Why do we and why should we read/watch/listen/look at art in all its many forms? I’ve put a lot of thought into this over the years, as perhaps might be expected, given my work as a publisher, editor, poet, fiction writer, occasional poetryfilm-maker and reviewer.
There is so much to choose from as a reader, viewer, art-lover… and often so little time to enjoy it in. Reviews have always been important, and maybe more now than ever. But then, of course, there are reviews and there are reviews, also blurbs, commentaries, academic criticism…There is work for a mass audience and art more likely to be enjoyed by the deeply engaged/literary scene/London-based…
Regardless of this, reviewing of any kind doesn’t exist in isolation. There needs to be work to review, places to publish reviews and people that want to read those reviews. The health of the arts as a whole can’t be ignored. If I wanted to start a debate, I might even go as far as to follow this up with a suggestion that the health of the arts as a whole might be good a sign of the health, or not, of wider society.
Within the creative industry, it’s fairly generally acknowledged that tastes are subjective – what we rate can’t be totally separated from our personal preferences, our background, our education… however difficult it might be to pin down a firm link between all these different elements.
But what’s maybe not always considered as widely is that art in all its many forms doesn’t sit outside of the culture and society around us either. It has to fit in with, alongside and be relevant to our busy, often pressured, lives with all the many demands placed on us everyday.
To put it another way, how many us us are going to read War and Peace after an exhausting 16-hour day of work, when we can just turn on Netflix? For me, art with meaning has to both reflect the place it takes up in real people’s lives but also encourage them to see the world or existence in a new way and highlight how this bounces back in terms of the wider picture.
Like reading/watching/listening/looking at art…writing takes time, and I may not have enough for more than a few pieces on this subject. Despite that, I hope this is worth doing, and worth reading for those who have the time and inclination to do so. The listed links/articles here aren’t necessarily reviews in the traditional sense, more everyday appreciation and or/reviews with a cultural commentary on how these might reflect wider aspects of the world around us. It’s also worth noting that I don’t offer these with any claim to expert knowledge, more as an open expression of how I found them, underpinned by a belief that the arts should always be lit by wanting to learn more and discovering new things.
Various small selections from this project can be found below, but reviewing fully/in detail takes vast amounts of time, whatever the medium being considered. More of my thoughts on the arts/culture/publishing/writing/photography etc scene and process, along with inspirational prompts, can now be found on Substack. If you’re already on Substack, my handle there is @moresarah and you can view the page here.
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On the Box
Second Home, First-rate Viewing – The Green Glove Gang (Netflix) review.
Dream Streaming – review of The Playlist (Netflix) review.
In the Frame
Hashtag PreRaphsOxford, Hashtag (Testof)Time – Pre-Raphaelites: Drawings & Watercolours review
Chez Nous – this was an initiative I started at V. Press some years ago now. There weren’t enough hours in the day to keep it going long-term. But it was set up with a similar principle in mind – that reading, in this case particularly poetry, has to sit within and alongside the other things we could be enjoying in our precious spare time.
Behind the scenes – In the booklight author interviews with elements of review woven into the questions.
Poetry reviews – my more traditional reviewing
