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seen and unseen

LONDON

By Lowell Robinson

January 3^rd, 2019

Parliament Square

Four powerful women standing with the statue of Millicent Fawcett, the only woman who has a statue in Parliament Square. Millicent was a suffragist in the 1900s and this statue was unveiled April 24, 2018 on the anniversary of women's suffrage. This is also the only statue in Parliament Square created by a woman, Gillian Wearing.

Downing Street

This formidable gate has existed in one form or another since 1920. It started as a wooden barricade ( 8 ft. high) when the movement for Irish independence turned violent. The black steel gates were erected in 1989, evolving from metal barriers in the early 70's. Downing St is technically open to the public, but not really, and we didn't try to reach house number ten.

Trafalgar Square

The initial design for Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square included four lions surrounding it. Even though the column started going up in 1839, the lions weren't completed until 1867. Some people at that time were a bit concerned that lion commission was awarded to Sir Edwin Landseer, an accomplished painter who had never sculpted but who happened to be a favorite of Queen Victoria. Landseer's ill-health and rising costs keep the lions in the news and the project was described in the papers as a national disgrace, and a scandal. The lions finally made their debut after Landseer teamed up with Baron Carlo Marochetti, an accomplished sculptor. Reynold's Newspaper wrote "Although admirable in most respects, has certainly some glaring defects," the concern being that their character was more sphinx-like than lions." They are also, coincidently, very hard to climb.

Even Buckingham Palace had ratS

Buckingham Palace looks great. And while the gates out front might keep out uninvited guests, nothing can hold back a rat. In 1851 Henry Mayhew published a series of interviews covering the conditions of London's poor and happened to meet Jack Black, a self described as "rat and mole destroyer to Her Majesty." Mr Black let the cat out of the bag that it wasn't just Queen Victoria at the Palace. But according to Mr. Mayhew, Mr. Black was quite good at his job.

Overground

We never did take a taxi in London (they do look cool). But we sure took a lot of trains. My brother -in-law tried explaining who owns the trains (hint: it's not England) and boy is it complicated.

"London Overground is run by London Overground Rail Operating Limited (LOROL), who are paid by TfL to provide the services. LOROL is owned by MTR Corporation of Hong Kong and Deutsche Bahn AG of Germany (DB), with DB’s stake managed by Arriva, the arm of DB responsible for their operations outside Germany. [source]

Chelsea

“Don’t give your son money. As far as you can afford it, give him horses. No one ever came to grief, except honourable grief, through riding horses. No hour of life is lost that is spent in the saddle. Young men have often been ruined through owning horses, or through backing horses, but never through riding them; unless of course they break their necks, which, taken at a gallop, is a very good death to die” — Winston Churchill

Art everywhere

I was emailing with my friend Thomas today about my discomfort with photographing art. Am I documenting it? Am I adding to it? Am I reminding myself of a bigger idea behind it?