“Farewell, happy fieldsWhere joy forever dwells: hail horrors, hail Infernal world, and thou profoundest hell Receive thy new possessor: one who brings A mind not to be changed by place or time.The mind is its own place, and in itselfCan make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.” John Milton, Paradise Lost (1674) Poster for Paradise Lost… Continue reading On ‘Paradise Lost’
Tag: culture
On Paula Rego’s Feet
“And, they tell us, we at home Live free from danger, they go out to battle: fools! I’d rather stand three times in the front line than bear One child.” Euripides, Medea (431 BCE) So it’s been one year and 9 months since I finished my MA at Chelsea College of Arts, and in the… Continue reading On Paula Rego’s Feet
On Pervy Old Men
“But the picture of the Madonna went with him. Continually, even as he sat in his small hard narrow room or knelt in the cool churches, it stood before his outraged soul with its sultry, dark-rimmed eyes, with a mysterious smile on its lips, naked and beautiful. And no prayer could exorcise it.” Thomas Mann,… Continue reading On Pervy Old Men
On Everyday Filmmaking
The Mundane and the Magical: Filmmaking of Every Day Nalini Malani: ‘Can You Hear Me’, film projections, Whitechapel Gallery (2020 – 2021) I would like to write an article about the intimacy of everyday artmaking. This is not that article; the following text is adapted from a proposal I've recently submitted to a writing prize… Continue reading On Everyday Filmmaking
On Confessions
“The confession has spread its effects far and wide. It plays a part in justice, medicine, education, family relationships, and love relations, in the most ordinary affairs of everyday life, and in the most solemn rites; one confesses one's crimes, one's sins, one's thoughts and desires, one's illnesses and troubles; one goes about telling, with… Continue reading On Confessions
On Delphyne: Part 3
Gender Many female figures involved in Christian history have transcended their given gender roles in varying ways, as we remember from the earlier examples of Joan of Arc, Abbess Benedetta or Pope Joan. For some female would-be saints their male guise was to prove how special and godly they were, that their divine purpose could… Continue reading On Delphyne: Part 3
On The Violent Lesbian: Part 4
This final instalment of my Violent Lesbian series is vaguely on the huge subject of pornography. I hope to show that by considering porn and its current impact on our sexuality, most of the strands of my arguments over the past few posts will naturally come together in a pleasing conclusive cum shot. Something to… Continue reading On The Violent Lesbian: Part 4
On ‘Suspiria’
It has been a long and lazy Christmas break for me, with two weeks at home in Glasgow doing nothing apart from drinking gin and taking the dog for walks. However, I am now back in London and in real life again, and ready to atone for my abandonment of writing, life admin and looking… Continue reading On ‘Suspiria’
On ‘Mandy’
I've been feeling I've been far too intense and convoluted in these posts, and they are getting so long that no one's going wade through them to the end, so I'm going to bring it back to basics with a lovely chat about some interesting films. Also, beware spoilers. I'm going to talk about… Continue reading On ‘Mandy’
On the Violent Lesbian: Part 1
I'm going to write some short pieces tying together some thoughts I've had on the image of The Violent Lesbian as she pops up in our collective consciousness of the world. She's a character I have thought a lot about over the years, as I think the transgressive and conservative ways in which she is… Continue reading On the Violent Lesbian: Part 1
Sertraline Dreams 