“in pre-capitalist Europe women’s subordination to men had been tempered by the fact that they had access to the commons and other communal assets, while in the new capitalist regime women themselves became the commons, as their work was defined as a natural resource, laying outside the sphere of market relations.” Silvia Federici mothering sunday mothered nothing Read More
Stranger he sits on the very edge of the bench legs crossed hands on his knees fingers strongly knitted together his whole body bends to the front it seems as he was just about to get up and go but forgot about it his hair is grey almost white his skin is tired nose off-colour Read More
With every journey comes a risk of falling into melancholy – a passing landscape can spark a memory of a person, home, a string of events. These brief glimpses are at the heart of Andrew Taylor’s second poetry collection, March. The collection begins with “The Welsh Hills”: it starts with a bell then the harmonium Read More
At the 2017 Dundee Literary Festival’s event for debut novelists, Ever Dundas is joined on stage by Gillian Best and Helen McClory. Dundas reads first, introducing her book Goblin. An hour later, she sits across from me in a small cafe area below the hall she has spoken in. There is a shift between the Read More
Storm Brian is rampaging across Ireland.* Works about bad weather, I test myself: Bad Weather Collage, Naomi Vona.¹ A black and white photograph of a man in a suit. There is a blue paper cloud above his head and the head itself is obscured by strips of paper in white, pink and yellow. From the Read More
My first attempt was on the 4th of February 2017. We arrived at the bothy and settled onto the wooden slats for the night in a hut that sleeps ten. I think there were fifteen of us. The next morning’s cold crept into our sleeping bags, and the bustle of rucksack-packing and lunch-making sprung life Read More
Gillian Clarke is a writer with a deep sense of attachment. Born in Cardiff in 1937 and living now in Ceredigion, Clarke held the position of National Poet of Wales from 2008 to 2016. Her newest collection of poetry continues this relationship, but also broadens it: the landscape and the culture of Wales is a Read More
‘I believe that all leaves, even grasses and mosses, acquire brighter colours just before their fall.’ Henry D. Thoreau The leaves are beginning to blush. Their green palms are speckled with pink and orange, colours just threatening to take over. The trees’ petals are now more the yellow of dawn than jade. Little tints of Read More
ROUND 1 I’m greeted by the acrid stench of sweat, the whirring of blurred skipping ropes spinning. Whips, cracks, and grunts echo; defenceless leather bags hang at the mercy of those that pound at them. From the depths of the hall, voices rise above the clamour, shouting instructions, followed by an artillery of punches Read More
Ingela Ihrman is a Swedish artist and ‘We Thrive’ at Cooper Gallery is her first UK solo exhibition. Ihrman explores the complex relationship between humans and animals or plants in her work. Using a mixture of tactile handicraft, performance art, installation, video and writing, she creates absurd theatrical pieces that are often humorous, showing a Read More