For this year I really want to encorporate more varied content in here, and mostly just anything that inspires me. Be it an amazing piece of clothing, a certain song that sets off an idea for a video, books or artwork. I am here with the latter today. I went to the Dora Maar exhibition at the Tate Modern yesterday and loved it. I didn't know very much about her work aside from the period she was painting in a very Picasso inspired way due to their relationship, but her photography was so beautiful. There were lots of interesting surrealist pieces, but her politically motivated photos taken around the world during the 1930s were my favourites. I love seeing photos of the everyday, I think it inspires me the most. It is something we are all capable of doing right now, whether motivated by wanting to document a specific political climate or not, we can all snap a photo on our phones that capture a moment in time that is unique to us and our eye. Maar's were all so gorgeous, and inspired me so much, now I can't stop thinking about taking a trip and working on a series of black and white photos!!
I bought two books while I was there too. I walked out the exhibition thinking how typical it was I had only heard of Maar's work because of Picasso (I did an art History degree where Picasso popped up left, right and centre. I have somehow forgotten a lot of what I learnt but I don't remember ever studying Maar's work). I saw this book, Representing Women, and thought it would be an interesting read in light of feeling there is a still so much lacking in how women are represented in the art world. And also Aperture, Conversations, as a tool to find some more photographers to inspire me. It's a collection of interviews between photographers, and I hope a good book to dip in and out of and discover new people (I am dreadfully not up to date with any famous photographers really, even though it's the only sort of art I actually create anymore).
The exhibition is on until March so I really recommend going. I also wore a very nice new blazer on the day from Arket, I will do a post about this soon!