By Emily Harrison Back in 2019, my mum, aunt and I went to see a retrospective of Paula Rego’s work at the MK Gallery. I don’t think I had, and haven’t since, left a gallery feeling so uncomfortable. Yet, simultaneously, so inspired. Paula Rego (1935-2022) is a Portuguese artist exploring themes of, as the title…
Read MoreInspiring doctor: Dr Louise Newson
By Jess Anderson Dr Louise Newson is a GP and pioneering Menopause Specialist who is immensely passionate about increasing awareness and knowledge of perimenopause and menopause, and campaigns for better menopause care for all women. She runs the world’s largest menopause clinic, where she reinvests most profits to fund ground-breaking research and provide free menopause…
Read MoreInspiring composer: Margaret Bonds
By Kennedy Blair Miller For a long time, I struggled to believe my identities as a classical musician and an activist were compatible. The history of classical music is filled with misogyny, racism, and homophobia, so I sought out an alternate history – one where musicians used their art as a vessel for progress. Margaret…
Read MoreInspiring singer: Florence Foster Jenkins
By Jonty Watt If you have ever happened upon a recording of Florence Foster Jenkins’s singing, you might think she makes a remarkably strange choice of inspirational figure. Dubbed the ‘anti-Callas’ and ‘exquisitely bad’, her recordings of difficult operatic repertoire are, indeed, legendarily woeful. Her ‘Queen of the Night’ aria has racked up nearly two…
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