Tags
Hassan Hajjaj, ice rink, La Caravane, North: Fashion Identity, somerset house, st martins crypt, Strand
Tuesday 28th November – 41st meeting of 2017
Today the plan was to visit Somerset House and an exhibition exploring contemporary artistic and stylistic representations of the North of England.
After meeting at Charing Cross we went to St Martin’s Crypt for a coffee and cake. Then a walk along The Strand and Fleet Street to Somerset House. It was nice looking in the shops windows at all the lovely Christmas decorations and presents on show.
At Somerset House we watched the skaters on the ice rink especially installed for the Christmas season. The courtyard looked very nice with a very large Christmas tree decorated and looking fabulous.
We were a little early for our timed entry at 12.30 so we looked at another free exhibition with exhibits by Hassan Hajjaj: La Caravane. This exhibition of the British-Moroccan artist showed many colourful subjects of Moroccan tradition and street culture. Although it was striking and colourful it wasn’t the kind of art that I personally can appreciate.
The North exhibition was a mixture of photography, fashion and multimedia work along with documentary film showing life in the north of England captured in the mid 20th century. It included hi-fi systems, clothes, furniture, beds and films telling everyday stories of Northern people. The fashion items were very interesting and we could all relate to many things on show. Although it was depicting Northern life it was easy to think of it as life in the South during that period of time. A good exhibition which was easy to follow around. The cost of entry was £5.00 concessions and we spent about 45 minutes looking around.
There was a Christmas shop in the adjoining room which was run by Fortnum and Masons so we had a walk around. Some of our ladies purchased some items. It had all manner of things for Christmas, chocolates, sweets, alcoholic drink, presents such as scarves, slipper, toiletries, toys and decorations. All looking beautiful.
After this we made our way back to Charing Cross and our trains home and feeling very Christmassy!!