Author: stevendouglasblog

Born in 1954. Chequered career including Lecturer in English, Social Worker and Lecturer in Social Work. Had breaks related to mental health that also meant I worked in social care. Now retired.

Middle East and North African Art. A fine exhibition at the Durham Oriental Museum, Durham University.

November 5, 2023

Middle East and North African Art, the cult of Orientalism, Western stereotypes of Arab art and the culture of resistance. Voices: A fine exhibition at the Durham Oriental Museum, Durham University. 29 September 2023 – 12 May 2024 Let’s start off with a theme and it would seem to me on first sight that there … More Middle East and North African Art. A fine exhibition at the Durham Oriental Museum, Durham University.

Matthew Rugg once said that there’s ‘something intrinsic about the nature of making marks that slows down, when you start interpreting them’. This blog uses the book by Michael Bird with Harriet Sutcliffe (2023) ‘Matt Rugg: The Many Languages of Sculpture’.

November 4, 2023

Matthew Rugg says in film of him shown at the current retrospective of the late artist’s work at The Hatton Gallery in Newcastle University that that there is ‘something intrinsic about the nature of making marks that slows down, when you start interpreting them’. This blog is an attempt to learn what he might mean … More Matthew Rugg once said that there’s ‘something intrinsic about the nature of making marks that slows down, when you start interpreting them’. This blog uses the book by Michael Bird with Harriet Sutcliffe (2023) ‘Matt Rugg: The Many Languages of Sculpture’.

Sad but not destroyed, I am not that keen on reliving that time. But there ya go …. !

November 4, 2023

Is there an age or year of your life you would re-live? I would relive the moment of the death Of your frail ‘love’. The month, the day, the minute of that breath Obscuring now the hours since you lifted The latch above The door guarding space wherein was sifted Hard memories from the daily … More Sad but not destroyed, I am not that keen on reliving that time. But there ya go …. !

‘Consider it well, the Event, the thing which can be spoken of and recorded, is it not in all cases, some disruption, some solution of continuity’. Applying Thomas Carlyle to the Stonewall Riots.

November 3, 2023

What historical event fascinates you the most? Prompt – blog 3rd November 2023 Thomas Carlyle wrote a book on The French Revolution in three volumes in 1837. It contains a lot of words. The purpose of those words is to turn actions by people that occurred in France from 1789, although the book starts well … More ‘Consider it well, the Event, the thing which can be spoken of and recorded, is it not in all cases, some disruption, some solution of continuity’. Applying Thomas Carlyle to the Stonewall Riots.

“Beauty is truth, truth beauty, – that is all / Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know”: Beware those who claim that there is only thing you need to know.

November 2, 2023

In a review of a book of poems by Paul Muldoon in 2015 Fran Brearton in The Guardian writes that: ‘In a 21st-century context where everything seems instantly “knowable” for everyone, where we are “assailed by information”, what is “worth knowing” or what remains unknowable have become pressing questions. … The earth … is now also … More “Beauty is truth, truth beauty, – that is all / Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know”: Beware those who claim that there is only thing you need to know.

Children, even the ‘child inside’, are the object, and sometimes the victim, of theories not based on finding ways of effectively finding out about them from them. Isn’t it time we changed all that?

November 1, 2023

What does it mean to be a kid at heart? You always have to start with terminology in these questions and the most glaring term here is ‘kid’. For, of the many stereotypes Western society (and perhaps more globally now with the primacy of Western values on social media and the long reach of the … More Children, even the ‘child inside’, are the object, and sometimes the victim, of theories not based on finding ways of effectively finding out about them from them. Isn’t it time we changed all that?

Why three wishes when even one is prone to: ‘The secret ambush of a specious pray’r”?

October 31, 2023

Daily writing prompt: You have three magic genie wishes, what are you asking for The line of poetry in my title comes from Samuel Johnson’s The Vanity of Human Wishes (read the poem from this link if you wish), a very specifically English eighteenth-century version of a satire by Juvenal. The story it tells so … More Why three wishes when even one is prone to: ‘The secret ambush of a specious pray’r”?

This blog is my preparation to see the retrospective exhibition on the work of Marina Abramović at the Royal Academy (the first held there on a female artist) in London on 22nd November. I prepared by reading the gallery’s catalogue and re-viewing an art video: Andrea Tarsia, Svetlana Racanović, Karen Archey & Devin Zuber (with Peter Sawbridge & Associates) [2023] ‘Marina Abramović’.

October 29, 2023

This blog is my preparation to see the retrospective exhibition on the work of Marina Abramović at the Royal Academy (the first held there on a female artist) in London on 22nd November. I prepared by reading the gallery’s catalogue and re-viewing an art video: Andrea Tarsia, Svetlana Racanović, Karen Archey & Devin Zuber (with … More This blog is my preparation to see the retrospective exhibition on the work of Marina Abramović at the Royal Academy (the first held there on a female artist) in London on 22nd November. I prepared by reading the gallery’s catalogue and re-viewing an art video: Andrea Tarsia, Svetlana Racanović, Karen Archey & Devin Zuber (with Peter Sawbridge & Associates) [2023] ‘Marina Abramović’.

The dilemma for socialists in a world where capitalism has, successfully it seems for the times we live in currently, convinced those who maintain its power structures that it is the solution for our long term survival as a species. Some reflection on the effect of the thinking of Romain Felli on me.

October 27, 2023

This blog could appeal only to those who identify in some way with the view that only what Romain Felli calls ‘environmentalist, democratic socialism’ is the ‘best hope for reducing climate catastrophe and maintaining freedom within a nature – irreducibly both biophysical and social  – which is complex and divided’, and even then perhaps it … More The dilemma for socialists in a world where capitalism has, successfully it seems for the times we live in currently, convinced those who maintain its power structures that it is the solution for our long term survival as a species. Some reflection on the effect of the thinking of Romain Felli on me.