Singh When You’re Winning!

To the Walker Art Gallery this evening for the private view/launch of The Singh Twins new exhibition, ‘Slaves of Fashion’.

The works in the show focus on how the history of the Indian textile trade links with Empire, slavery, war and environmental destruction - and how contemporary global politics are still linked inexorably to it.

Here’s a short clip of the Twins talking about their approach to their work, in relation to an older painting of theirs... www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/video/singh-twins-on-empire-and-their-work-entwined

The exhibition is both jaw-droppingly beautiful and passionately political, imbued with the Singh Twins’ customary wit and warmth, whilst also razor sharp in it’s historical and contemporary critiques. If you’re thinking of visiting Liverpool before 20th May, then this exhibition is a must-see! And it’s free! Here’s some more information about it, and another brief video which shows details of some of the works on display www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker/exhibitions/slaves-of-fashion/index.aspx

The Twins have been the patrons of our Liverpool Mental Health Festival’s annual art exhibition for the past 3 years and have always been wonderfully supportive of the artists whose work we show, and of our organisation, so it was great to have the opportunity to reciprocate and support them tonight. I know I’ll be back to see the show on a regular basis in my lunch breaks!

(Also in attendance tonight was the actor Mark McGann, see Extras.)

What better song with which to illustrate the complexities of cultural appropriation/reclamation/exchange than Cornershop’s excellent cover of ‘Norwegian Wood’? www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um6NYOLYWbQ .

Coincidentally, two of my last three Blips have linked to songs which feature the sublime sitar stylings of the fabulous Sheema Mukherjee, who’s a key component of The Imagined Village (as well as Transglobal Underground).