Hiro. Shinjuku Station

V&A South Kensington.
Closes Sunday 5th January.
 
There are lots of reviews online for this exhibition. I hadn’t read more than one or two before I went and was unprepared for the sheer scale of it.  Over 300, sometimes large, prints from 140 photographers.

Time to see why this installation is already drawing record numbers of visitors.
We drove through the gates of Houghton Hall and joined a long line of cars very slowly making their way to the car park -proof this is a popular exhibition.
Luckily for us we had a picnic with us and there was plenty of time to munch our sandwiches as we edged along.
We started to spot naked iron men among the trees and in the fields all staring into the distance. Some on pillars, some on the ground and some immersed into the ground.
Having eventually parked the car we set off to “see the exhibition” which raised an interesting dilemma. We were surrounded by it.
We had already “seen” several figures and while there is a map available of the location of all the figures the point is not to see them as individuals.
So what had we come to see or experience?

Esther Boehm opened Studio @ 55 on the High Street, Heacham in October 2017. In these 6+ years we have watched it grow into a vibrant community art hub.

Sadly, Esther has been told that she will need to Vacate the Premises. We don’t want to see her go!

I spent 10 days in Cornwall this Spring, with half of this time working intensively alongside other artists on a ‘retreat’ at the St Ives School of Painting. The studios are right next to Porthmeor Beach, so a lovely place to go to work!