Bank Holiday

Bank Holiday, the equivalent of Memorial Day (minus the stripes and stars and beer), was a great day to go to the Victoria & Albert Museum! I woke up this morning at a wonderful hour of 11am, finally got to sleep in. Then went for a run in a park nearby, where I saw the second most adorable labrador. We all know who the first one is. :) Then came back home to clean up and head to the V&A Museum since I have yet to go. S works at the museum doing different textile exhibitions and projects. Two of hers are currently on tour in Canada. She gave me two free tickets to see the exhibitions that are on display this month. I took the Piccadilly to Gloucester and walked to the museum on this lovely day! My umbrella was of course in my bag but I figured there was no use for it on such a sunny day (ahem).

The V&A Museum is a huge display of art and design. They have six floors of anything and everything. I spent about 2-3 hours there today roaming around looking at the various exhibitions and displays. When I first got there I went to the Cult of Beauty exhibition which S had given me tickets to. The display followed the Aesthetic Movement from 1860 to 1900. The artists involved with the movement concentrated on the idea of "art for art's sake." Meaning that their paintings were just art, they didn't have a story... they were just meant to be beautiful. One of the paintings that I remember was a huge portrait of a girl in a white dress in front of a white curtain. The description next to the painting explained what the author wanted to express from the painting: a girl in a white dress in front of a white curtain. The exhibition had furniture, ceramics, textiles, etc.. but I found myself concentrating more so on the paintings.

The second exhibition at the V&A Museum I went to was called Figures and Fictions. It was a photography collection of pictures from South Africa. I enjoyed this one a lot because it was contemporary. One photographer that really caught my eye was Kudazai Chiurai. If you're twiddling your thumbs check him out. His series, The Parliament is what was featured at the museum. In this collection he created a fictional goverment parody. The pictures feature some pop icon over in Africa (obviously I have never heard of him). Here's one of them:

After that I came home (in the pouring rain might I add!), ate some dinner, and here I am now. I thought I would put a picture of the map that I stare at everytime I leave to go somewhere. Here's the tube map, I live right down the road from the South Ealing stop on the Piccadilly line (blue). 

(click to enlarge)

Here's what the tube map sometimes looks like:

Have a great week!