An open call was issued by The Holodeck printmakers in Birmingham: submit an artwork for consideration for their new Riso book and exhibition on the theme of 'Weird Science'. The exhibition was scheduled to run from 14 September to 13 October at Artefact in Stirchley.
I've never thought of myself as an artist but I had it in the back of my mind to do something with rabbits so I started playing around with some photomontaging one hot day during this summer's heatwave.
I produced around 20 'weirded' rabbits using black and white printouts of Joy, our rabbit who had died a couple of months earlier, mashed with creatures cut out from various books. In the end I submitted this simpler rabbit/volcanic island collage – and it was accepted, risoprinted and shown. My first artwork to be in an exhibition! As you can see, I looked pretty chuffed.
Emboldened, I decided to try for another open call, this time by the Edinburgh Collage Collective and Mark Murphy (moif_collage) on the theme of 'postcards'. Once more I spent a very pleasant afternoon putting some options together and posted them under the #cutandpost hashtag to my @editoriat Instagram. As a collage beginner, it was no surprise that I didn't make it into the final cut of 24 printed postcards but it was useful practice putting work together to a theme and a deadline.
In the end I framed one of the postcards and submitted it with another piece for the Artefact Winter Group Show. They were both accepted and were hung in pride of place by the toilet queue in the run-up to Christmas. Someone even offered to buy one of them. The Birmingham postcard still makes me laugh, though I'm tempted to collage something more into the bottom right panel. A work in progress maybe.
This all happened because of a) a local collage club that meets every month, b) having an ace local gallery space that is committed to its community, and c) putting my stuff out there when I could easily have left it in a folder in a cupboard at home and said 'nah, they're not good enough'. I'm glad various people encouraged me to go for it and grateful to those who accepted the work into their art spaces.
I still wouldn't say I'm an artist but I enjoy making the artwork and being a part of something bigger. And I've learnt that if in doubt, go for it.
Every month I attend Stirchley Collage Club and spend a pleasant afternoon with others, creating handmade collages from boxes of random mags and books
Last month I found some fresh motivation to sit down and collage. The Edinburgh Collage Collective (@edinburghcollagecollective) in conjunction with Birmingham collage artist Mark Murphy (@moif_collage) ran an open submissions project on Instagram. It was called Cut & Post – on the theme of postcards. Check out the #cutandpost hashtag to see all the amazing submissions.
Here are some of mine. I have no chance of making the final cut of 24 but it was fun to enter. Latest work is posted to @editoriat.
Sun, sand and sexy Hollloway Circus, Birmingham.It's nice to get away.We'll always have Paris.Bonjour Italia!A porthole to Portrush.
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes! Every few years I take a photographic snapshot of my local Stirchley High Street, Birmingham, to see how it has changed.
So here is Stirchley in 2018…
There is an empty space where the thriving gym and historic bowling alley used to be, demolished after Lidl supermarket pushed ahead with a presumptuous land purchase (they had their permission to build overturned). There is also a massive Tesco wasteland now boarding up a large percentage of north Stirchley. Let's hope Seven Capital can do better, eh? Watch them closely. They were due to show at the Neighbourhood Forum meeting this Monday but have dropped out. It doesn't bode well.
While the supermarkets and large developers try their frickin' best to flip (thanks Kimmy Schmidt) with Stirchley, the independent scene is thriving (more on this in Viva Stirchley). Loving the fact that a spooncarver, fudge shop, martial arts supply store and houseplant shop are newcomers this year, increasing the bloody superb random nature of our high street. No homogeneity here, in 2018 at least. Pretty much all our chain stores are caged inside the Coop or shoved up the, ahem, business end of Stirchley.
Sad to hear Drums International, The (vegan) Pie Shop and Moso vintage clothing have closed and/or moved on. Drums International was one of my favourite does-what-it-says-on-the-sign storefront. The Belgian and Netherlands consulate is also a very sad loss, for quirkiness and international tourism alone. And Hairport – I miss that one for its punnage, although Iron Maidens laundrette is still the winner. There are other casualties – check the 2011 photos at the end of this post.
All the hardcore old-school Stirchley businesses are still here: P Browell tobacconist, Phull Watch Co, Mirror Image, Oulsnam (they'll always be Laing to me), Stirchley Alterations & Dress Making, JJ's Flooring (which has added a rooftop King Kong as you do), Maginnis opticians, Printigo (now snuggling in the bosom of the main high street), OJ Fallons plumbing supplies, Noct Offs, Wards, the British Oak – to name a few. Domestiks is still here but now sells appliances not ex-catalogue clothes, so that's less useful (to me).
Alongside them and hoping for similar longevity are the hardcore 'newbies' creating most of the buzz: Loaf, Artefact, The Bike Foundry, Alicia's Micro Bakehouse, The Wildcat Tap and other local breweries (no longer is Stirchley just a balti Mecca).
I have to give a special mention for the lovely Stirchley Wines & Spirits. Just because. #injoke #keepstirchleyshabby
Also Stirchley Library and Baths – important sources of community spirit, as well as free knowledge and tasty chocolate brownies at the monthly market.
The previous album 'Stirchley Village' was taken in 2010 and 2011. Enjoy now in case I don't cough up for the forthcoming Flickrgeddon and my pictorial histories are deleted in a few months:
It’s been two years since I went on a semi-break/sabbatical. I know this from all the lovely Aberdovey (Ooberdoobey) sunset photos popping up in my timeline. I remember a most beautiful empty-brain feeling of heading to the Welsh seaside just to read and write and walk and relax.
Occasionally I look back and think how much taking a break brought a seachange in my work-life balance. I’m fitter now and hopefully a bit healthier than when I was a full-time sedentary editor. I try to only work on screen for half a day at a time; the rest involves some kind of balancing exercise, anything from tidying the house to health-checking rabbits as a Fat Fluffs volunteer to going for a 1km swim or walking up the Malverns with my 72-year-old mum-in-law last weekend (see main pic).
I now have strength in my arms and tone in my legs. Yes, I still have a waist tyre and bury tension in my shoulders but the feeling of being stronger is making me feel good, and that’s inspired me to step up my exercise routine to include tai chi, aquafit and even a bit of upper body conditioning using weights. Chiselled shoulders a la Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2 is a life goal!
I’m still writing and editing because leaving behind the trade I learned at 19 feels impossible. It’s what I’m trained for and I enjoy it, but I’m determined not to take too much client work on because I’ve enjoyed having the time to work on my own creative projects for a change.
Taking on a bit more work means finances have eased a bit. The bodyboarding dream trip may still happen after all, fitness permitting… although it’s not a cheap hobby when you live in landlocked Birmingham.
I’ve been thinking about travelling a lot. I’m looking for my next adventure but it needs to be more meaningful than just bumming around as a solo backpacker of old. I’m torn between the simple aim of escaping the winter to work overseas for a few weeks and doing some kind of reportage story work (I have a several Instagramming photojournalists I admire).
I don’t want to end on a downer note but if I were to die tomorrow, I want to say that I’ve really enjoyed taking some time out of my working life to stop and look around for a while. Like having a glimpse of retirement.
It’s the simple things that have been the best, such as enjoying the sun all day long, not just in a lunch hour; watching the buns hop around and surprising the squirrels (don't ask); listening to my great-nephew as he discovers talking; catching a wave in the middle of February; working on my own writing for a change; watching the allotment sunset with Kerry and co; meeting up with friends and family in unpressured environments; colouring-in and collage nights in the local caff; having a lie-in on a weekday; hanging out with Pete; playing music; reading books; midnight blogging…
If you get a chance to take a work breather, even if only for a short while, I highly recommend it. I've had a very contented time thanks to working less.
Personally, I'm most at home in jeans and a t-shirt but I'm also fascinated by people who have an interesting style and who post it online. I'm not talking about big social media influencers necessarily but Instagram friends and accounts who post and pose in their outfits under 'what I wore today' #wiwt and other hashtags. Here are three examples of accounts I enjoy:
RhiannonBrum – a friend who is also a swishing, swirling dressmaker who makes and wears her own outfits.
GlacialGlow – an ethereal, elfin, silver-haired Alice in Wonderland who also has an awesome dog.
SashaEDavison – a fashion model who became pretty successful in the time I started following her. I used to dial up her Instagram as a brief to my local hairdressers and also bought some sparkly Top Shop shoes in the sale on her recommendation.
You get the picture. Anyway…
Earlier this summer, at the start of the heatwave, I decided to have another wardrobe clear out and had a sudden realisation – I buy dresses but don't wear them and especially now that I work remotely in my metaphorical pyjamas most of the time. At least before bundling them up for the charity shop, I thought I should wear them. And so began a month of daily #wiwt poses and photoshoots – here's the slideshow, and more info on what I learnt from the challenge below.
I never thought I'd end up doing a 30-day fashion challenge but perhaps there was something in me that wanted to document turning 50 this year. It would kind of be like a diary thing. In 10 years, I'd look back and go: Well, would you look at that – and be impressed, appalled or amused.
Along the way I learnt a few things:
1. Being your own photographer is good for a woman's self-confidence – you only have to post the pics you like.
2. Being a daily Insta-fashion influencer is hard work – the staging, the variations, the bursts, the selection, editing, captioning and posting. I started off easy taking just a few minutes; the final shoot took an hour and a half to get the shot.
3. It was a bit of fun – and the feedback was like getting a reward. I looked forward to the reactions. I got loads of positive comments from 'This is epic' to 'A___ said it was the highlight of her week (and she'd just given birth).' And then someone took one of my pics – the kaftan one – and created a meme: the ultimate honour.
4. I can laugh at myself – I couldn't resist posting a bloopers reel on my Instagram. You can't take life too seriously.
5. Finally, turning 50 ain't so bad.
Once more, here's the full shoot. Enjoy! (Update: I've cleared out at least nine of these outfits, which leaves 21 things to wear. Turns out I quite like wearing dresses.)
Here is the short documentary film that set me off on a tangent to write a long post about my local community today. It's a wonderful 15 minutes about the people who play on two tennis tables in New York's Bryant Park, recommended in last week's Noticing by Kottke. This may be the start of a series of community-related posts.
Stirchley is cool right now. I would even say it’s at its peak. So what does that mean? I've been thinking about my home neighbourhood of Stirchley, B30, not necessarily coherently but I need to write about it because, well, I'm a writer and occasional local reporter and I was actually born and bred here, so there.
So here I am on a Saturday afternoon, thinking about how Stirchley is at that point of pre-gentrification while tottering at the edge of becoming something far less likable in future years. Such pronouncements of coolness are kind of ridiculous and subjective, but there is still a sense of it being true in the way that old travellers remember with nostalgia how this or that place 'was so much better and less touristy back in [year]' and 'you should have been there back then'. Except in this case, back then is right now.
I think I’m saying this because there is a definite Stirchley 'scene' going on. It's not exactly Liverpool in the '60s or Bromley in the late '70s but something is happening and there is an excitement and feeling of connectedness in the air. For years, there was little reason to go to Stirchley high street, unless you wanted an antiques shop treasure or a hydroponics set-up or a Saturday-night balti. Now it's like a private members club whose playground is a shopping parade of weirdness unlike any other local high street. Everyone knows everyone and strangers are welcomed – if they fit (the criteria is kind of loose but there, judgmental in that you should be non-judgmental and open to joining in). Or maybe this is just the view from my seat.
Stirchley responds…
A lot of positive change is happening. In fact, I'd rather be here than anywhere else in the UK right now (that isn't on the coast or in the mountains) because what is happening is a rare, beautiful and organic thing of a community coming together in interesting ways. In a way, this is my love letter to Stirchley – a place I left at 19 and never thought I'd return to because, to be honest, it was rough as guts in my childhood.
A practice session in Hazelwell Park.
Now there are micropubs and breweries, a community bakery and cooking school, a community market, a bike foundry, coops, cafés, a houseplant shop, vintage clothing, record and music shops, art spaces, even a spoon-carving, clog-making wood crafter, plus other odd independents creating a miscellany of shops on the main strip. There is a mini version of Birmingham’s famous King-Kong gorilla, who sits above the carpet shop and get’s lit up with festive lights at Christmas (who needs a local BID and a budget for fairy lights – we make our own fun). Online, multiple Twitter accounts organise and extol. There is a hashtag: #vivastirchley, which started as a pisstake and has now been adopted. Unicyclists and alpine horn players have been spotted.
Artefact is a big part of this shift from people being visiting consumers to active community members. This art café space, together with Stirchley Baths, Stirchley Library and other community spaces host so many interesting events and groups that there is little need for the Stirchillian to venture beyond B30 for her social entertainments.
I've even stepped up and put on my own events (cybersec sessions, Interrogang discussion group, Glass Room pop-up), something I couldn't imagine doing in a more commercial, less community-oriented high street. Artefact made it more than easy to start something up, actively welcoming and encouraging participation. Word must be spreading – they’ve had both an Edinburgh Fringe comedian hire the space and a secret gig booked by well-known band.
Artefact in Stirchley.
My own favourite Artefact nights FWIW are the Felt Tip Bender, the crazy rambling What is a Watt? quiz with Johnny's live art news round, Stirchley Collage Club, the regular art show launches and our co-founded Interrogang discussion group talking about the opportunities and dangers of the data economy.
This is the good stuff. But I'm also starting to worry about the dangers of gentrification and local development planning. Some crazy planning applications have gone in – one recent one was for 40 student flats in a tiny corner-shop bit of real estate. Another by Lidl UK ended up razing the popular Fitness First gym and bowling alley to the ground, and has stalled because of ‘reasons’. Then there is a rash of new housing being built at the old Arvin Merritor site, which could bring new customers to the high street but also swamp it with traffic. More development is expected at the vast Seven Capital wasteland that Tesco sold off after sitting on the land for 17 years.
Who will these new residents be – and will they want a homogenous high street of big money chains like Boots and Greggs over the strange but unique collection of shops we already have? Will Birmingham City Council factor in or ignore the impact on Stirchley’s changing character and community and independent businesses when more developer applications come in, or will they fold in the face of big money?
The Tesco wasteland in Stirchley.
At present, Stirchley is still fairly downmarket in feel and a bit dowdy of look, and the West Midlands Police helicopter circles overhead regularly late at night to catch the drug dealers and car thieves. That people are calling Stirchley 'cool' is amusing in many ways. And it's odd to hear friends talking about moving out of their beloved Moseley to supercool Stirchley, discussing the property prices and availability while bemoaning our terraces with their lack of driveways and on-street parking. Stirchley is not the new Moseley; you don’t move here for the real estate. Here, we only joke about where is best to live: the Riviera or the Marina end.
How Stirchley develops is at a turning point. The large empty spaces offer potential for greater community cohesion but I fear this will not be realised because, so far, no supermarket developer has done anything more than offer token efforts at working together with the community and what we value. For them it is a money exercise; our views and petitions don’t really matter.
For me, the close sense of community and the independent/cooperative rebirth has almost been born out of a reaction to the greed of large commercial interests, which have tried to gobble up Stirchley's tiny shopping strand for themselves and instead mobilised a grass-roots alternative to the endless planning fuckups and resulting wastelands.
At the moment, this couple of hundred metres of high street and its hinterlands has a new sense of identity that is the strongest I've ever seen it. I really hope we can hold onto that.
Houses knocked down for a Tesco supermarket that never arrived.
Viva Stirchley!
Some Stirchley community, coop and independent business accounts to follow on Twitter:
The Glass Room Experience and Data Detox Bar will be held at Stirchley Library on Saturday 4 August as part of Tactical Tech's campaign to start a global conversation on data and privacy.
The day has been organised by Fiona Cullinan, who trained as a volunteer at The Glass Room London, a pop-up tech store with a twist. (Curated by Tactical Tech and produced by Mozilla, The Glass Room exhibition and event programme was hosted at 69-71 Charing Cross Road, in the heart of central London, from 25 October – 12 November 2017 and attracted close to 19,000 visitors.)
Materials from The Glass Room will be on display in Stirchley Library as talking points. Open Rights Group Birmingham members will also be on hand to answer questions on the day.
Resources
Here are some simple resources for taking control of your online privacy.
How to reduce data capture across all the common points of online interaction: Google, social media, smartphones, mobile apps, search and browsing. Also, discover what kind of info is being collected about you and how you might be profiled.
Find out more about tracking and digital traces – how much of the data collected about you involves behind-the-scenes metadata that can be more revealing than you think. Also busts other common myths about how people think about data privacy.
Do you feel your digital self is slipping out of control? Clicked “I agree” too many times? Have you ever wondered if your smart gadgets know more about you than you do?
Visit the Glass Room Experience, a pop-up exhibition on Data and Privacy, at Stirchley Library on Saturday 4 August 2018 (10am-4pm) – and find out from more our informational and interactive exhibits on internet giants such as Facebook, Google and Microsoft. (Stirchley Library's Facebook event page is here.)
There will also be a Data Detox Bar where you can pick up an 8-day Data Detox Kit and ask members of the Birmingham Open Rights Group your questions about how to protect your privacy and secure your information. No technical knowledge is required. Just drop in, view the exhibits and come say hi!
Leading the day will be Fiona Cullinan, who trained and worked as a volunteer 'Ingenius' at The Glass Room London, a pop-up tech store with a twist, which ran in London for three weeks in Oct-Nov 2017 and attracted nearly 20,000 people in to look into their online lives. Since then, Fiona has set up Observed.City, a data privacy email for Birmingham, and also co-runs Stirchley data reading group The Interrogang.
Detox your data
Resources:
The Glass Room was curated by Tactical Tech and presented by Mozilla. Tactical Tech's 8-day Data Detox Kit (pictured) is available online: https://datadetox.myshadow.org/en/detox
