Venice, Paris, London
And the St James Suite at Dukes Hotel
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Now on to this week’s musings…
Well folks, the last few weeks have been an adventure and I have so much to share with you. A week ago my sisters second Double O novel, A Spy Like Me, was released to world. In the days leading up to the official release, we gave this incredible book an appropriately glamorous launch.
Venice
Two years ago, Kim and I went to Venice for the opening days of the Biennale. It was an incredible and inspiring trip for us both, influencing The Seagrass Walk and becoming a central part in A Spy Like Me. Kim was invited back this year to celebrate the release of the book and generously took me along with her.
Venice is one of my favourite places on earth, and easily the most beautiful man-made space I have ever been. Simply stepping off the vaporetto and onto the city streets makes my soul sing. The beauty and (somewhat insane) reality of this city on a lagoon is only heightened by the Biennale. The biggest and most prestigious art exhibit in the world the Venice Biennale brings together hundreds of artists from across the globe in both the Central Exhibit and the National Pavilions. Every other year truly contemporary art floods the city. Art like I’ve never seen anywhere else. It is soul, mind, heart, and imagination expanding. It leaves me floating and full of ideas.
Each Biennale has a different curatorial team and a different theme. This year’s exhibit is titled Foreigners Everywhere, a phrase drawn from work by Claire Fontaine: neon sculptures in different colours rendering the expression “Foreigners Everywhere” in multiple languages.
The programme for the Biennale describes the theme as drawing work from a world:
‘…rife with multifarious wars and crises concerning the movement of people across nations, territories, and borders. These crises reflect the perils and pitfalls of language, translation, and nationality, in turn highlighting differences and disparities conditioned by identity, nationality, race, gender, sexuality, freedom, and wealth. In this panorama, the expression “Foreigners Everywhere” has several meanings. Firstly, wherever you go and wherever you are, you will always encounter foreigners—they/we are everywhere. Secondly, no matter where you find yourself, you are always truly, and deep down inside, a foreigner… the Exhibition unfolds and focuses on the production of other related subjects: the Queer artist, who has moved within different sexualities and genders, often being persecuted or outlawed; the outsider artist, who is located at the margins of the art world, much like the self-taught artist, the folk artist, and the artista popular; and the Indigenous artist, who is frequently treated as a foreigner in their own land.’
The Central Exhibition and the National Pavilions I was lucky enough to see embraced this theme in different ways, each asking and answering their own questions of the world. With only a few days in Venice it was impossible to see everything and so we didn’t even try, we simply embraced what we did see, dipping in and out of countries from across the globe. From textile art to video, sculpture to painting, the Biennale truly has the best of everything and something for everyone.
I have come home so full that I need space and time for the ideas I can feel crowding my imagination to fully take form. You will be there when they do.
Kim and I also spent time enjoying Venice itself, exploring, browsing, shopping, and photographing our way across squares, along canals, and over bridges. Kim found some incredible vintage dresses and I brought home Venetian paper (a regular habit) and Venetian fabric (to feed my new love of sewing). I also added something new to this visit, waking before dawn one morning to catch an early vaporetto to Burano. I watched the sunrise over the lagoon, landing on the island while everyone was still asleep. I giggled aloud when I got there, the colours so incredibly unlikely that the entire place felt like I fairy tale. I spent a few blissful hours taking photos with only the cats and a few early workmen for company, leaving just as visitors began arriving for the day.
Saying goodbye to Venice is always sad, I could spend months here and still not have enough of this unique and improbable place. Nowhere else I’ve ever experienced has built its identity so completely throughout its history on craftsmanship, art, beauty, and imagination. It is exceptional.
Thankfully the sadness of leaving Venice can be softened if you are heading to Paris.
Paris
Rather than heading straight back to London Kim and I decided to stop in Paris for a day. And what does one do with a day in Paris?
The answer to that is simple: eat and sign books.
I started with a Pain Au Chocolat and proceeded from there. As we hopped on and off the metro we took in the seine, the Eiffel Tower, the glory of Parisian Streets in Le Marias. Then we headed to one of the most exciting stops in the whirlwind of joy that is my sisters career as a novelist – Shakespeare and Company. For those who don’t know, Shakespeare and Co is an English bookshop near the seine, an icon, a treasure beloved my millions, and easily one of the best bookshops in the world. They had invited Kim to come and sign a stack of A Spy Like Me. I felt so lucky to be with her as she sat in one of the many incredible corners of the shop and signed books there for the first time. We followed this up with eclairs and tart au citron by a fountain and a quick dip into the Louvre. With time quickly running out and our Eurostar immanent we managed to squeeze in one last treat, incredible buckwheat crepes for super.
London
Despite not having lived there in many years London can’t help but feel like coming home. Particularly when you have a set of keys to your best friend’s house and spend the first day curled up on her sofa reading a wonderfully weird collection of short stories from Shakespeare and Company.
The rest of the week was spent relaxing in art galleries, London’s wonderful green spaces and Laurens gorgeous home. Unravel - the textiles art exhibit at the Barbican was absolutely brilliant, with some powerful stories woven into the work. Sadly I found When Forms Come Alive, the sculpture exhibit at the Hayward, disappointing despite a few impressive pieces of work. Thankfully though, the National Portrait Gallery has a Francesca Wood and Julia Margret Cameron exhibit on, which is stunning. Woodman is (I hesitate to type this because I love so many) my favourite photographer, and anytime I see her work in person it feels like meeting old friends.
I also took a long and glorious walk through the Lea Valley, along the canal and through the Walthamstow Wetlands, the first time I’d explored this particular green space in London. It is absolutely gorgeous and the heron I spotted made it particularly special.
The St James Suite at Dukes Hotel
Then came launch day and book signings. The GIANT stack of books for Kim to sign at Goldsboro was incredible to witness and seeing her on the curve at Waterstones Piccadilly will never get old. The crowning glory however was Bond Street tube station – where we hunted down (without difficulty because they are everywhere) her very first tube poster. As a Londoner born and bred the tube posters have been part of my life for as long as I can remember. Seeing one for my sister’s work was an exceptional moment.
With the book released, available, and gorgeous it was time for the last celebration of launch week – and, as this is the Bond Universe and style is something James Bond does better than almost anyone else we put on our glad rags and headed to Dukes Bar (where Fleming is said to have invented the Vesper Martini). The night was spent listening to Kim in conversation with David from Licence to Queer, followed by Kim working her way through an epic signing queue while fans, friend and family chatted happily together.
And with that A Spy Like Me was launched into the world. It is a thrilling, brilliant, and gut-wrenching book, and much to my overwhelmed joy, it is dedicated to me.You can get your hands on a copy from all good bookshops.
For anyone who’s ever wanted to visit Venice – I recommend it and this year’s Biennale with all my heart. If you do go this year look out specially for my favourites, Australia, Brazil, Saudi Arabia and Spain:
And with that final recommendation, I will leave you for now. More soon as I return to Finn, my van build, and try to process the flood of inspiration my adventures have gifted me…