9 August 2013

Summer Break



Someone else's work on show here, my excuse being that I'm on holiday. These photos, taken as part of a project called 'Aspects of Seat Assignment', are by the artist Nina Katchadourian. They appeared in a newspaper magazine a couple of weeks ago, in a section which usually features reportage or rather pretentious 'art' photography. This display, not to be mistaken for Ms Katchadourian's passport shots, are in fact her 'Lavatory Self-Portraits In The Flemish Style', written up in the Guardian Weekend (20 July 2013) as follows: 'On a flight from San Francisco to Auckland, she put a paper toilet seat cover on her head and took a picture in the mirror. Well, who wouldn't? The image, she realised, evoked 15th-century Flemish portraiture. So she experimented: a neck pillow and napkins serve as a medieval wimple; and an eye mask, napkins and paper cup echo Vermeer's Girl With A Pearl Earring. Katchadourian... insists she didn't hold up the queue for the toilet, making her forays mostly while other passengers were asleep.' 
Do I believe that last bit? Well, it's something to bear in mind next time I'm in that queue. I am prepared to forgive all, however, as the results are so very accurate and funny.

1 August 2013

Snail Therapy


From the Guardian, Thursday July 18, 2013:  'A beauty salon in Tokyo is offering facial treatments in which snails provide slime to treat the skin. According to a beautician, snail slime removes dry skin, makes the face supple and moisturizes. The centre currently only houses enough snails for one facial per day, as the creatures' slime runs out quickly.'

I could help them there. I feel very optimistic that my small, dark, damp backyard could keep several salons in organically harvested, free range snails (for a modest fee). And when the facial is done and dusted, the snails, lightly fricasseed and accompanied by a white wine sauce, would make an economical and delicious supper dish.