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O4 May 2O21

Running from Something, Looking for Something: photographic artist Jonathan Liu drives deep into the Icelandic glacier to capture the mystery of the sublime


A dirt road stretches out into the distance. Its miles, yet untraversed, point towards mountains far on the horizon and the landscape rolls away on all sides. Here begins Running from Something, Looking for Something, a series of photographs by Jonathan Liu... read more


8 Jun 2O2O

Health Is Wealth by Katie – New York-based fashion consultant Katie Cervini is on a mission to demystify women’s health


Health Is Wealth is a new blog from New York-based fashion consultant Katie Cervini, who writes about women’s health in a way that is refereshingly human. It is an open space for conversation with tips founded on Katie’s own wealth of knowledge to help women get to know their bodies, their health and the science behind it… read more


6 May 2O2O

Isolation 2020: ‘It’s whatever you want it to be’ – creative photographer Kirsty Marshall creates a montage of lockdown messages to explore what it means to live in isolation


We are stuck, in a way the world has not experienced before, inside our homes. The pubs are closed. The nine-to-five is working from home, in furlough or redundant. The planes are grounded, the trains are empty and the cars only start when they have to. The world we knew has stopped but, for the first time, we’re in it together. For the first time, we are joined together as a planet in experiencing a global pandemic, and that is difficult to comprehend. There are almost no words for it… read more


18 Aug 2O19

John Smith, The Girl Chewing Gum (1976)


The voice over the moving image suggests there is a story to tell, as though actors are following directions around a set and therefore moving towards a common cause – that of narrative. However, as we watch the film, we soon become aware of the director’s lack of authority and control over the people, vehicles and objects that move in, through and out of the frame… read more


4 May 2O18

Recipe for Being a Woman
by Hermione Cameron


Recipe for Being a Woman is a playful and pithy debut collection from a poet whose awareness and grip on language allows her to create a concise and deeply ironic sense of being in the world. Hermione Cameron speaks of, to and for the modern age in 28 poems, in which she shows us the world anew, as if standing on our heads… read more


14 May 2O18

Darker With the Lights On
by David Hayden


Darker With the Lights On is a collection of 20 short stories by David Hayden, a prolific writer of short fiction, published by Little Island Press. With an abundance of imagination through surreal and unbounded worlds beyond and the beneath the world we inhabit, Darker With the Lights On is like taking a train in the dark, the carriage so brightly lit that you struggle to see a world you know is there, beyond the pane of glass… read more


13 Apr 2O18

Bone Ovation
by Caroline Hardaker


Bone Ovation is the debut poetry pamphlet from Caroline Hardaker. It is a slim collection of 20 poems, published by Valley Press, that satisfies an interest in myth and folklore. Hardaker’s poetry is an example of mythology as a splitting open of the present, of stories and a deep-seated connection to the past. It considers an element common to all, ‘Composite of brittle chalk and precious like the stalks of daisies in chains.’ Bone… read more


3 Oct 2O17

Paul Hawkins’
Diisonance book launch


On Friday 8 September, a curious group of people met at The Gallery Café in Bethnal Green for the launch of Diisonance – a book of protest texts, art and collaborative experimental poetry… read more


29 Sep 2O17

Crump Redivivus 
by Neil Godsell


Neil Godsell’s debut novel Crump Redivivus, published by The Voidery Aperture in 2016, is a work of contemporary fiction that experiments with language and literary form. The novel is described by its publisher as ‘a stark exploration of a life given over to the observation of other, equally unsatisfactory lives’… read more
Mark

Isolation 2020 – ‘It’s whatever you want it to be’


Creative photographer Kirsty Marshall creates a montage of lockdown messages to explore what it means to live in isolation.

We are stuck, in a way the world has not experienced before, inside our homes. The pubs are closed. The nine-to-five is working from home, in furlough or redundant. The planes are grounded, the trains are empty and the cars only start when they have to. The world we knew has stopped but, for the first time, we’re in it together. For the first time, we are joined together as a planet in experiencing a global pandemic, and that is difficult to comprehend. There are almost no words for it.

But never in our lifetime has it felt more necessary to document this moment and this experience, and there has never been a time when we’ve had so many creative outlets at our fingertips. It’s hard to imagine a world without social media, and now is a time when we might feel conflicted about the social media channels that bring us together but also inevitably lead us to compare ourselves to others. Social media can be an emotional minefield. Instagram can feel like a who’s who of who’s best – but it doesn’t have to.

Kirsty Marshall is a creative photographer based in Bedfordshire, who recently returned home from a long stay in Bali where she found her voice and creative independence from the community she built and the freedom she had to take risks and try new things.

In 2018, Marshall’s world was shattered by the heart-breaking loss of her mum. The painful experience of grief shook the foundations her life was built on in the most brutal and emotionally bludgeoning way, when the rest of world keeps turning without you. But she collected the shards and broken pieces and flew to Bali where she gradually began to put the pieces back together; the scars that bind each shard now glisten like a constellation.

Shaken out of her comfort zone, Marshall lived in Bali for seven months working on photographic portraits, asking her models honest questions about themselves to show more than just a photograph but the layers that make up a person. As a result, her portraits capture strength, radiance and resilience as well as fragility, vulnerability and humanness.

Marshall also started her mini documentary series, Creative Diaries, where she captures poets, artists and designers on film talking freely about their craft and allowing them to show their personality to the world, unguarded. This practice creates a collage of people and the different ways they express themselves through rare moments of intimacy.

In her new project, Isolation 2020, Marshall asked a group of people aged between 20–32 to finish the sentence ‘It’s...’ with a message about what their experience of isolation has been. At the end, a chorus of voices chime together: ‘It’s whatever you want it to be.’ With a runtime just under two minutes, Marshall edits heartfelt, thoughtful – at times joyful, at others painful but brave – messages together like a patchwork. She creates a fabric of intimate experiences during an unparalleled moment in human history.





On the release of Isolation 2020, I spoke to Kirsty Marshall about what inspired the project and what isolation has meant for her.

Kirsty Watling: What inspired you to do this project?

Kirsty Marshall: There is a lot of pressure present at the moment, and where our heads are at currently, it is pulling on the ‘self-worth’ strings. I feel there is this isolation ‘doing and posting’ going on; perhaps using social media posts to feel gratification or to prove how active and productive we’re being during this isolation experience. When really, there is no right or wrong way, as no one has ever been through anything like this before.

I wanted to outline how up and down people and our emotions have been. How each person has had their own version of Isolation 2020.

KW:  Why is creativity important to you?

KM: ‘Creative’ is a label that took me years to claim. I figured I didn’t do contemporary dance, sing, create these abstract, quirky art pieces; I didn’t feel I fit the category that my brain once perceived as creative. Once I picked the seams of this perception and took the pressure away- I then grew courage to delve into different forms of creative expression. I lived in Bali July 2019–February 2020 which is really where I began calling myself a creative, with pride. I met so many inspiring, encouraging people, who guided me further down my path of creativity, and a path where I no longer feared judgement. 

KW: What are you finding difficult during isolation?

KM: The difficulties isolation is presenting me, is not being able to fulfil my desire for human connection! Humans amaze me and I’m grateful for every opportunity I get to meet new people. I’m really missing socialising, making new friendships and making more memories with my amazing friends and family.

KW: Is there anything you’re enjoying or appreciating more in isolation?

KM: I’ve learnt a lot in isolation, but that just being it – What! I am capable of retaining new information and expanding my knowledge?! As we get older, we have this limiting belief – ‘I’m too old to do that’ – no we’re not! I have done a course on relationships and understanding myself in them, and various short Open University courses which are free. I’ve also noticed my interest to writing poetry has re-birthed, and as well generally, my creative juices are flowing strong.

Watch Isolation 2020 @kirstymarshallphoto.