STEPHANIE BROWN draws attention to the hidden labour of the female embroiderers, and how a 19th century replica made no such error
ONE Blanket Between Two is a mesmerising and melancholy short film from artist Sonia Boue, recalling the exile from fascist Spain of her father Jose Garcia Lora.
Boue uses a variety of media in her work, which can be witty and full of whimsy as well as deeply moving. Memories of family, forced emigration and a yearning for “home” are essential themes in the pieces she creates.
In post-Franco Spain, the so-called pact of forgetting has tainted family history. The law on historical memory passed only in 2007 is still contested by many and Boue’s family was not alone in having a silenced trauma, the hardship of the past going unspoken.
Historical shame prevents the International Brigades and those Spaniards who supported the Republic from being properly recognised and honoured, writes NOELIA SANCHEZ
JULIA TOPPIN recommends Patti Smith’s eloquent memoir that wrestles with the beauty and sorrow of a lifetime
WILL STONE is frustrated by a performance that chooses to garble the lyrics and drown the songs in reverb
KEVIN DONNELLY accepts the invitation to think speculatively in contemplation of representations of people of African descent in our cultural heritage


