Floral tributes for the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire disaster outside the Notting Hill Methodist Church. PICTURE: ChiralJon/CC BY 2.0. (image cropped)
LondonLife – The City rising into the clouds…
June 13, 2017
PICTURE: Rob Bye/Unsplash
Created by Russian-born artist Erik Bulatov to mark the centenary of the revolution, the 10 foot high steel Cyrillic letters, some of which appear to have fallen over, spell out the word ‘forward’ four times and are arranged in a circle. Forward 2016 is Bulatov’s first sculpture and was apparently conceived after a visit to a decommissioned 19th century iron foundry in France which Bulatov, who was born in 1933, felt represented – through its sheer scale and lost sense of power and energy – not only the aspirations of his generation but the disillusionment they experienced. While the bright colours of the letters create a sense of energy and movement, their distribution in a closed loop seem to imply that progress may not really be possible. The work, which is installed on the south terrace of the Tate Modern, will remain on display throughout the summer as a precursor to two major art exhibitions being held at the gallery in autumn – Ilya and Emilia Kabakov: Not Everyone Will Be Taken Into The Future, the UK’s first major exhibition of the works of this pioneering couple (from 18th October), and Red Star Over Russia, an exploration of visual culture and design in the decades following the revolution (from 18th November). For more, see www.tate.org.uk. PICTURE: Courtesy of Tate Photography.
The RHS Chelsea Flower Show was held in London last week at the Royal Hospital in Chelsea and was once again a celebration of horticultural creativity and beauty. Here’s just a sample of what was on show…
Above, animal sculptures are displayed on the Easigrass exhibit while, below, a visitor listens to an audio recording whilst viewing a floral installation on the Interflora exhibit.
ALL PICTURES: RHS/Luke MacGregor.
Above, a visitor views “Neoteric” a floral installation by Robert Hornsby.
Above, lilies are displayed on the Harts Nursery exhibit.
Above, stilt walker “Mrs Flora” poses on the Big Hedge Co. garden.
LondonLife – King’s Cross railway station…
May 23, 2017
King’s Cross railway station, the western concourse. Designed by John McAslan, the semi-circular building – which opened in 2012 – features a steel roof engineered by Arup, claimed to be the longer single-span station structure in Europe. The image was taken with a fisheye lens. PICTURE: Colin/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 3.0.
LondonLife – Taking in the view…
May 16, 2017
Looking over the River Thames from the Tate Modern at the dome of St Paul’s. PICTURE: Christian Battaglia/Unsplash
LondonLife – Going places…
May 9, 2017
PICTURE: Tom Eversley/Unsplash
LondonLife – City by night…
May 2, 2017
PICTURE: Negative Space/CC0. Taken in 2015.
The remains of several archbishops of Canterbury are believed to have been found beneath a former parish church in Lambeth. Workers were carrying out renovation works at the deconsecrated St Mary-at-Lambeth, removing flagstone, when they found a hitherto unknown crypt containing some 20 lead coffins one of 
which had a small gold archbishops’ mitre resting on top of it. Among those whose coffins have been identified are those of Archbishop Richard Bancroft (in office 1604-1610), who played an important role in the creation of the King James Bible, and Archbishop John Moore (1783-1805) as well as Moore’s wife Catherine and that of John Bettesworth, Dean of Arches, Judge of the Archbishop Prerogative court. It is also believed that archbishops Frederick Cornwallis (1768-1783), Matthew Hutton (1757-1758) and Thomas Tenison (1694-1715) were buried in the tomb under the church’s chancel. The church, which is located beside the River Thames adjacent to Lambeth Palace – London home of the archbishops of Canterbury, originally dates from the 11th century and was deconsecrated in the 1960s. The burial place of John Tradescant (c1570-1638), described as the first “great gardener” in British history, it was subsequently transformed into what is now known as the Garden Museum, the world’s first museum of garden history. The museum closed in 2015 for a £7.5 million redevelopment project and is expected to reopen in late May. PICTURE: Top – the lead coffins with metallic bishop’s mitre; a still taken from video posted on the Garden Museum website/Right – St Mary-at-Lambeth (right side of image).
LondonLife – Shoreditch’s giant Hedgehog…
April 11, 2017
Located in Chance Street in Shoreditch, the hedgehog mural was created in 2012 by Belgian street artist ROA. It’s recently had a make over by Jim Vision who added cavemen along the base attacking the poor creature with spears (as well as a self-referencing caveman version of the artwork).
PICTURE: Davide D’Amico/Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0
LondonLife – In the aftermath of tragedy…
March 28, 2017
Flowers on Westminster Bridge, placed there in the wake of last week’s terror attack in which an assailant, named as 52-year-old Khalid Masood, killed three people and injured at least 50 as he drove a vehicle at high speed across the bridge along a pedestrian walkway. Crashing outside the Houses of Parliament he then stabbed to death PC Keith Palmer before he was shot dead by another officer. Addressing a vigil in Trafalgar Square in the aftermath of the attack, London Mayor Sadiq Khan said the city “will never be cowed” by terrorism. “Those evil and twisted individuals who try to destroy our shared way of life will never succeed and we condemn them,” he said. PICTURE: David Holt/Flickr/CC BY 2.0
LondonLife – Unveiling the Iraq and Afghanistan Memorial…
March 14, 2017
Unveiled by Queen Elizabeth II in Victoria Embankment Gardens last Thursday, the Iraq and Afghanistan Memorial recognises the contributions of the many hundreds of thousands of UK armed forces and citizens deployed in the Gulf region, Iraq and Afghanistan between 1990 and 2015 – including the 682 service personnel who died – and those who supported them at home. The memorial was designed by sculptor Paul Day and features two large stones – one representing Afghanistan and the other Iraq – which are linked by a giant two-sided bronze ‘tondo’ depicting the concepts of ‘duty’ and ‘service’. Inclusive of all who contributed, both military and civilian, the monument bears no names. The Queen was accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh and among others who attended the ceremony near the Ministry of Defence was PM Theresa May and Secretary of State for Defence Sir Michael Fallon. PICTURES: Top – © Crown copyright 2017.
LondonLife – Lovat Lane…
March 7, 2017
Originally known as Love Lane (the origins of which are somewhat obvious – a place where you could find ‘love’ although whether this meant illicit love or has a more innocent explanation remains a matter of discussion), the name of this charming alleyway – which runs south from Eastcheap to Lower Thames Street, was changed in the mid-20th century to avoid confusion with another Love Lane to the north. The new name apparently related to Lord Lovat, whose fisheries supplied the nearby former Billingsgate Market. PICTURE: Simon Mumenthaler/Unsplash.
LondonLife – Construction site…
February 28, 2017
LondonLife – A clear night over the Palace of Westminster…
February 21, 2017
Looking from across the River Thames. PICTURE: Samuel Zeller/Unsplash
LondonLife – Charing Cross Tube station…
February 14, 2017
Charing Cross Tube station. PICTURE: Melissa Richards/Flickr/CC BY 2.0
LondonLife – Celebrating Chinese New Year…
January 31, 2017
A scene from Chinese New Year celebrations heralding the Year of the Rooster held in central London last weekend. PICTURE: Garry Knight/Flickr/CC BY 2.0
LondonLife – Monumental spiral…
January 24, 2017
Inside The Monument, built to commemorate the Great Fire of London, in the City of London. For more on the history of The Monument. PICTURE: Flickr/CC BY 2.0.
LondonLife – Shard view…
January 10, 2017
No sign of Tube turmoil as we look south across the River Thames to The Shard and Southwark. The 95 storey high building is the tallest in London (and the fourth tallest in Europe). PICTURE: Fred Mouniguet/Unsplash
LondonLife – Christmas illuminated…
December 20, 2016
London is illuminated for Christmas. Here’s some of what photographers on Flickr have captured this year…
Christmas in Regent Street. PICTURE: Michael Reilly/Flickr/CC BY 2.0
Christmas tree in Waterloo Place. PICTURE: William Warby/Flickr/CC BY 2.0
Carnaby Street. decorations PICTURE: Roger/Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0
Oxford Street under lights. PICTURE: Paolo Braiuca/Flickr/CC BY 2.0 (image cropped).
A floating Christmas tree at St Katharine Docks. PICTURE: Matt Brown/Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0
