter inside coffee shops all the time to chat, to work, now we can't! I said to her, I can't go to the gym, and I hate it. Also, the fact that my friend and I were not able to hug and kiss was weird. We gave each other a virtual, distanced hug, we discussed how everybody is confused about regulations given by the Government and is doing a different thing, and how many people feel frustrated that everyone is doing different things. One day the Government says to do one thing, the following day they say the opposite, it's been very unsettling.

Also there have been more crimes and assaults on women lately (a woman got assaulted in an area I walk in normally so it's unnerving), antisocial behaviour and violent crimes have been on the up lately. Last week I went to the park to walk late in the afternoon and there was a huge fight between two large groups of boys, they were screaming and hurling things at each other… I quickly turned back... Another day I went to the supermarket, it was Saturday and there was a boy on top of the roof of the car park who was throwing stones and hitting passers-by. Luckily I saw him so I didn't get hit. Then there are drunken people screaming and running around till the early hours. I bought myself a new set of ear plugs, they are wonderful and really do help reducing the noise outside apart from building work, I mean there is a general air of lunacy at the moment… I am happy painting, reading and listening to music.

This Government of the wealthy, that can travel, they can self-isolate, they live in mansions, they have plenty of space to do what they want, they have not been following the rules that they set up either, they have a set of rules for themselves and another for everybody else, they are out of touch. The Government are going to fine people (the plebs) who don't self-isolate implying that people don't want to self-isolate, which might not really be the case at all. It might be that some people live in multi-occupancy shared spaces and don't have the actual space to self-isolate, live in rooms with no windows, or windows that don't open; or actually several people live in dormitories which makes it impossible for them to self-isolate. This is due to years and years of high rents and some greedy landlords packing as many people as possible in tiny flats or houses to make more money. This is capitalism gone mad. I have seen ads online for a room in a small house that already had ten people, I am thinking, where do they put all these people?! I have seen ads for a tiny room with two or three beds inside, those ads should be banned but they haven't, they are still advertised.

It is an issue that has not been dealt with by successive governments, it's been going on for years and is now coming to bite us back because with so many people in small spaces, Covid will spread more easily. Instead of acknowledging this issue, the Government is not giving the population rules they can manage, they are setting impossible, unworkable standards that some people just can't follow, and then fining them. But then they do nothing about criminals normally or antisocial behaviour, but they are going to go after a random individual if they somehow are at fault with the new rules while real criminals don't care about rules, they use the opportunity to keep doing more of what they are doing. 

In spite of all of this, I have been selected for another photography project in London and my lockdown diary will be part of a show in a Museum here in England. I have also been selected to show my work online in Japan, collectors have been asking me for more paintings so from the creative side I am going forward as normal as possible.

Generally I find solutions and I move forward, but this time I sometimes don't, these are unprecedented times. So I go in days where I’m tense and other days when I can focus more on what I care about.

On Saturday I took the bus and it was more full than normal and I felt very anxious, luckily I was able to get out and get on another less busy bus but I was surprised by my reaction. 

So I am just taking a day at a time. 

It's interesting also how the media has been bombarding us with Covid news and fear of what the Government will do next. It is affecting what we do, causing some people to feel anxious outside. 

What made me laugh the other day on zoom is that one of my friends said he was scared to go back to the office and he would take a sleeping pill to calm his nerves before going in, while my other friend said, I am just drinking myself to sleep on a daily basis. And I said, that’s what it's come to!! While my friend in Paris was panicking that they have not renewed her visa and that she has not spoken to a soul face-to-face in ages and she has put on weight as well. And I said, I’ve got an underactive thyroid in winter, my thyroid is working twice as hard to produce anything even with the medication let alone all this Covid stress! So all of us are affected by this in different ways.

 

 

My Latest Photographs - Art and Sound Installation for Margate Pride 2020.

By walking on the Pilgrims Way I re-discovered the old route, the old way of travelling on foot but not experienced as going towards a sacred place but rather for the walk itself, being outside as sacred, as expression of my own freedom and by going further with no map and getting lost so to experience the surrounding environment in a new way, in a more spontaneous way, which was not possible during lockdown. You can come back to the photo and have a different perspective on it depending whether you are in a lockdown or not. I have been focusing on really looking closely, noting what is generally overlooked and reconnecting with nature.

I was selected to participate in a contributive art and sound installation for Margate Pride 2020.

See also: https://margatepride.org.uk

https://www.facebook.com/themargateschool/

https://margateradio.co.uk/saturday-080820/1pwqt84jl3qi8w6jht0z0q2nf1d8z2

Photos below taken by Alex Noble