Frieze Sculpture 2019 (part 1)

Back at it again with the sculptures! Frieze bringing it in with 23 sculptures in the English Gardens of Regent Park. Let us dive into part 1!

1. American Images (2014) - Lucy Skaer

2. My Melody (2008) - Tom Sachs

3. Mnemonic Vehicle No. 2 (2015) - Vik Muniz

4. Superhero Cog Woman #01 (2019) - LR Vandy

5. Usagi Kannon II (2013-2018) - Leiko Ikemura

6. Celloswarm (2002) - Bill Woodrow

7. Receiver (2019) - Huma Bhabha

8. The Hatchling (2019) - Joanna Rajkowska

9. Cloud Study (Partner Dance) (2019) - Charlie Godet Thomas

10. Autonomous Morris (2018) - Zak Ove

11. On Hold #9 (2019) - Peter Buggenhout 

12. Strange Temporalities (2019) - Ghazaleh Avarzamani

First 10K Run! (Star Log vol 2 entry 6)

“It’s Britney B!” I exclaimed as I woke up. I was feeling excited for my 10k run that I didn’t even train for at all. I mean if you call running to work because you’re going to be late if otherwise training than I’m all for it! It’s my first ever 10k so RIP me xx

In a rush to get to Hyde Park for my Pride in London 10k run, I knocked down a blueberry cheesecake (cos I can) and some blue Innocent juice. I guess that should be enough.

Getting to the park, I got myself signed in and bumped into my workmate who decided to run too. We got chatting and helped me put on my bib as he could tell I was a beginner. Then an announcement was made for warm-up. The warm-up involved getting close together, running on the spot and hitting the person to the left and then the right. The warm-up killed me. Let’s hope I live to tell the tale at the end of this run.

We all got into formation and then… bang! We were off! I started to pace myself on a slow jog because I want to at least make it to 5K. If I had it any other way, I would walk the grounds as my runway except I would end up with no audience. 

I’m jogging away, having a fun time and just owning it. Oh, there’s a sign up ahead, I’ll take a closer look... what! It shows as 1KM! It feels like I’ve been running miles now! I could already imagine my workmate had already finished by that point. Good gosh, better keep going. 

For the rest of the run, I paced myself against another person until they ran ahead, so I paced against another person. This continued for the rest of the run until I hit the 5KM mark. Thank god, I need water! Running to the bandstand, the pointed in the other direction for me to get the water from the other side. Okay, here goes round 2 – fight! 

I proceeded and they gave me a cup with half of it being drunk by the grounds beneath me – sigh! Plan of action, pace against one person all the way. Fast-forward to the end and I hit 1 hour 8 minutes and my workmate finished in 50 minutes. Ace for my first run - feel like I can take on the world! Thank you, next!

Spiceworld 2019 (Star Log Vol 2 Entry 5)

This was it! It felt like the Return of the Spice Girls tour in 2007/2008 was their last tour (well, as a 5-piece anyway) so I was astonished to find out that they were going on tour. I knew something was afoot when I received an e-mail (a few months before the official announcement) asking if I wanted to continue receiving updates.

I got to the venue and it was pretty busy with people slamming it to the left, shaking it to the right and the chicas to the front. My emotion ran high as I got closer and closer to entry, and so I entered. 

I was greeted by two members of event staff and one of them asked, “how old are you?”
I froze as my mind went blank and a few moments later I returned back to Earth. “Ummm… 27”
“O…K…” the person replied. The other person smiled, probably sensing the inner Girl Power child from the ’90s that collected the official Spice Girls album photos, listened to Spice Up Your Life on repeat and watched One Hour of Girl Power Vol 1 one too many times and never got tired of it. 

I got in and realised that everyone was wearing rain ponchos and I was standing right smack bang in the middle of the stadium with no roofing to be seen. I asked around but couldn’t get one within the confines of the stadium – just my luck! 

Anyway, never the mood killer, I descended the stairs slowly… snail pace slow as I gathered in the surroundings of the stadium… my first ever Spice Girls concert… it was emotional as I never had the chance to see them but I am here now… present in the moment to be graced by the presence of pop legends. 

I knew I was in for a stunner as the concert started off with a bang (literally) with confetti floating around (gotta get it). The hits came one after another, and it just kept hitting me. The music, the production, the dancers, the band and the girls… ohmigosh, and the girls…
There was a moment when Emma looked out into the direction of where I was standing. A group of us started to form up and wave. She got emotional about it and then we did. I mean… I just…! Geri then had a moment when she got emotional shortly after. The emotion was just high.

I was slayed with emotion and went home feeling inspired, positive and girl-powered. The next morning, I realised the whole of my living room was covered in confetti and realised that a lot of it accumulated in the hood of my hoodie. I retained it as to capture the magical moment I had that is Spiceworld 2019.

Pride in London 2019 (Star Log Vol 2 entry 4)

Having woke up from a dream of Ru Paul singing “Chic, Freak, Fantastic, Slay”, I was ready to take on Pride! This year marks the 50th anniversary since the Stonewall Riots and I’m pretty sure everyone will be there to commemorate it. It will be my eighth-year volunteering for London Pride so I was very well versed in throwing glitter dust into the crowd.

I woke up from a message from my mother:

Every thing mummy so so sorry . I’M so love you and your sister. 

This was important to me especially as she never really apologised to me for the things she did to me when I came out. She would tell me to come out when she has passed away, take me to China to marry a Chinese woman or make a snide comment that being gay is a disease that being it automatically gives me HIV. For that reason, I just stopped talking to her as I had to move on and live my life. It took some time for me to find the strength to get back to her and even when I did go back, she still made the same comments.

Life long memories made with pumping up the crowd with Spice Up Your Life blasting from the speakers. It was so much, I mean SO MUCH fun dancing and throwing the moves to the crowd. 

Another moment to cherish was manning the very glamorous portaloos that a girl started to dance to a song on the stage that it got me going with her groove too. She ended up saying that she loved me and that I was too kind. I was so touched at that moment like that, it's what Pride represents to me, being able to own yourself and share experiences (that feeling of the community).

Once the party was over in Trafalgar Square, I sashay and shante myself to Soho to grab dinner. One the way there I was stopped by a gentleman who was with his friends. He asked me, “is that Armani?” as he pointed to the t-shirt I was wearing. I sniffed the air quickly to see what he was high on and found that he must be high on the Pride atmosphere, so I replied, “oh no (giggle), this is Primark.” He laughed and his girlfriends smiled. He asked what I was doing to which I replied that I was on my way to dinner and we then all bid each a happy Pride with me being on my merry way. That was amusing.