Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london nights
this photograph and yesterdays (election special one) were both taken at choreographer Lea Anderson’s recent performance/exhibition at the V&A which showcased a selection of her previous work in conjunction with costume designer Sandy powell and Steve blake who composed the music. Featuring short bursts of productions through the years they were all unified by a unique & arresting vision. Funny, grotesque, surreal, twisted, brilliant and truly beautiful, each one created its own little world of inspired insanity, exploring the vagueness of gender and the demented nature of desire (well, that was my interpretation and I’m running with it)
Performance dance is a little out of my jurisdiction normally but was utterly captivated by these bizarre creations, played by final year students from the london school of contemporary dance. They moved amongst the crowd with unnerving proximity and transported you into an alice in wonderland alternate reality. We, the audience had to shuffle around the space following each performance which erupted spontaneously at different parts of the room. 2 hours went past in the blink of a spotlight.
It was truly mesmerising and it was free and a perfect example of what is great about this city. After yesterday, I wanted to leave this week on a more positive note. I feel very passionately about this city which is why I get riled up. I’ve been watching Daredevil recently and he’s always going on about his city and what it means to him and I kinda feel the same way, although I don’t go out at night and beat up bad guys to a pulp to prove that point. Maybe if I had his super sense skills and his billy club maybe I would, although the costume looks like it might chafe a bit and so I daredevil digress….
However there is something about being part of a giant metropolis that makes you feel you want to defend it. It gets its teeth into you and you feel inextricably bound to it. You feel like it defines you somehow which is why I want London to remain a positive place where everyone, no matter who you are or where you are from, can live here and survive.
I love being part of this giant multicultural ant colony but the worker ants need to be able to live in the colony and not have to commute to the colony. Its just not the same. Have I ended on a more positive note? Hmmm, not sure.