The Photographers Gallery – Soho

Working my way through my list of places to visit this year and I took the first trip to The Photographers Gallery in Soho.

 

The gallery is situated just off Oxford street and stands at 5 floors high, although it doesn’t seem that big when inside the building.

I wasn’t sure what exactly was on show before visiting so it was a bit of a surprise. The two exhibitions I saw were 4 Saints in 3 Acts and Instant Stories – Wim Wenders’ Polaroids.

4 Saints in 3 Acts

Described as a snapshot of the American avant-garde, 4 Saints in 3 Acts is the first exhibition to focus on the photographic dimensions of the ground-breaking American modernist opera. The show was renowned for having an all African-American cast that were recruited from the choirs and nightclubs of Harlem and offered unique glimpses of a largely unknown community. The photos capture the action on stage, behind the scenes and portraits of the classical music performers.

Many of the photos on display were quite small and with the larger ones you could see the age of them by the wear and tear but this added to the history and story of the photos. A very simple but delightful exhibition.

Instant stories – Wim Wenders’ Polaroids

This collection of work offers a rare opportunity to see the personal and previously unseen polaroids taken by Oscar nominated filmmaker, Wim Wenders. Featuring over 200 images taken between the 1960s and 1980s of his journey across America he captures the people around him, still lives, street photography and landscapes.

 

These images in particular caught my eye, it seems people were taking photos of their everyday food long before Instagram was around!

Again a lot of the photos were very small (obviously because they are polaroids) but there were also books so you could see Wender’s images close up. There was also a note board so visitors can share their views on the work which is a nice touch for the artists to get feedback.

On the top floor was an opportunity to be part of the exhibition via Instagram. There was a set up studio area and rails of outfits and accessories so you could take your own photos and share online.

As well as having work on show The Photographers gallery also has loads of workshops, talks and courses. There is a quaint café on the ground floor and a bookshop in the basement that you could spend ages browsing.

If you visit before 12 when it is less busy there is free entrance so it is definitely worth a visit if you are in the area. The two shows I saw are on until 11th February so I will be looking out for future exhibitions that I can see there!

The wind in the willows – London Palladium

The wind in the willows that is currently showing at the London Palladium is an adaptation of the original children’s story written by Kenneth Graham, first published in 1908.

I am not really familiar with the original story but this version is a lovely family show that takes you from one Spring to the next looking at the friendships of the woodland animals, although it is not all friendly and the mischievous Toad and the villainous weasels are thrown in for good measure.

The staging and costumes were amazing but with a reported budget of 4.5 million it is no surprise that they managed to put on such a spectacle. Each set of animals have their own style and I particularly liked the outfits of the family of hedgehogs. The music was really catchy with both choral and pop influences, you know it’s good when you find yourself singing along even though it’s the first time of hearing it.

I loved the relationship between Ratty and Mole, there was some good humour between them that had me smiling throughout, although I wouldn’t say it was really laugh out loud unless you are under the age of 10.

The show has loads of famous faces including Denise Welch, Rufus Hound and Gary Wilmott to name a few and they created real colourful characters and played the role of the animals convincingly. Whatever Toad was on I think I need some, he had more energy than the Duracell bunny and hats off to Rufus Hound for managing to put on such a performance, although I didn’t find toad himself very endearing.

A great, feel good show that I think could appeal to anybody, it did lack a creative storyline but the simplicity would appeal to a younger audience.

I am really getting a taste for musicals and have enjoyed Wicked, An American in Paris and The Commitments in recent years but would love some recommendations for other west end shows!

If you are hoping to catch The wind in the willows then you will have to be quick as it is only at the Palladium until early September, could it be a contender for your summer bucketlist?

A very sweet gallery

A wise man (his name was Samual Johnson) once said ‘A man that is tired of London is tired of life’ and I wholeheartedly agree with him. For those that are constantly craving new adventures, seek to eat cutting edge cuisines or even want a quiet oasis surrounded by trees then London is the place for you!

What I love about the city is that it is constantly renewing itself. There are the places that you have to visit at least once (although many go back again and again) such as The Victoria and Albert or the British museum and then there are the pop up places that will be there for a couple of months, a few weeks or even just for two days!

While surfing the Time out website I came across a link to the Maynards Bassetts sweet gallery in Soho. It was just a two day event showing artwork made out of sweets…sounds like my kind of thing! So I decided to book some tickets for myself and my daughter (she loves sweets as much as me) and the great thing was, it was free!

We arrived at the space after a very long journey (don’t ask) and it was quite small, obviously popular which meant a bit cramped and one of the warmest days of the year…the combination wasn’t great!

Considering the size of the exhibition space there was a lot going on! Probably less art work than I was expecting but there was a space where you could create your very own piece of artwork using sweets and pipe cleaners, there was also a fairground style claw machine but bags of sweets are not the easiest thing to try and win in one of those!

At the back of the space a lady was handing out pick n mix bags to help yourself to all the Maynards Bassetts sweets, this was a nice touch and my daughter was in her element, I think she left with the most bulging bag possible.

As we were leaving we thought we would give the claw machine one last try, we didn’t succeed but was given a bag of sweets from the guy behind the counter anyway.

It’s a shame that I am avoiding sugar at the moment and have had to give all my sweets away but I will definitely be looking out for other places that pop up over summer, especially if they are free!