Inspired by Eyeliner: Visuals Old and New

The other day my friend Alicia, a fellow film lover, posted a link on social media recommending a documentary about the actress Rita Moreno. The accompanying image showed Moreno standing in front of a mural depicting her in her youth. I remembered I had photographed this piece of street art several times in New York … Read more

Heat Therapy

It’s late November; we’re approaching the end of the second London Lockdown and the temperature has dropped. My husband works out of our spare room which is basically a home office, and as an alternative to the living room sofa I often find myself ‘operating from bed’, with the duvet and heat from my laptop … Read more

Charlie Chaplin: iconography and the immigrant

I’ve just started reading Confabulations by John Berger, who died earlier in January this year.  Recently I’ve been reading almost exclusively on my Kindle (in a space-saving Marie Kondo-like spirit) but I decided to buy a hard copy of the book – it’s small, portable with a good-sized font, and illustrated with colour photographs and … Read more

Facades in Rome: old and new signs of culture

A few weeks ago I visited Rome after a gap of many years.  I had wanted to revisit for a while, especially after seeing contemporary films set in Rome by several of my favourite Italian directors: Nanni Moretti, Gianni di Grigorio and Paolo Sorrentino. I was immediately struck by the architecture and monumentality of Rome, but … Read more