My Quilt
In response to the nights closing in, I have been spending more time under my quilt
The great majority of my stories were written beneath this quilt that I made a few years ago and which has special meaning for me. Once dusk gathers, I retreat to my bed to work each afternoon, abandoning my desk that has become piled with layers of paper and taking consolation in the warmth and comfort under my quilt, as the ideal snug location to devise my daily compositions. While the autumn enfolds the city and rain falls outside, I am happy in my secure private space, writing to you through the long dark nights in Spitalfields.
This is the only quilt I ever made and I make no claims for my ability as a stitcher which is functional rather than demonstrating any special skill. Once I made a shirt that I sewed by hand, copying the pattern from one I already had, and it took me a week, with innumerable unpicking and resewing as I took the pieces apart and reassembled them until I achieved something wearable. It was a beautiful way to spend a week, sitting cross-legged sewing on the floor and although I am proud of the shirt I made, I shall not attempt it again.
My quilt is significant because I made it to incarnate the memory of my mother, and as a means to manifest the warmth I drew from her, and illustrated with the lyrical imagery that I associate with her – something soft and rich in colour that I could enfold myself with, and something that would be present in my daily life to connect me to my childhood, when I existed solely within the tender cocoon of my parents’ affections. My sweetest memories are of being tucked up in bed as a child and of my parents climbing onto the bed to lie beside me for ten minutes until I drifted off.
For several years, after the death of my father, I nursed my mother as she succumbed to the dementia that paralysed her, took away her nature, her mind, her faculties and her eventually her life. It was an all-consuming task, both physically and emotionally, being a housewife, washing bed sheets constantly, cooking food, and feeding and tending to her as she declined slowly over months and years. And when it was over, at first I did not know what to do next.
One day, I saw a woollen tapestry at a market of a fisherman in a sou-wester. This sentimental image spoke to me, like a picture in a children’s book, and evoking Cornwall where my mother was born. It was made from a kit and entailed hours of skillful work yet was on sale for a couple of pounds, and so I bought it. At once, I realised that were lots of these tapestries around that no-one wanted and I was drawn to collect them. Many were in stilted designs and crude colours but it did not matter to me because I realised they look better the more you have, and it satisfied me to gather these unloved artifacts that had been created at the expense of so much labour and expertise, mostly – I suspected – by old women.
I have taught myself to be unsentimental about death itself, and I believe that human remains are merely the remains – of no greater meaning than toenails or hair clippings. After their demise, the quality of a person does not reside within the body – and so I chose to have no tombstone for my parents and I shall not return to their grave. Instead, through making a quilt, I found an active way to engage with my emotion at the loss of a parent and create something I can keep by me in fond remembrance for always.
I laid out the tapestries upon the floor and arranged them. I realised I needed many more and I discovered there were hundreds for sale online. And soon they began to arrive in the mail every day. And the more I searched, the more discriminating I became to find the most beautiful and those with pictures which I could arrange to create a visual poem of all the things my mother loved – even the work of her favourite artists, Vermeer, Millet, Degas and Lowry, as well as animals, especially birds, and flowers, and the fishing boats and seascapes of her childhood beside the Cornish coast.
Over months, as the quilt came together, there with plenty of rejections and substitutions in the pursuit of my obsession to create the most beautiful arrangement possible. A room of the house was devoted to the quilt, where my cat Mr Pussy came to lie upon the fragments each day, to keep me company while I sat there alone for hours contemplating all the tapestries – shuffling them to discover new juxtapositions of picture and colour, as each new arrival in the mail engendered new possibilities.
The natural tones of the woollen dyes gave the quilt a rich luminous glow of colour and I was always aware of the hundreds of hours of work employed by those whose needlecraft was of a far greater quality than mine. After consideration, a soft lemon yellow velvet was sought out to line it, and a thin wadding was inserted to give it substance and warmth but not to be too heavy for a summer night.
It took me a year to make the quilt. From the first night, it has delighted me and I have slept beneath it ever since. I love to wake to see its colours and the pictures that I know so well, and it means so much to know that I shall have my beautiful quilt of memories of my mother to keep me warm and safe for the rest of my life.
The first tapestry I bought.
Seventies silk butterflies from Florida.
From Thailand.
My grandmother had a print of Millet’s “The Angelus” in her dining room for more than sixty years.
Note the tiny stitches giving detail to the lion’s head in this menagerie.
A unique tapestry from a painting of a Cornish fishing village.
From the Czech Republic.
These squirrels never made it into the quilt.
I could not take this wonderful seascape from its frame, it hangs on my bedroom wall today
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John Dempsey’s Portraits
Cover price is £35 but if you order now you can buy it for £30 and you will receive a signed copy on publication in October.
CLICK HERE TO ORDER A SIGNED COPY OF ENDURANCE & JOY
Fifty Years Porter, Charing Cross, 1824
It is my delight to present John Dempsey’s street portraits from the eighteen-twenties held in the collection of the Tasmanian Museum & Art Gallery. Originally attributed to George Scharf, they were identified as the work of John Dempsey (1802-74) by curator David Hansen who discovered a folio of fifty-one portraits in 1996 in a drawer labelled ‘U’ for unknown.
Dempsey was an itinerant jobbing artist without any formal training who created ‘Likenesses of Public Characters’ in London and the provincial cities of England, as he travelled around in search of commissions for portrait miniatures and silhouettes. No record exists of any exhibitions and in 1845, he was declared bankrupt. Yet his achievement is unique and enduring.
In spite of Dempsey’s unconventional perspective and disproportionate figures, he created portraits full of humanity that evoke the presence of street people and the outcast poor with compassion and vitality. These are portraits of individuals and they are full of life. As an itinerant artist in an age that did not distinguish between street traders and beggars, he dignified his fellow travellers through his portraits. He understood their lives because he shared their precarious existence.
When I first saw these pictures, I was startled by how familiar they appeared to me and I assumed this was because I have spent so much time looking at prints of The Cries of London. But then I realised that I recognised the demeanour and expression of John Dempsey’s portraits because I see them, their crew and their kin, every day as I walk around the streets of London two centuries later.
Sharp, Orange Man, Colchester, 1823
Watercress, Salisbury
Black Charley, Bootmaker, Norwich, 1823
Muffin Man
Mary Croker, Mat Woman, Colchester, 1823
Sam’l Hevens, Old Jew, 1824
Charles M’Gee, Crossing Sweeper, London, c 1824
Old Bishop, Pieman, Harwich
Woolwich, 1824
Match Woman, Woolwich, 1824
Mark Custings (commonly called Blind Peter) and his boy, Norwich, 1823
Copeman, Gardener, Yarmouth
A Bill Poster, 1825
The Doorkeeper, Royal Managerie, Exeter ‘Change, (London) 1824
Images reproduced courtesy of Tasmanian Museum & Art Gallery
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Endurance & Joy in the East End 1971-1987
In spring 2019, David Hoffman asked me to publish his book and now, after more than five years of hard work, we are very proud of it and it is available for you to buy. This is a beautiful cloth-bound hardback of 240 pages containing over 200 duotone photographic prints on good quality paper, to be published on 17th October.
The cover price is £35 but if you order now you can buy it for £30 and you will receive a signed copy on publication.
CLICK HERE TO ORDER A SIGNED COPY OF ENDURANCE & JOY
When he was a young photographer, David Hoffman came to live in a squat in Fieldgate Mansions in Whitechapel and it changed his life. Over the following years, he documented homelessness, racism and the rise of protest in startlingly intimate and compassionate pictures to compose a vital photographic testimony of resilience.
David has written an extensive introduction and commentary outlining his journey to Whitechapel, following in the footsteps of his parents and grandfather before him, and explaining how he became a photographer.
Here you will discover David’s photographs of the exuberant life and residents of Fieldgate Mansions where he squatted, including the police evictions and the street parties. You will discover his astonishing photographs of East End markets, including the animal and the junk markets around Brick Lane. You will discover his poignant photographs of the old East End that was demolished. You will discover his heartbreaking portraits from St Botolph’s homeless shelter. You will discover his raucous photographs of parties at pensioners’ clubs. You will discover his apocalyptic photographs of the first Crisis at Christmas when hundreds of homeless people bedded down in a church. You will discover his surreal photographs of the crucifixion enacted on the streets of Stepney at Easter. You will discover his joyful photographs of street festivals. And you will discover his powerful photographs of the anti-racist protests which came to define that era.
This is an essential book for everyone who loves the East End.
CLICK HERE TO ORDER A SIGNED COPY OF ENDURANCE & JOY
Fieldgate Mansions, 1981
Christmas Party at St Hilda’s, 1975
Club Row animal market, 1980
Homeless people line up for their Christmas dinner in a disused church, 1977
E1 Festival, 1974
Anti-racists occupying Brick Lane to prevent the National Front from setting up its stall following the racist murder of Altab Ali in 1978
Photographs copyright © David Hoffman
Hélène Binet At St Anne’s, Limehouse
An exhibition opening today St Anne’s, Limehouse, and running until 14th March offers an opportunity to view Hélène Binet‘s magisterial photographs of Hawksmoor churches, shown previously at the Venice Biennale.
This is a rare chance to visit one of Hawksmoor’s most mysterious churches. Today and until to Saturday 21st September it is open from 10am-4pm, excluding Sunday, and open on Friday 20th until 8pm. Thereafter, the exhibition is open Fridays and Saturdays 10am-4pm.
Christ Church, Spitalfields (Courtesy of Ammann Gallery)
St George’s, Bloomsbury (Courtesy of the artist)
St Anne’s, Limehouse (Courtesy of Ammann Gallery)
St George-in-the-East, Wapping (Courtesy of the artist)
St Anne’s, Limehouse (Courtesy of the artist)
St George’s, Bloomsbury (Courtesy of Large Glass Gallery)
St Alfege, Greenwich (Courtesy of the artist)
St Mary Woolnoth, Bank (Courtesy of the artist)
Photographs copyright © Hélène Binet
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John Thomas Smith’s Antiquities Of Old London
For good reason John Thomas Smith acquired the nickname ‘Antiquity Smith’ – while working as Keeper of Drawings at the British Museum, between 1790 & 1800, he produced a large series of etchings recording all the antiquities of London, from which I publish this selection of favourites today
Old houses in the Butcher Row near Clement’s Inn, taken down 30th March 1798 – the right hand corner house is suggested to have been the one in which the Gunpowder Plot was determined and sworn
A Curious Pump – in the yard of the Leathersellers’ Hall, Bishopsgate
Sir Paul Pindar’s Lodge, Half Moon Alley, Bishopsgate
A Curious Gate in Stepney – traditionally called King John’s Gate, it is the oldest house in Stepney
London Stone – supposed to be the Millinarium of the Romans from which they measured distances
The Queen’s Nursery, Golden Lane, Barbican
Pye Corner, Smithfield – this memorialises the Great Fire of 1666 which ended at Pye Corner
Old house in King St, Westminster – traditionally believed to have been a residence of Oliver Cromwell
Lollards’ Prison – a stone staircase leads to a room at the very top of a tower on the north side of Lambeth Palace, known as Lollard’s Tower
Old house on Little Tower Hill
Principal gate of the Priory of St Bartholomew, Smithfield
Savoy Prison – occupied by the army for their deserters and transports
Mr Salmon’s, Fleet St
Gate of St Saviour’s Abbey, Bermondsey
Rectorial House, Newington Butts
Bloody Tower – the bones of the two murdered princes were found within the right hand window
Traitors’ Gate
The Old Fountain in the Minories – taken down 1793
The White Hart, Bishopsgate
The Conduit, Bayswater
Staple’s Inn, Holborn
The Old Manor House, Hackney
Dissenting Meeting House at the entrance to Little St Helen’s, taken down 1799
Remains of Winchester House, Southwark
London Wall in the churchyard of St Giles Cripplegate
London Wall in the churchyard of St Giles’ Cripplegate
Figures of King Lud and his two sons, taken down from Ludgate and now deposited at St Dunstan’s, Fleet St, in the Bone House
Images courtesy Bishopsgate Institute
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Some Favourite Nicholas Borden Paintings
You are all invited to the opening of Nicholas Borden’s STOKE NEWINGTON PAINTINGS at Everyday Sunshine Gallery, 49 Barbauld Rd, Stoke Newington, N16 0RT, tonight, Thursday 12th September from 6:30pm
In celebration of Nicholas’ new exhibition, I have selected some of my favourite paintings from the past eleven years that I have been following his work.
Arnold Circus, Boundary Estate, 2021
Meynell Rd, Hackney, 2021
Fleur De Lys St, Spitalfields, 2013
Princelet St, Spitalfields, 2013
Victoria Park by Regent’s Canal, 2021
On a 254 bus, 2024
Kelly’s Pie & Mash, Roman Rd, 2022
Regent’s Canal, 2021
Ten Bells, Spitalfields, 2022
Liverpool St Station, 2023
Leopold Buildings, Columbia Rd, 2021
Poole Rd, Hackney, 2021
Hackney Rd and beyond, 2021
Wishful thinking, 2021
St Paul’s Cathedral
St John of Jerusalem, Hackney, 2021
Gawber St, Bethnal Green, 2021
Sclater St Yard, Spitalfields, 2023
Wishful Thinking, 2021
Garrick Theatre, Charing Cross Rd, 2021
The Golden Heart, Spitalfields, 2023
Liverpool St Station, 2019
Waterloo Station, 2019
Wentworth St, Spitalfields, 2019
Terrace Rd, E9, 2019
St Peter’s Bethnal Green, 2019
Charing Cross Rd
Canal from Cat & Mutton Bridge, Broadway Market
Shoreditch High St
Paintings copyright © Nicholas Borden
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Nicholas Borden’s Spring Paintings
Crowdfund Report
David Hoffman’s photograph of anti-racists occupying Brick Lane to prevent the National Front from setting up its stall following the racist murder of Altab Ali, a Bengali garment worker, in 1978
Our crowdfund closed yesterday and, thanks to the generous contributions of 180 readers of Spitalfields Life, we raised £10,952 in twenty-eight days. Consequently, I am overjoyed to be able to confirm that David Hoffman’s exhibition of his Whitechapel photography ENDURANCE & JOY will open at the Museum of the Home on 15th October and run until 30th March. After the exhibition closes, David’s framed photographs will become part of the Museum’s permanent collection as the legacy of our project.
Over coming months, there will be a programme of events, discussions and lectures accompanying the exhibition at the Museum which we will announce shortly and we look forward to welcoming you to these.
Thank you to all our donors without whom none of this would be happening:
Sarah Ainslie, Sophie Alderson, Kate Amis, Elizabeth Aumeer , Kate Bacon, Joan Bailey, Michael Bareham, B Y Beech, M Boulesteix, Iain Boyd, Michael Jake Brown, Jonathan Bunn, Jonathan Cherr, Colin Childerley, John Clark, Michael Coleman, Harriet Coles, Nicola Crosse, Charlotte Crow, Rosie Dastgir, Maura Dooley, Josephine Eglin, Laurence Elks, Marion Elliot, Barbara Emami, Sally Fear, Gillian Figures, Deborah Finkler, Linda Florio, Laura L France, Nora Franglen, Vivian French, Louise Fry, Chris Gad, Jon Gertler, Deby Goldsmith, Andrew Jamieson-Greaves, Tracey Gregory, Jayne Hamilton, Mark Hamsher, Georgette Harrison, Julia Harrison, David Heath, Stella Herbert, Angela Mary Hobsbaum, Graham Hollis, Charlotte Ruth Hope, Lorelei Hunt, Jessica Hunter, Brian Hurwitz, Joan Isaac, Jane James, Chrina Jarvis, Annie Johns, Andrew Jones, Ron Joyce, Frances Homan Jue, Hilda Kean, Michael Keating, Sonja Khambatta, Niall Kishtainy, Leah Kloss, Vivien Knott, Sumitra Lahiri, Bridget Leach, Marie Lenclos, Jenny Linford, Martin Ling, Sarah Ludford, Imogen Malpas, Anne-Marie Marriott, Brian Mcauley, Jill Mead, Nigel Mellor, Shio Miyazaki, Daniel Moorey, Barry Mordsley, Maria Morgan, Jeremy Musson, Mysore, Rachel Nolan, Gilbert O’Brien, Vivienne Palmer, Monica Paolini, Peter Parker, Miss ME Percival, Chris Plumley, Kate Pocock, Jeffrey Ian Press, Jonathan Pryce, Anthony Quinn, Miss Helen E Rimell, Gilda Williams Ruggi, Jennifer Russell, Jane Ryan, Adam Scorer, Julie Scott, Mary Scott, Chris Sharp, Irina Shumovitch Mick Skipworth, Rob Small, Mary Smith, Rachel Darnley-Smith, A Sparks, Louise Stack, Lawrence P Stevenson, Graham Styles, Steve Szilagyi, Farokh Talati, Pen Thompson, Sophie Thompson, Susan Tiffin, Toby Titter, Christopher Turner, Simon Walker, Arabella Warner, Nicky Webb, Simon Wedgwood, Charlie De Wet, Katherine West, Jane Williamson, Jill Wilson and those who chose to remain anonymous.
We were humbled by our supporters magnanimous comments.
Very much looking forward to this exhibition. As a former squatter (in South London) it’s always great to see what the “little people” can achieve! – Kate Bacon
Appreciate your generosity of time to arrange this exhibition – Jennifer Blain
Thank you for all the memories from an East Ender born 1935 – Ron Joyce
Best of luck with the exhibition- it sounds wonderful! If it’s still on when I’m next in London, I will look forward to seeing it – Frances Homan Jue
Love the life in these photographs, these people deserve to be celebrated & remembered – Jayne Hamilton
Such a valuable collection of photographs – Peter Jackson
Looking forward to a great exhibition – Brian Mcauley
This exhibition will be unmissable so thank you and David for making this happen for us – Charlie de Wet
Such great photographs- a fascinating record of a particular place – deserve an exhibition – Jenny Linford
Looking forward to seeing this book as an ongoing part of the Spitalfields Life publication list. Great news! – Jane James
It’s exciting to visit events which share the experiences of other Londoners, both those born here and those who have made their way here from other places – Charlotte Ruth Hope
The Gentle Author is a positive force for good and enhances our daily breakfast. If we can encourage him to do another volume following his first publication and launch as before with a wonderful party – Juliet Wrightson
Good luck 😊 – Joan Bailey
Fantastic project – Mark Hamsher
A wonderful reminder for my grandchildren and future generations. All for it and wish I could cross the pond to see it! – Susan Tiffin
I am happy to support this incredible photographer and wish you well with the exhibition – Linda Florio
The Gentle Author has shared a heart full of individuals and stories about the East End in the most captivating and honourable manner. My understanding and appreciation of this colourful, creative weaving has enriched my life and imagination. May the exhibit reach many more! – Laura L France
Look forward to seeing the exhibition! – Michael Keating
Looking forward to seeing these wonderful photographs … good luck! – Raju Bhatt
Nearly there! – Louise Stack
Your daily article starts my day and tells me England still holds a lots of joy and life – Colin Childerley
Wishing you the best of luck… and looking forward to the exhibition! (fingers crossed..) – Vivian French
Good luck – Chris Gad
All good wishes for the book launch and the exhibition – Julia Harrison
I’m a huge fan of the Gentle Author’s projects! – Sarah Ludford
Good luck – a permanent exhibition would be really appropriate for this excellent collection of images – John Gillman
Pleased to help support an exhibition of David’s powerful images that movingly capture the atmosphere of my teenage years in East London – Julian
Wonderful to put the ‘little people’ on the map! – Stella Herbert
Love David’s photography and look forward to a wonderful showcase exhibition. What a time to be living in and documenting the East End. Hope very much to hear stories attached to the images – Jill Mead
This is a great project, part of the heritage of the East End – Vivienne Palmer
Dear Gentle Author, Good luck (as ever) with this important fundraiser. I was in the East End in this period (and now). All the best – Pen Thompson
Good luck! – Jeremy Musson
Amazing project, all the best 🙂 – Jessica Hunter
Let’s get this exhibition out for all to see! – Andrew Jamieson-Greaves
Fingers crossed! – John Clark
Good luck, I hope you will be successful – Bridget Leach
Do hope this exhibition DOES go ahead. Inter alia I was a squatter in East London in the 1970s etc. Seems as if that radical past is often ignored although important history – Hilda Kean
Good luck! – Chris Plumley
Good Luck. I look forward to seeing the exhibition – Elizabeth Aumeer
Good luck with reaching the target and look forward to seeing the exhibition and finished book! – Mary Scott
Terrific images – I look forward to you reaching your target and then the exhibition – Iain Boyd
A great exhibition cause – Ann Gallagher
I think these photos are a valuable record of life at that time and should be kept and be available to the public – Marion Watson
Such beautiful photographs connecting us to an (almost) lost world and preserving the memory of the people who inhabited it – Josephine Eglin
Looking forward to the book and the exhibition David. Wonderful – Sarah Ainslie
The East End has a great cultural history which should be preserved and displayed as much as possible – we owe thanks to the Gentle Author for helping us achieve that and to David Hoffman for these photos – Barry Mordsley
Love this idea – thank you! – Nicky Webb
This is a great project, more power to your elbow – Brian Hurwitz
Good luck with this project! I hope you raise enough to be able to put the exhibition on – Jill Wilson
Would love the photographers to be permanently exhibited in this beautiful museum 😊. Good luck! – Jennifer Russell
It will be a powerful exhibition and a magnificent addition to the collection – Linda Grandfield
I cant wait to see this exhibition realised. Important work and proud to support – Kate Amis
Can’t wait to see this gorgeous work on the walls. Much love. xx – Miss Helen E Rimell
Wonderful photos that deserve a place to call home – very much looking forward to seeing them in situ – Arabella Warner
Wonderful images – Mysore
Great photographer, discovered via a peerless blog – Anthony Quinn
Wonderful photos of a lost world – Laurence Elks
It is important that the widest audience possible be made aware of this particular exhibition – I look forward to seeing it myself – Chrina Jarvis
Thank you for bringing such important photography to light – Farokh Talati
Looking forward to seeing this wonderful collection of photographs on display. We must treasure our history – Barbara Emami
I hope to see the exhibition in person! – Jonathan Cherr
Good Luck, David. Really looking forward to it – Sally Fear
Good luck – looking forward to seeing the exhibition – Julia Gay
This sounds amazing, sorry I can’t contribute more. Will definitely come and see it though – Penny Russell
