Category: Travel
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Thandiwe Muriu
The Kenyan artist, Thandiwe Muriu, started out in commercial photography but quickly found herself questioning what it means to be a woman through images of strength and beauty. Having struggled in making a way through a male-dominated industry, the artist began to explore portraiture through the use of everyday objects and cloth. In her latest…
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Wellington Cathedral of St Paul
In Central Wellington/ Pōneke stands the Cathedral of St Paul. The Cathedral is the result of decades of lobbying, land purchases, interruptions and changes in materials, as well as delays between the architectural plans and the completion of the building. The first stage was finally opened in 1964 (the architect, Cecil Wood, was appointed in…
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From a Garden in the Antipodes
Evelyn Hayes, the pseudonym of Mary Ursula Bethell, published a book of poems about her love of plants and gardens in 1929. These poems cemented the reputation of this New Zealand poet, who had an unusual and somewhat unorthodox life. In the verses she describes the life of gardens, those who inhabit them (including a…
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Reminiscence and memory
This week I am in Pōneke Wellington where Festival for the Future, an event to bring young people together, is taking place. While the group I am with is at the Festival I am researching in the National Library for a project to do with oral histories on the Coast. The Library is home to…
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CTANZ symposium
The Costume and Textile Association of New Zealand is fast approaching. Here is the latest newsletter from the organisation about it. I am doing a talk about Shetland Tweed and there are plenty of other informative and useful talks and events to be inspired by. https://mailchi.mp/58d3e2113851/ctanz-social-fabric-symposium-2024-i-speaker-line-up?e=cdce4db450
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An Egyptian addition
The blog this week starts with a new addition to the collection. Thanks to a reader who thought of the collection when chatting to a friend about an inheritance, there are now two pieces from Egypt in store to research and share. In the 18th and 19th Centuries Egyptian Revival swept the world but it…
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This week’s blog
Without our readers the blog would not exist. This week all the entries are from links that people have sent in to share as well as to a new addition for the collection that came about because of a reader. It is a joy to get messages from across the globe and a delight to…
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This week’s Spotify playlist
Each week a playlist is curated to reflect the items on the blog. Some are obviously connected and some are more obscure. To listen, click on the playlist above or search for “Music to read a blog by” on Spotify. Paid Spotify subscribers will be able to hear all the tracks in their entirety, uninterrupted…
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Karen Lamonte
Karen LaMonte has been exploring beauty, identity, gender and the natural world since 1990 through glass, ceramic, paper, bronze, iron and marble, sculpture and printmaking. Now based in Prague, in 2007 the American artist travelled to Japan where she studied the design, symbolism, construction and significance of kimono, turning those studies into ceramic, cast glass,…
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Matariki 2024
Matariki is here! The Māori celebration of a new year is called Matariki, after the cluster of stars that is also known as The Pleiades. It is a time to be joyful because of the turn of the seasons but it is also a time to reflect and remember those who are no longer with…