Tag: port

Everyday Africa

Behind the powerful photography project challenging stereotypes about the world’s second largest continent

It was back in 1985 when the MJ-led supergroup, USA for Africa, released their charity single, ‘We Are The World’ – a song that raised in excess of $63 million and a shining, totemic example of mid-80s cheese. But with lyrics such as: “send them your heart so they’ll know that someone cares / And their lives will be stronger and free”, the song is equally symbolic of something far more insidious and hard to define.

“I remember seeing commercials as a kid on the television and seeing a kid with flies all over his face, with a voice saying ‘For 50 cents a day…’,” explains Austin Merrill, co-founder of the Everyday Africa photography project. ‘We’re not trying to say that people don’t need help—people need help everywhere, in London and New York they need help too—but we’re saying that there’s a lot more to it than that. News informs these cliches, but so do movies, music videos and commercials, and have done for a long time.”

Everyday Africa was created in 2012 by writer Austin Merrill and photojournalist Peter DiCampo, who shared a growing annoyance with the Western stereotype of the continent as a place rife with poverty, disease and war, and not much else. Now, the project is being published in book form by Kehrer Verlag: Everyday Africa: 30 Photographers Re-Picturing a Continent.

Afro on purple. Silhouette of my daughter. Accra, Ghana. @africashowboy

“It started as a reporting assignment,” Merrill says. “Peter DiCampo and I were in the Western Ivory Coast to report on the ways that the country was moving on from a decade of civil war, but we realised that we were reporting on much of the same things that you always hear about from that part of the world. It was frustrating for us because we’d both lived in that part of the continent for several years, and felt that there was more going on than just crisis. So we began using our cellphones to take photographs of everyday life, as a way of telling that side of the story.”

She’s my girl, he said proudly. Dembara, Senegal. @hollypickettpix

Operating primarily through Instagram, the project aims to shine a light on the day-to-day reality of the 1.2 billion people that live there, while underscoring their diversity and individualism.

One of the most exciting things about the project is that, through social media, it is able to connect with people of all age groups. “We have to understand each other a little better,” notes Merrill. “I think it’s possible by reaching out to kids and getting them to see these countries as places that are not exotic, but where people live normal lives.”

Two women and their cell phones in Lagos, Nigeria. @andrewesiebo

The photographs featured in Everyday Africa are taken by a community of thirty photographers from around the continent. Some of the pictures feature scenes of disease and destitution, but, crucially, they sit next to pictures of ordinary life. “If you grow up with a more realistic perception of what people and cultures are like, then you might have a better way of thinking about the world, a better way of thinking about how countries should interact, how people should interact,” he continues. “There are a lot of ways that this could ripple outwards.”

Everyday Africa: 30 Photographers Re-Picturing a Continent is published by Kehrer Verlag

@everydayafrica

Questions of Taste: Mathieu Pacaud

The son of three-Michelin star chef Bernard Pacaud chats to PORT about reviving an iconic French eatery under his father’s guidance

Mathieu Pacaud
Mathieu Pacaud

Mathieu Pacaud was just 15 years old when he started to learn the strict discipline of the haute cuisine. Despite being so young, he was fortunate enough to gain a place at the respected restaurant Le Jamin in Reims, France, under the watchful command of esteemed Benoit Guichard – once labelled ‘the world’s best chef’, by the French Government at the time.

Pacaud took this experience with him and embarked on a seven-year stint at the three-Michelin star L’Ambroisie. It was here where he really forged his reputation, working his way up to reach the position of Chef, giving him the privilege of working alongside his father, the venerable Bernard Pacaud.

Today, Mathieu is one of the masterminds behind the rebirth of historic restaurant Le Divellec (reborn as simply Divellec). Here, we chat with Pacaud about Divellec’s novel menu, reinventing French cuisine, and bringing the traditional atmosphere of L’Ambrosie to Asia.

Inside Divellec, Paris
Inside Divellec, Paris

You started your career at age 15. What do you recall from that early beginning and the key lessons you learned?

My father sent me to the restaurant Le Jamin thinking I needed to be confronted with a tough experience, as I was bored and unruly at school. It was a tough experience indeed, but I loved every bit of it, maybe because of the adrenaline you have when you are part of a brigade, or maybe because I felt that it was changing me for the better.

I learnt my first recipes and techniques a LeJamin. But, more importantly, I learnt the importance of being organised, of keeping my area spotless, of obeying to the chef, which are the first essential steps of learning the job.

What drove you to move to Beirut at the age of 20?

I felt that it was time for me to go abroad, I had the urge for living a new experience. I wanted to taste foods and dishes I had never heard about…I wanted to hear a language I did not understand. Beirut seemed far from anything I had known before: it was both exotic and unusual.

pacaud-7

What have you learned working alongside your father, the laureled chef Bernard Pacaud, at L’Ambroisie?

It’s not easy to work in the restaurant of your father, especially when the place is considered to be an institution. My father was aware of that and he wanted me to earn the respect of the other brigade members, so he placed me at the bottom of the ladder. It took me seven years to work my way up and to reach the position of chef alongside my father.

During this time, I learnt the pillars of French cuisine: how to make a proper jus de viande, how to get the seasoning right, or why it is just impossible to do three-Michelin star cuisine without exceptional products. I think there is no better place than L’Ambroisie, and no better chef than Bernard Pacaud to understand the importance of such knowledge. They both embody the respect for French cuisine and the respect for the best products.

 

Right: John Dory with mace, shells and razor clams mariner. Left: Lobster fricassee with pumpkin, FRICASSÉE WITH PUMPKIN, Devilled style sauce.
Left: John Dory with mace, shells and razor clams mariner – Right: Lobster fricassee with pumpkin, FRICASSÉE WITH PUMPKIN, Devilled style sauce.

 

Le Divellec is one of the most famous seafood restaurants in Paris. How does it feel to be part of the reopening of a place with such a decorated history and role in French cuisine?

It is really a privilege to be part of the second birth of such an institution. Aside the political legend that the restaurant embodies, we also have to remember that Jacques Le Divellec was a leader and precursor in his field – he was the first chef to serve carpaccio and ceviche in Paris, for instance. I would like Le Divellec to keep this leading role in the reinvention of French cooking.

What was the process of transforming Le Divellec into a contemporary restaurant and the thinking behind it?

We wanted to bring something new and reinterpret the whole concept. At Divellec today, vegetables are as central to the menu as seafood is, as it is a part of my personal cooking style.

We are very lucky to have our vegetables grown and delivered directly from the gardens of our summer restaurant in Corsica, located in the world-class Domaine de Murtoli estate. We also wanted the restaurant to be more contemporary and relaxed, which is why we tried to decorate it as an architect would decorate his own apartment.

Mathieu Pacaud (left) and members of his team
Mathieu Pacaud (left) and members of his team

 

Le Divellec’s menu is a co-creation with your father. How did you both contribute?

We really worked together on the menu. It would have been a disaster to have some dishes created by my father on one side, and some dishes created by me on the other side. We knew we had the same priorities, which was to source amazing products, to do our best to sublimate them and to give them a modern twist.

What is your favourite dish on the menu?

We have recently added to the menu a salmon-based dish – sorrel salmon, Paimpol beans and Mostarda di Cremona – that I think reflects the spirit of our restaurant perfectly well. The sorrel gives a traditional touch, as it is a combination of flavours that has been working well in the kitchen for decades, while the Mostarda di Cremona and Paimpol beans provides a sense of novelty and completeness in the flavours. We have been working a lot on this dish to try and find the perfect way to cook it.

Right: Egg marquise, white truffle and cep fan, Divellec version. Left: Sole blanc - mange glazed with arlay wine, golden caviar.
Left: Egg marquise, white truffle and cep fan, Divellec version. Right: Sole blancmange glazed with arlay wine, golden caviar.

 

You are also planning to duplicate L’Ambroisie in Macau, Asia, inside The 13 hotel. How do you plan to adapt the traditional atmosphere of L’Ambroisie to a hotel-casino?

Our goal is to present the guests with the possibility to be transported to Paris for lunch, or a dinner. We have asked our suppliers to recreate the same plates, cutleries, glasses. The executive chef and the restaurant manager of L’Ambroisie Macau have worked for several years at L’Ambroisie Paris and are familiar with the atmosphere we want to create. Our goal is truly to recreate the experience one could have in Paris.  

divellec-paris

Behind the Frame: Stories from the Indus Delta

Eritrean-Swedish photographer Malin Fezehai tells us how she captured this stunning image of a young village girl in Pakistan

Photo by Malin Fezehai
Photo by Malin Fezehai

In order to document the effects of water scarcity and climate change on the lives of schoolchildren living in the Indus Delta, I travelled to southeastern Pakistan through villages in the Thatta region. WaterAid, who commissioned this trip, had to arrange a driver and government escorts to transport me. Large vehicles and men in uniforms took me to a school in the village of Muhammad Ali Bharj—a location, where WaterAid had decided to build taps and bathroom facilities.

That day, the school was closed but the children from the village still came out to greet us. With her small voice, a Pakistani girl in an elaborate dress invited me into her home to meet her family. The opening of this door presented the opportunity for a series of revealing portraits; women scurried around the house, preparing for a wedding to be held that day. Like the girl, they all wore vivid traditional dresses covered in beading.

The soft-spoken girl with embroidery dripping off her, was stunningly illuminated when she stepped into a shaft of window light. Faced with those moments, it is important to be calm, to match the energy of a little girl eager to show off her fancy dress, and to remember myself as a little girl in those rare occasions of being dressed up. To accept it in the camera sweetly, as part of the ritual of showing off. Yes the light was right, but more than that the spirit of the moment was right.

She’d never been to school— perhaps because in this village, school was only starting to become a priority for young girls like her. But there, in her wedding best, she was undoubtedly seen as a shining star in her community.

Noori Tales: ‘Stories from the Indus Delta’ featuring photographs by Malin Fezehai in collaboration with WaterAid and the H&M Foundation, will run at Kungsträdgården, Stockholm, from 15 August – 4 September 2016

malinfezehai.net

The Good Italian: Caruso

Umberto Angeloni, president and CEO of Caruso, talks to PORT about the evolution of tailoring, finding inspiration in Hemingway, and making some of the best suits Italy has to offer

In Caruso’s SS15 collection, there was a red jumper with seven white words woven into the fine cashmere: ‘In menswear do as the Italians do’. It’s not only an eye-catching casual piece in an otherwise mostly formal and dressed-up collection, but it’s also an impressive statement of intent from Umberto Angeloni and his recently reinvigorated Italian heritage brand. Now CEO of Caruso, Angeloni spent 15 years heading up Brioni before leaving in 2007 to look for a smaller project of his own. “I took an 18-month sabbatical and toured Italy to look at the manufacturing of clothes in this country,” he explains over breakfast at the Four Seasons Hotel, next door to his Caruso flagship store on Via Gesu in Milan. In the north of Italy, between Milan and Bologna, he founded the Caruso factory in Soragna, Parma, a region known for its eponymous, world-renowned cheese and ham. Caruso, at the time when Angeloni arrived, was a mid-sized tailoring company that only produced suits for other brands. “It was set up in 1958 by a tailor from Naples called Raffaele Caruso. He moved up to the Parma province with his family as the north of Italy was more industrialised at the time.” Only manufacturing for other brands, Raffaele quickly learnt how to make the best possible product with minimised costs. “I found Caruso and I thought it was an extremely fit company, able to be ready for the new post-recession environment by combining technology with fine, fine tailoring. The Caruso suit has the best buttonholes I’ve ever seen. I thought my previous brand did the best ones until I saw these,” Angeloni says in his confident, silky smooth voice.

“The Stage of Italian Menswear” by Giuseppe Amato in the Milan store

Since Angeloni took over in January 2009 the brand has been completely turned around. Still making some of the best suits in Italy, Caruso is now doing it under its own flag. Having worked as an investment banker before getting involved with the Brioni family business, Angeloni knows a thing or two about making a brand profitable. In terms of the creative output, he hired Sergio Colantuoni‏ as creative director. The result is a modern Italian tailoring brand anchored in history and traditions, but always looking ahead when it comes to research and development (R&D). “It’s very important for Caruso to always strive forward. We have 30 full-time staff working on R&D. Only six of them are focused on fabrics and materials though – the rest are experimenting on techniques and silhouettes, combinations etc. We make 4,000 prototypes a year, maybe four or five go into production.” It’s rare for such a brand to spend quite so much time and money on the future. Four seasons in, that investment is paying off. Except for presentations during Milan’s menswear week, and the launch of the aforementioned Via Gesu store back in January, the brand is establishing themselves at the forefront of Italian fashion. Angeloni’s approach to success is as much based on sartorial knowledge as his strategic business experience; he knows that in order to stand out and make a mark, Caruso needs a clear USP. In the case of Caruso, that distinct angle is obvious to Umberto Angeloni.

“I’m proud to say that we are very good at suits, that’s our core product and we’ll be sticking to that. It may sound like a humble statement but it isn’t really, because the suit is the most difficult item in a man’s wardrobe to get right.” But the lounge suit, the traditional business uniform of today – a two button, single-breasted jacket with notched lapels – is over 200 years old. Angeloni’s job is to modernise it. “It’s all about the evolutionary path of the lounge suit, that’s why we produce 4,000 prototypes! The evolution used to be steep and now it’s flatter, admittedly. There are still new things to discover and improve though, whether it’s the shape, posture, proportions, details, fabrics, components or colours – it’s a combination of fragments from each of them that propels the suit forward.” But in 2015, many people – at least the younger generations – question the validity of the suit. Is it really a modern garment? Unsurprisingly, Angeloni is quick to cement its importance: “It’s modern because it’s an object of evolution. By definition evolution is the most modern thing there is. It’s not a revolution, where things change overnight,” he explains. “Evolution has a way of getting rid of the wrongs and the useless. The male body has evolved over the years through a change of lifestyles, mentality, sentiments – and the suit reflects all of that. We are on the top of that curve, and there is nothing more modern than that.” He affirms, “That’s why the suit will never die, and will accompany men forever.”

15 minutes to make a button hole

There is no doubt Angeloni is a man of style himself. Breakfast at the Four Seasons is a civilised affair. He’s impeccably dressed, even though the hour is early and last night was prolonged due to the festivities in his new store. Late last year they opened a New York store, and in 2016 there’s a planned Shanghai shop in a Norman Foster-designed shopping complex. In between, Angeloni is considering a retail space in Germany. Wherever Caruso goes, Angeloni seems determined to look for spots off the beaten track; instead of the classic Via Monte Napoleone, Milan’s answer to Bond Street, the CEO went for their current, more hidden, location. He plans to make the street into a menswear shopping destination, even attracting the mayor of Milan to the store opening. “Our target is very clear and concise, we know the customer. We don’t do first, second and third lines, only one line: Caruso,” Angeloni explains. Defining the brand DNA is very important. “There’s research saying that consumers often are confused by what brands do and what they are actually good at. They want certainty.” And so far Angeloni and Caruso have managed to communicate that sartorial message through their blend of traditional wardrobe staples, manufactured in Italy with a modern take on the local heritage.

Jackets waiting for the next process

No one knows better than a seasoned businessman that in order to succeed, a brand needs to know its customer. Angeloni is quick to explain whom they have in mind. It’s evident that he has thought long and hard about this. Maybe the perfect customer was formed in his head before he even acquired Caruso? Maybe the perfect Caruso consumer is Umberto Angeloni himself? “Our customer is ‘the good Italian’. It’s an expression I read once in an Ernest Hemingway book that was published after his death, called The Dangerous Summer. It talks about a summer he spent in Spain and he says in it, ‘if you want to travel in style, travel with good Italians.’” Angeloni goes on, elaborating on the heart of the brand’s ethos: “That expression, to me, means the most sophisticated consumer of menswear: careful, fastidious, knowledgeable and curious. As an Italian brand we should – and do – cater to this consumer first and foremost. We are able to satisfy him and be relevant to any customer with a similar intention and ambition.”

So, if ever in doubt about menswear, just do as the Italians do. Photography Claudia Zalla and Gianni Pezzani

This article is taken from issue 16 of PORT. Click here for more information about subscriptions

Brexit: The Case to Remain

PORT contributors Will Self, Janine di Giovanni and Hanif Kureishi put forward their reasons to remain in the EU

Remain

Will Self

The Brexiters have shown their true colours with their dog-summoning campaigning – it’s whistled-up our old racist friend, the British bulldog. Just look at the rump of their support: valetudinarians in support stockings who’ll be hobbling on their Zimmer frames to the polling booth in order ruin their grandchildren’s future. I’m not claiming that everything in the European garden is lovely – or even that it can be made to bloom, but we live in a febrile and fissiparous world, and institutions which have a proven record of maintaining stability should be cleaved to like never before. There’s all of that – and there’s also the unutterable beauty of French women, and the fabulousness of European culture. You’d swap that to be shafted by Ronald McDonald? Salopes! While your leaders are true rois des cons…

Janine di Giovanni

In terms of international security, alliances are important. We might scoff at NATO and find it a relic of the Cold War, but in times of military urgency – such as Russia’s creeping westward expansionism onto Ukraine and eyeing the Baltic states with glee – they are necessary mechanisms for peacekeeping. I am French, British and American by nationality, and each one of my passports is an integral part of my identity, so I do understand the argument of the Leavers, but I strongly disagree with it. I think that remaining in the EU is essential for Britain, for trade, diplomacy and the economy, but also for moral responsibility. Britain was an important part of the Allies in World War II, and frankly, with the rise of ISIS and global terrorism, as well as pressing issues like climate change and epidemics, we are in dark times. We need each other, and each part of the EU is an interlocking part of the puzzle of globalisation. Yes, the Brussels bureaucrats are often lazy, inefficient and ridiculous, but the concept of the EU –like the concept of UN or the League of Nations – is about strategic alliances and partnership. Standing alone, in days like these when terror attacks and wars are literally borderless, is desperately unwise. I vote to Remain, of course.

Hanif Kureishi

My neighbourhood in West London, which I rarely leave, but, which could be considered a microcosm of the city, buzzes with the hybrid energy of Italians, French people and Arabs, as well as Africans of all kinds. We live together fruitfully and creatively, and rarely want to kill one another because of religious or racial differences. We have created one of the richest, most tolerant and culturally mature societies on earth. The wealth and success of Britain has always been based on exploitation: on Empire, immigration and the other. Now, unfortunately, the very people who made London the wonder it is are despised. And the so-called ‘migrant’ is being used as a spectre, threat and excuse. We are facing a crisis in Europe, which concerns not only the possibility of more neo-liberal destructiveness and greed, but also a backlash, which has caused a new and dangerous Right to re-emerge. These opportunists, hucksters and snake oil salesmen – from Le Pen, to Hofer and Boris Johnson – with their simplistic, opportunistic solutions, are dangerous precisely because they utilise the energy of the many disillusioned and disappointed. This threat should remind us that we must reaffirm and fight for the humanity of the European Project, which, at its centre and despite its failings, concerns egalitarianism, feminism, sexual freedom, and particularly a tolerant and non-racist multi-cultural future.

Job Opening: Advertising Manager

PORT, the biannual style magazine with a focus on beautiful and intelligent content for the modern reader, is looking for an experienced advertising manager to join our award-winning team

Advertising-Manager

We are looking for a proactive and passionate advertising manager with strong media agency contacts to secure advertising revenue and other commercial projects for PORT Magazine and port-magazine.com. The advertising manager is a senior position reporting directly to the Associate Publisher of PORT Magazine.

The job requires a thorough understanding of the print and digital media landscape and will involve maintaining and building lasting and meaningful relationships with clients across luxury, design, travel and lifestyle brands. Alongside developing sales for both PORT Magazine and port-magazine.com, the advertising manager will be responsible for seeking out and securing other creative opportunities for the business.

Essential skills
– At least three years experience of working in a sales role for a fashion or lifestyle magazine
– Excellent agency contact base
– Ability to sell across multiple sectors including luxury, design, travel and lifestyle
– Experience in selling and delivering cross-platform creative partnerships
– Proven track history in meeting and exceeding sales targets
– Great verbal and written communication skills
– Ability to work independently as well as part of a team
– Experience of working on advertorials and bespoke projects for clients

Key Duties
– Manage the advertising and commercial activities across PORT Magazine and port-magazine.com to ensure commercial targets are met
– Respond to client briefs, write proposals, prepare budgets and attend presentations as required
– Manage and implement creative projects together with the PORT editorial and production team
– Keep track of competitors in order to analyse the market
– Attend relevant industry events as a senior ambassador of the brand
– Develop persuasive and engaging sales collateral
– Write sales reports and extract data in order to create sales forecasts

Salary Dependent on experience

Please email a cover letter, CV and portfolio to PORT’s Associate Publisher, Andrew Chidgey-Nakazono via jobs@port-magazine.com

Application deadline: 20 May

Show Time: Sir Peter Blake

Right: Bearded Lady. Left: Giant, 1974-78 © Peter Blake and Paul Stolper Gallery London
Right: Bearded Lady. Left: Giant, 1974-78 © Peter Blake and Paul Stolper Gallery London

With Side-Show on display at the Paul Stolper Gallery, the legendary pop artist recounts his first trip to the circus and sketching beside Dame Laura Knight in the big top

With an exhibition of his seminal series Side-Show running at Paul Stolper Gallery in London this month, Sir Peter Blake is exploring one of his most iconic bodies of work in a new way. Made between 1974-1978, wood engravings ‘Tattooed Man’, ‘Bearded Lady, ‘Midget’, ‘Fat Boy; and ‘Giant’ are all on display alongside photographs, proofs, studies, and sketches curated by Blake and drawn from his archives for the first time. He talks to Betty Wood about his affection for the circus, which started as a young evacuee at the beginning of the Second World War…

Below: Fat Boy, 1974-78 © Peter Blake and Paul Stolper Gallery London
Below: Fat Boy, 1974-78 © Peter Blake and Paul Stolper Gallery London

Do you recall the first time you went to the circus?

I was evacuated at the beginning of the Second World War, so it would have been a country circus in Essex when I was about eight or nine. I don’t recall much from that first one. It was my teens when I started going a lot more.

When I was at the Royal College, 1953-56, Bertram Mill’s circus was at the Olympia every Christmas and I got a pass to go and draw backstage. You couldn’t go into the dressing rooms, but there was the centre ring, and a ring around that where the animals and the clowns got ready to go in. I got to draw there three years running, which was incredible. One time, I recall there was an old lady drawing; we said hello, and that was that. Afterwards I realised it was Dame Laura Knight, towards the end of her career, drawing the circus. It was also around that time I painted those first images of tattooed ladies and strong men.

Side-shows are almost extinct in modern circuses, certainly in the vein they historically existed. What was it about side-shows that fascinated you in the first place?

I’ve always been interested in people ‘at the edges of society’: the first item I collected is from Nottingham Goose Fair in the late 1960s. There was a dwarf exhibiting there who sold postcards of himself, so I bought one. My strong feeling is that there’s no one standard of beauty; people have an idea of beauty – a six-foot tall woman with long blonde hair and lipstick, for example – but beauty is in everybody. It’s because of who they are rather than what they look like. Celebrating difference is the principle behind almost all of my work.

And I suppose the reason circuses were so exciting is because was no television at the time. Obviously, there were zoos, but to see a cage full of lions and tigers when you’d never seen a wild animal… They had 26 elephants and each one would hook its trunk around the tail of the one in front, right down to a tiny baby elephant. To see that, having never seen an elephant was totally magical. That’s what the circus did – you could see things you’d never seen anywhere else.

Above: Midget, 1974-78 © Peter Blake and Paul Stolper Gallery London
Above: Midget, 1974-78 © Peter Blake and Paul Stolper Gallery London

Do you have a favourite Side-Show performer?

There are some extraordinary ones… General Tom Thumb is one of my heroes. At the time P.T. Barnum billed him as the ‘Smallest Person In The World’. He was incredibly famous, he visited Queen Victoria, and if I had to choose one, it would be General Tom Thumb.

Speaking of the exhibition at Paul Stolper, what pleasure does it bring you revisiting what is one of your most iconic portfolios? Does it reignite the original pleasure you had creating it?

Oh yes. What’s exciting at the moment is that it’s really about the craft of wood engraving – it’s about skill. And it’s quite an intelligent show. Whereas some of the work I’ve done on the pop art level is very ‘in your face’ – it’s blatant and simple – this is much calmer and it’s all in black and white.

What’s really interesting about this is when you make a print through wood engraving, the moral code and tradition is that you destroy the build up to the final image. It’s a working secret; all the proofs are normally destroyed. In the mid 1970s, when I was making the series, Cliff White said to keep all of this stuff rather than burn it, take it home. It sat in a drawer for years, and Paul Stolper liked the finished wood engraving. I said I had other pieces which were the build up to it, the proofs etc, so the exhibition is really showing that stuff; it’s letting you into the secret of wood engraving. That’s what I find so interesting: it’s an exhibition that shouldn’t exist.

You created several new prints for the exhibition: have these pieces brought the subject, and the portfolio, full circle?

No, no! It’s ongoing. My subject matter is very much professional wrestling, and at the moment I’m very interested in tattooing – I always have been. One of my first panels in 1955 was a tattooed lady, and at the moment I’m doing 10 watercolours of tattooed people – the three etchings came from that. They’re ongoing themes, they’ll never come to a conclusion as they’ll always be of interest to me. I’ll just do them in different ways.

Side-Show runs until 10 January at Paul Stolper Gallery. Click for more information