Halloween Highlights
With fewer daylight hours to play with, it’s the perfect time of year to embrace the night-time. Over the next few weeks we’ll be hosting a couple of events that suit the darker evenings perfectly; Ghosts in the Landscape, a writing workshop that draws inspiration from exhibiting artist, Tereza Zelenkova’s landscapes, taking place, very appropriately, this Halloween. Also on Bonfire Night, Light Painting, a chance to capture shapes drawn in the air using a torch, laser pen or other bright light, suitable for all the family.
Here are some highlights from our Independent Bookshop.
The Last Cosmology by Kikuji Kawada – £45
In the black night sky, the moon is a very obvious focal point. Always the same moon, but as Japanese photographer Kikuji Kawada shows us in The Last Cosmology, somehow always different. Using various photographic techniques, Kawada presents us with an intriguing picture of the cosmos.
Julia Margaret Cameron: Photographs to electrify you with delight and startle the world by Marta Weiss – £25
Julia Margaret Cameron is known for her soft-focus portraits. While she endeavored to capture beauty, similar to the style of Pre-Raphaelite painters, using the medium of photography she managed to capture an otherworldly quality. This book is compiled from the V&A collection, and includes some of Cameron’s most iconic and haunting images.
In Case it Rains in Heaven by Kurt Tong – £25
Traditionally, in Chinese culture when a person dies it is up to the family to properly equip them for the afterlife, until their reincarnation. By burning joss paper folded into the shape of gold ingots, you are ensuring your late relative will have the money to live lavishly in the afterlife. As consumerism spreads across the globe, the essential luggage for heaven is becoming far more extensive. Kurt Tong takes a closer look at this phenomenon, collecting as many paper offerings as he could find, from iPods to umbrellas, to burn for his own ancestors… just in case it rains in heaven.