Review: Annie Leibovitz's "WOMEN: New Portraits"

 

Before visiting the exhibition at Wapping Hydraulic Power Station, London, I knew very little about Annie Liebovitz's work. Growing up with a Dad who is passionate about photography, she was a name I heard mentioned every now and then, generally not in the most positive light. But on reading about her new exhibition in the latest issue of Vogue, my Dad and I knew we had to go.

The location of the exhibition is as interesting as Liebovitz's photography. Wapping, a district on the Thames in East London, is drenched in gentrification. Originally docklands, it was destroyed by bombing in the second World War, and wasn't rebuilt until the 1980s. Nowadays, as is too often the case, the average price for a flat or house is £854,507 or £1,333,167 respectively. The atmosphere is pretty stale, quite honestly. The rich history of the area has been pretty much wiped-out, in favour for the culture of 20-something City workers and their Sunday running clubs.

As an exhibition setting, the converted Power Station is frankly, very cool. It is stripped-back, raw, and feels refreshingly honest in comparison to the studio flats that surround it. The exhibition space is in a large central hall, with exposed brick walls, big windows and high ceilings. The display is made up of 3 large screens covering three sides of a square, with the final side being a board of her photos. This board (seen above), in terms of presentation, is disappointing at best. The prints aren't of the best quality, and are just pinned in with drawing pins to the board (you can see the holes made by multiple attempts to align them along the string). The perspex sheet in front of the pictures reflects the light behind the viewer, preventing you from being able to even see the pictures along the top. The large screens, which are a slideshow of all her work, work well on the whole, and allow the viewer to really focus on each photo.

However, none of this detracts from the staggering quality of her work. Her composition and lighting is spot-on every time. She plays about with colour in a way that is always interesting and never becomes too same-y, even after viewing more than fifty of her photos. Each photo is built around the individual subject, subtly reflecting who they are in a very engaging way. Many are shot on location, which allows Leibovitz to communicate the personality of lesser known figures like Tavi Gevinson (below, 2nd) to an audience who may be unfortunately unaware of her championing of the beautiful angst of being a teenager, and refusing to apologize for it or her talent and intelligence. It also allows a more interesting look at figures such as Gloria Steinem (below), presenting her primarily as a writer, rather than her usual portrayal as a great feminist warrior (she is, of course, both).  Her studio work is equally as engaging. Often the perspective reveals much of the studio set-up, creating a somewhat meta layer, but also reminding the audience how much of construct studio portraiture is, drawing our attention back to the subject as a human being, rather than just a superficial object.    

As a feminist, I was totally in awe of how she captures women. No individual is presented the same as another, nobody is overly sexualised, and she limits cliches of femininity, without ever aping men. The uniting attribute of Leibovitz's photography, which isn't obvious at first, is her ability to capture the strength of all her subjects.

 

"Women: New Portraits" runs from January 16th to February 7th 2016, before touring worldwide.

Book Review: 'A Dead Man in Deptford' by Anthony Burgess

Hey Readers!

 I guess I am now on my summer holidays. But I won't do my end of year post just yet due to the way school ended: it kind of dissolved into nothing. Technically the last day of school is tomorrow, so I shall do that post at the weekend. For now, I shall do a quick book review (my laptop has 17% battery).

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 As none of my friends (or indeed anyone who has mentioned anything to do with books near me) have been able to escape my gushing speeches of love for Burgess, it doesn't seem right that you, my Fair or Foul Readers (but where's the difference?), should either. However I must admit I have only read two of his books - A Clockwork Orange and A Dead Man in Deptford - but I shall be doing a Burgess Binge (dat alliteration) this summer. And when he titles his books like "Mozart and the Wolf Gang" or "1985" (which is a tribute to Orwell's 1984) I feel I can be pretty sure the rest of his writing shall live up to wonders I have already read.

 A Dead Man in Deptford is an re-imagining of Christopher Marlowe's life. Marlowe was a playwright who grew up in Canterbury and studied at Chorpus Christi College, Cambridge before becoming a playwright, who many critics feel would have outshone Shakespeare, had he not died in a pub brawl with a dagger to eye (don't cha just hate it when that happens???). The image of the eye recurs throughout the book and often sparks musings on solipsism. However Burgess' real point of interest in regards to Marlowe is the more dubious aspects to his life: his addiction to sex and potentially working as a spy for Queen Elizabeth I. 

 Although the book is about Marlowe, it is told through the eyes of an unnamed narrator who didn't witness many of the events in the book. The way Marlowe drifts in and out of his life is sometimes unclear, but I quite like the tone of confused memory this gives the book. The narrator is one of the most interesting aspects of the book, and I feel it places the role of the author as one of the central questions of the book (Barthes would not be happy), especially in terms of how historical fiction influences our understanding of past events. And then there is the last paragraph, but I don't want to give away the ending because you are all going to go and read this book.

 As always the Burgess, his use of language is simply divine. He writes in a way that forces the words off of the page and into your imagination. You have to sit up and take notice. The opening paragraph is more opaque than the majority of the book, so don't be put off. Instead, spend some time just admiring how he mingles poetic techniques with prose. Burgess also presents speech in a different style to that which we may be used to: speech always begins on a new line, is indicated by a '–' and it is not clear when the speaker finishes. This was alienating at first, but in true Burgess style, this alienation makes you part of the book's world, by clearly differentiating it from our own.

 In short, this is a truly fabulous book by a truly fabulous writer. Probably not that great if you're a raging homophobic as a lot of the sex takes place between Marlowe and other men (sometimes in Latin which led to a fun hour of translation). However you do have to pay attention when you read it, there are a lot of characters and the relationships between them are not entirely clear if you zone out for a moment. But if you are zoned in, as you should be you diligent reader you, then I promise you will have a most pleasurable reading experience when reading this book. 

Rating: *****

Gwendolen

The Eye Candy That Music Videos Can Be {ONE}

Hey Readers!

 In the world of feminism, music videos can tend to get a pretty bad write up: glorified masculinity, highly misogynistic portrayal of women  and all emphasized by the patriarchal bullshit soaked lyrics. But equally the music video is becoming one the most creative, beautiful and experimental modern art forms. Not that I need to tell you guys about how pretty music videos can be; the likelihood is that you are a blogger, and therefore by definition super indie and interesting with a music taste to match. Therefore we can celebrate this wondrous art form together, through what will hopefully develop into a little regular thing where I just share my favorite eye candy from the realms of music videos.

'MAIDEN' BY MØ

'FANTASY' BY MS MR

'FANCY' BY IGGY AZALEA FT. CHARLI XCX

'SACRILEGE' BY YEAH YEAH YEAHS

Gwendolen

Book Review: 'Steppenwolf' by Hermann Hesse

FOR MAD PEOPLE ONLY

The book and the man himself. At least I hope it's the man himself. He might just be a guy who enjoys posing next next to covers. [source]

Hey Readers!

 I feel it's time for a little cheeky book review! I haven't done these in a while...

So yes. Steppenwolf. Steppenwolf is one weird book.  It's like Hermann Hesse has taken a piece of art from the Weimar era and put it in words; which is not a coincidence as it was written during the Weimar period. You can't deny the fact that it's weird: it's about a guy who thinks he's a wolf and ends up in a theatre where he runs people over in cars during the war between machinery and man and the such like, with the odd threesome along the way. That said, it's also one of the sexiest, most intelligent and by far the most openly intellectual books I have ever indulged in.

Hesse weaves in references to other German authors (with the odd medieval German poet thrown in there for good measure) which I'm sure would be very symbolic if I actually had any idea of who they were or what they had written. The most important of the writers talked about was Goethe, so if you don't know who he is, I suggest you take a glance over his wikipedia entry prior to reading. He also whacks twenty pages of character psychoanalysis in the middle. Just because he can.

Throughout the whole book there are essentially five characters, one of which is never named. This character introduces the book, and you begin under the impression that it is Hesse speaking, until you are thrust into the main part of the book, where you can't help but feel that Harry Haller is actually the confessions of Hesse. Notice how they have the same initials.Upon reading the essay bit at the back after finishing Steppenwolf, I discovered that this book was indeed written while Hesse was having a full-on crisis and tended to write autobiographical work. Then you have Hermione, who is rather unlike the Hermione we know, as well as Maria and Pablo. Each young, beautiful and bisexual; the three traits that I associate with Germany (or more specifically Berlin) during this period. All three contrast beautiful with the misanthropic and isolated Haller as they propel him head first in to the life he systematically fails at rejecting.

As a translation, the language can feel and bit clunky and doesn't have the natural rhythm of a book written in the language that it belongs in, but hey. The Germans have a reasonable number of tenses (although I can't forgive them for the number of cases they deem as appropriate) so it's never going to translate easily. Moreover, I can't really comment on the writing style because, as Cecily and I were discussing, I'm not sure whether that was Hesse or the translator.

If you are up for feeling rather cultured or taking on a literary challenge or want to experience more of the Weimar period (I'm talking to you Fleur) then go and read this book. If you can, take a trip to Berlin, it does help set the mood. I was discussing it with my Uncle and he said he never enjoyed Hesse's work more than when he was my age, so by not reading it now, you're just loosing out on more pleasure.  Five Stars.

Gwendolen

P.S. If you're wondering what I mean by "FOR MADE PEOPLE ONLY" your just going to have to read the book. But oh my Lord, wouldn't that be a fantastic name for a blog? I might consider going solo, just so I can call it that...

Theatre Review: "The Drowned Man: A Hollywood Fable" (Punchdrunk)

Hey Readers!

 What would you do if you were invisible for a day? Well last night, my Mum and I went up to London to give it a try in the coolest theatre experience ever.

 Punchdrunk is a groundbreaking theatre company  that works within the emerging theatre genre "immersive theatre" in which the audience is given the ability to run free around the set and explore the story as much or as little as they like. Sounds confusing? It is. Sounds fun? It definitely is. Their latest production "The Drowned Man: A Hollywood Fable" works with National Theatre and recreates Temple Studios, Hollywood's London outpost until it closed for unknown reasons in the 1950s. Inspired by Buchner's "Woyzeck", Punchdrunk combines (limited) dialogue, (stunning) dance

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and a (masterful) sound design.

 I first heard about the company in a Radio 4 documentary "It's Fun, But Is It Theatre?" and so it was a no brainer when the collaboration was announced that we would get tickets. They were expensive, about £50 each, but it was worth it.

 From the beginning the experience was great. I mean, those loos! And because I'm under 18 I got to wear a visitors pass and feel super special. But then we went in, and were immediately confront with a pitch black corridor, which my Mum had serious trouble navigating, before we encountered other audience members (who I thought were actors originally). From there, we were given masks and shown into an old school lift with the doors that were opened manually by an actress. Inside the scene was set: it was the 1950s. We were going on a tour of Temple Studios after they had just finished filming their latest film. We had been given complete access to the studios but were advised to not go into the surrounding neighbor hoods. The door was opened by the actress and we were guided out. When I say we I mean my Mum and I, because the door was immediately slammed, and the rest of the group continued up, whilst we were left to explore on our own.

 I now encounter a problem writing this review as I don't really want to write about what happened. Even though I know my readers are strewn across the globe, and therefore won't be going to see this production, it's as if it a secret. Because everybody really does have different experiences (some scenes are performed to just one audience member) it feels like an exam. You can talk about the things that everyone had (in this metaphor, the questions), like the amazing set, which no matter how hard I tried, I could not find a fault with, but you must never talk about what happened to you (answering the questions) as it will leave other people questioning themselves and worrying they did it wrong.

 What I can say is that I don't think it was supposed to end for me like it did. I think the visitors pass meant that actors couldn't take me off by myself, but one did. Was that slightly illegal?

 If you ever find yourself at one Punchdrunk's productions (they are currently running Sleep No More in New York) don't hold back. Go everywhere, follow whoever you like (I would have liked to focus on the story slightly more as I became a bit too excited by my independence and flitted from character to character, floor to floor) and enjoy it, because you will never have the same experience again.

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My experience: 4*
Set: 5*
Performance: 5*
Technical: 5*
Overall: 5*

Gwendolen

Book Review: 'The Origin of Our Species' by Chris Stringer

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Hey Readers!

 Today a very rare event has happened... Almost as amazing as Jason selling a caravan (for The Apprentice fans only)... It's above twenty degrees!!! I know it might seem immature, but I think a fabulous event such as this deserves more than one exclamation mark. Therefore I have taken the opportunity to sit out in my garden and write a post, instead of doing useful things that I said I would do, such as clear out my stuff from my brother's room in preparation for his return home from University this weekend. 

 To many of you, this is going to be a particularly boring review as I'm reviewing this strange thing called a 'non-fiction book'. This isn't just any non-fiction book though, this is one that talks about mtDNA, neutral drift and electron spin resonance. Yes, this book indulges me in my really geeky passion: Human Evolution. Just typing those words makes me happy.

 Chris Stringer, the author, is an incredibly intelligent guy and Research Leader of Human Origins at the Natural History museum in London (here is his page – it's rather nice to see somebody who didn't study at Oxford or Cambridge). My point is – as far as human evolution goes, this guy is the bomb. He also clearly likes skulls, judging by the pictures that come up on Google images. However this one [source] is my favorite, as he is clearly pondering which budding paleoanthropologists he is inspiring, and clearly thinking that the perfect one would have a blog and a slight crush on William Shakespeare. Cough cough.

 Originally I wasn't planning to read this book, but another of his: Homo Britannicus. I was pointed in that direction by the anthropologist teacher at my school when I told her about the fascination with human origins. So I wandered off to Waterstones and this was the only one of his I could find – I count that as a blessing. This is a pretty awesome book. Heavy stuff for somebody who is only doing their GCSEs. It was rather lovely for me as I already knew about 30% stuff from other reading, so I could really focus on and learn the really brilliant stuff like this:

 "Many domesticated dogs have an accentuated white scelera [the white of the eye], compared with their wild wolf ancestors, which perhaps evolved to augment the close relationship between dogs and humans"

 You have to admit- that's pretty cool. That was then followed by:

"Another remarkable feature of modern humans is the large size of the penis."

 The book covers a huge variety of topics: methods of dating objects (not like that you cheeky thing), art, communication, life ways,  genes, and the future evolution of Homo sapiens (us). The last topic was really interesting- Stringer offered up two opposing points of view: we have stopped evolving, and we are evolving at a very fast rate. The former, I imagine (although if not do comment below), is rather clear in why, but the latter argued that humans are having to constantly adapt and evolve to the different and environments and cultures we have found ourselves in of the last multiple thousand years as they have constantly changed.

 I do, however, have two issues with this book. The first being that I really needed a notebook, so I could jot down all the important and interesting facts Stringer splurges out of me as I had a habit of forgetting them quickly, so there were great swathes where I had no idea what he was taking about and found myself just nodding along and going "Yes... I know exactly what you talking about...". My second issue being whatever material the cover is made from- please could the publisher stop using it! It's rather rubbery and terribly distracting. 

 So reader, if this summer you're up for something a bit (hugely) interesting that will keep the cogs of your mind turning while you switch off from education, then why not go with this? It's fascinating, surprisingly amusing, and full of facts to sprout out at your friends (you could dazzle them with your knowledge of the human penis) then I would recommend you have a go at this- which I have given four stars.

 On a side note, if you managed to get to the end of this post, then you deserve a prize. Which comes in the form of this charming summer ditty that I had on repeat while writing this blog:

 

Have a lovely day!

Gwendolen

Music Monday! Beginnings...

 Hey there you beautiful thang ;)

 This is our first regular feature (I'm sure there are more to come... I have few stored in the pipeline that is my mind) 'Music Monday'. I'm not usually one to use cliches and sound straight off The Apprentice, but in this case I will: It does what it says on the tin. Every Monday we shall post music and infiltrate your life with our personal soundtracks, which will be related to a theme. As this is still a baby blog and this is our first post in a series, it only seemed fitting that the theme should be:

BEGINNINGS

(For those that are colour blind, it says 'BEGINNINGS')  

 Now let's get into the nitty gritty in how this will actually work... Cecily and I will both choose between one and two songs (maybe even three if we're feeling cheeky) that relate to the theme; this may be rather obvious link or a very symbolic/deep/tenuous one. The actually blog will be posted alternately by Cecily and I- but because I am older and taller, I get to go first :) However, I'm also very lovely so I'll let Cecily have the first say, so take it away beautiful!

Cecily: 'Begin the Beguine'* by Cole Porter (sung by Ella Fitzgerald)

I'm only going for one song today. This came on several times while we attempted to set up our blog and will now forever make me think of its beginning. It's a good jazz classic to know, although not among my favourite Cole Porter songs (a bit too soppy, although it is pretty), but I hope you enjoy...
*The beguine is a Caribbean dance a bit like the foxtrot, or so the dictionary says.

Gwendolen: 'Forever' by Haim, and 'Paradise' by Coldplay

So like normal, Cecily gets to be all vintage and cool, while I'm stuck with my mainstream songs, which pretty much everyone has probably heard :( HEY HO, does it really matter?

 My first song is 'Forever' by Haim (pronounced h-I-m). You may have heard of them, you may have not. If you haven't, they are a trio of sisters from California. As there debut single, 'Forever' is the beginning of their career, and I tend to have this band playing on repeat while writing blogs for this blog, which we have just begun. See- it totally links (and may I add, I also have teeny tiny huge girl crush on Este Haim, the blonde bassist).

 My second song, which everyone would have heard of, is 'Paradise' by Coldplay. I'm really posting this one for my Mum just to make her sentimental. In my household, this will forever by associated with my brother leaving home and going off to begin University two years ago and thus the beginning of the best two years of my life what really felt like the start of us two growing up. Ironically, this song is about suicide. Which really has nothing to do with beginnings.

 Well I hope you enjoyed our choices- or not. Y'know, everybody is entitled to their own opinions... Helps if they're like mine... But... Freedom of speech and all that... 

 Do comment and follow and I look forward to writing again :)

Gwendolen 

(NB Cecily has requested that I do quickly mention that after we decided on this theme, she realised  that Rookie's first monthly theme was beginnings, and that we're not trying to jump on the feministo themeos band wagon, and that clearly great minds think alike ;) )

Book Review: ‘The Fault In Our Stars’ by John Green

'The Fault In Our Stars' by John Green- original image here (if you want to read the book, the author and vlogger, John Green, has done a reading that features on this page)

 A couple of evenings ago I finished Jane Eyre, and before continuing where I left off with Stringer's 'The Origin of Our Species' and going onto a book about an Ancient Greek war as prep for next year (and fun), I decided it was probably time that I read a 'light' read; by which I mean the books any sixteen year old girl probably should be reading. Therefore yesterday evening,  I asked my Mum if I could look through her bookshelves, when she suggested I read 'The Fault In Our Stars', a Book Club book from a few months ago. Part of me was like 'Awww... Come on girl.... It's a book about cancer... Find something less cliche' and the other part was like 'Girl, it be very late, none of the books you chose are going to be life changing, just go with it'- and so I did.

 You may have realised that I had a little bit of bias reading this book. For one thing, I find the whole 'teenager with cancer, fighting her disease, finds more to life than she thought, blah blah blah' over done and boring. I kind of just want to yell at all the authors that by churning out this cliche, they are suggesting that life is better with cancer, in which case I might just go a give my money to a different charity, which is both good and bad at the same time. On top of this, I had just spent my evening reading a brilliant article in Vogue, 'Single Minded' by Hadley Freeman, in which she discusses life as a thiry-something single woman, and how there is this expectation that she must have a boyfriend and how she is apparently not worth anything without one. Within the article she discusses how many books with a female protagonist are mainly about 'getting the guy' and that they are almost entirely relationship drive. At the time I just nodded, but didn't really take in the full scale of her truthfulness until I looked on my fairly comprehensive-book-shelf-for-a-teenage-girl and realised that I don't have any books (including classics and other intelligent books) that have a female protagonist and aren't relationship driven. So when I opened 'The Fault In Our Stars' I was actively looking out for cliches and relationship driven story lines, and at the same time desperately hoping they weren't there.

 Now you have a fairly comprehensive back story to my reading of this book I can actually get on and review it. Essentially, as I may have already suggested, 'The Faults In Our Stars' is about a girl suffering from cancer. Her cancer is terminal and unlike the readers, the last thing she could possibly expect to do is fall in love and actually enjoy her life. Spoiler alert: she does. Quiet honestly, that is the story summed up rather well. Like most books about teenagers with terminal diseases.

 Hold up- there was something different about this one... It was intelligent? The relationship was mutually independent? She had a pretty normal relationship with her parents (honestly- if teenage books reflected our lives accurately, you would think it was some great human feat to not argue with your parents every other chapter)? The twist in the plot was actually unexpected? This is a very well written book. Which is no surprise considering the awards Green has won and his rather good YouTube Channel that my brother introduced me to. It was also a quick read- 312 pages in less than 24 hours baby!

 But yeah... It was entirely relationship driven. Essentially if she hadn't met this guy, then she wouldn't have been able to experience all of this great stuff and y'know enjoy life, because everyone knows no girl can smile until some hot guys wanders into life. Even when ACTUAL SPOILER SO I WILL JUST DO SOME DOTS AND SAY IT IN MY HEAD .......................... she still defines herself by him and he is needed to give her worth.

 Ok- maybe I'm being a bit mean here, and if I was studying this book for my English GCSE, then I guess I would say Augustus (the love interest) is tool to represent how Maslow's hierarchy of needs (pictured below) is essentially wrong:  despite not really having much of the second layer, she achieves everything else (via a guy. Seriously- explore the whole concept of 'best friends'. They can be pretty fun to). Suggesting that at the end day our relationships really are what keeps us going. Dang my low level analysis has just brought me back full circle.

 To conclude, if you want a good read on a lazy summer afternoon, then I would recommend 'The Fault In Our Stars'- it is intelligent, deep and funny. However, I can't enjoy it, because I'm me. And I had just read an article of Vogue that by chance was about women and relationships in literature. And I don't really like books about cancer. So rather annoyingly I'm going to give this book Three Stars. 

Ok. That's harsh. I'll give it Three and Half.

 

Gwendolen

P.S. Something that I did find intriguing is how British all these characters sounded, although Green made it clear they were all American....That did, I admit, add slightly to my enjoyment... Hmmmm.....

Welcome

Welcome Readers! (we're optimistic- it's highly likely that should be in the singular)

Let us introduce ourselves. We are Gwendolyn and Cecily.

If you immediately recognise those names from The Importance of Being Earnest, we already like you, probably (if you don't, shame on you, shame on you). Our names aren't actually those, but we liked them for several reasons that will probably be mentioned in a later post, possibly about how great Oscar Wilde is.

We want to blog pseudonymously because it holds a certain intrigue, and we like intrigue.

We decided on the name "Their Harangues and their Fancies" because you are likely to see harangues, "speeches or pieces of writing characterised by strong feeling or expression; tirades", on this blog as it is a way of us exploring what we think of things and, yes, having an occasional rant (in an amusing or interesting way, of course). "Fancies" as in things that we like. You will see lots of those. Plus who doesn't enjoy a fancy/eloquent/pretentious name?

We really hope you stick around or string along or tattoo our URL to your hand... So hopefully, until next time!

Au revoir,

Cecily and Gwendolyn

PS. Just to show how long we have been planning this, here are some conversations of ours (note the dates):