The Russians are coming

An alarming increase in page views on this blog - into the thousands - sent me looking for the possible source -

Traffic sources

What triggered this bot-attack? Was it the word "model", used about wax models (and in many posts about life drawing etc in the past) - surely not. However yesterday's post does contain the word amazin' [cleverly disguised here to fend off a repeat-attack] next to the m-word.

Well, that's speculation - but one feels unclean, unsafe. A digital native wouldn't turn a hair - "just ignore it".

Not a "nice" subject

Today is World Toilet Day - something we in the Western world are spared having to think about, yet elsewhere to have a proper toilet is a dream. 

"2.5 billion people lack access to improved sanitation" says the World Toilet Day website. One billion people around the world do not have access to a toilet and must defecate in the open. Even travelling from their home to a public toilet can be dangerous and frightening for women and girls. 

"Inadequate sanitation remains one of the world’s most pressing development issues, often hitting women and girls the hardest." (via)

"My Toilet: global stories from women and girls" is a photo exhibition at the Royal Opera Arcade, Covent Garden, 10-5, till 22 November. "The images and stories show that, although the type of toilet changes from country to country, the impacts show recurring themes. Having a toilet can mean dignity, safety, education, employment, status and more wherever you are in the world. A toilet equals far more than just a toilet."

Art I like - J Carpenter

"She slept" by New Jersey lacemaker J Carpenter, who says:

"I render symbols of protection using lace that I make by hand, sometimes with traditional thread, other times with industrial materials such as rope and steel. I do so in order to examine conventional ideals concerning home, safety, and security. I am also interested in honoring female craft, normally completed in private, by making it public.

"The work juxtaposes perceived fragility of objects with subject matter representing protection. The sculptures reference ideals of safe spaces without providing physical shelter. I present viewers with this paradox to encourage them to consider their own views concerning security. The work asks: to what degree do conventional lifestyle choices keep us safe and at peace, and to what degree to they leave us exposed, even endangered?"

Meaningful jewellery

"Courage", for instance -

By Adrienne Wiegmann. From dailypoetics.

Art I like - Naori Priestly

With her embroidered skulls and knives, this sweetly subversive, domestically-minded artist suggests that home is not always the safest place. Under the Table is at Aspex Gallery in Portsmouth until 9 May 2010.

Her statement on her website says: "Naori Priestly graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2007 with a Masters Degree in Mixed Media. Born in western Japan, Naori studied sculpture in Tokyo and New York before settling in England over a decade ago. Naori’s work is illustrative and strongly autobiographical. Her work employs humor to convey the darker, more sinister side of everyday life. Working with textiles, she employs domestic craft skills, such as hand-knitting, crochet, embroidery, appliqué and hand-felt, along with digital technology, like computerised embroidery. Her work has a narrative element, inspired by folk tales and nursery rhymes, where reality, daydreams and nightmares merge into one surreal world. The appearance of charm and naivety belies the subversive concepts that influence her pieces."

She runs workshops at Kingsgate Studios in West Hampstead.