‘Invisible to Mortal Sight’: Sargy Mann and the Art of Darkness
Her eyes meet yours with the guarded yet knowing gaze of age, staring out from within a fleshed but still skull-like head. She sits upright in a severe wooden armchair her left hand crooked on the rest and her right clutching a bundle of white rags. Clothed in dull browns and blacks that seem both [
Representation or Tokenism? People of Colour in the UK Arts scene
Amidst the gloom of a typical rainy afternoon in London, a black woman dressed in gaudy yellow, her hair in a stylised afro, smiles into the distance. The woman isn’t actually a woman but a photo of one, printed on an advertisement for the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize exhibiti
Set Her Free: Meltem Avcil on Life Inside Yarl’s Wood
“Believe it or not, when you are a refugee you are always taught that being a refugee is a bad thing. So, to some extent you are subconsciously ashamed of yourself.” Meltem Avcil has an incredible story. Aged 13, she and her mother were locked in Yarl’s Wood, the notorious women’s immigratio
When They Were Bad: Notes from a Pupil Referral Unit
Pupil Referral Units. Short Stay Schools. Education Centres. There are numerous names for the places that teach the children rejected by mainstream schools. Given the current vogue for television documentaries exposing the educational lives of ‘bad’ teenagers, pupil referral units (PRUs) are in
Afterimage
The bedroom seemed lighter than usual, much to her annoyance. It was past two in the morning, full dark, and the only light in the room was that which seeped through the gaps in the curtains from the streetlamp outside the window. Adam hated those chinks of light, always reminded her to switch to bl
Amazon Review, Reviewed
In 2010, historian Orlando Figes was revealed to have written reviews of his and his colleagues’ work under various pseudonyms. He described a book by Robert Service as “curiously dull” and “hard to follow”, while characterising his own prose as “beautifully written … [it] leave
One Way Ticket To Mars
“My mum doesn’t just want me to explode in the middle of the atmosphere – and nor do I! That would be bad.” In January 2014, Laurel Kaye found out that she had been shortlisted for a one-way trip to Mars. The Duke University student is no stranger to travelling: she was studying on her [&hel
On the Campaign Trail with UKIP
“There’s a woman who uses asparagus to see the future and she knows who’s gonna win.” Jim’s cancerous throat wheezes out this barely comprehensible sentence. It’s three weeks before the general election and I’m having gammon and shandy with a local UKIP faction in the West Midlands. I
How to Talk to Ghosts
The road narrows between two hedgerows and, as the cab slows, a red-brick manor house comes into view. I have arrived at Arthur Findlay College, the UK’s premier educational institution for psychic mediums, to attend the college’s annual Open Week. I am met at reception by Minister Steven Upton