Placeholder Content Image

Royal photographers weigh in on photo editing fiasco

<p>Royal photographers, brothers Zak and Samir Hussein have opened up about the realities of altering royal images - including what is and isn't allowed. </p> <p>"It's pretty clear what we're allowed to do – we're allowed to basically use darkroom techniques," Samir - who has also taken official portraits of members of the royal family - told <em>9Honey</em>. </p> <p>He then explained what darkroom techniques entail: "So what photographers in the days when they were shooting film used to do in the dark rooms.</p> <p>"We're pretty limited in what we can do, it's sort of a basic crop, maybe a bit of colour correcting and that's how we edit our photos basically.</p> <p>"Sometimes you look at picture and you think 'Oh, if I crop it like this, it will stand out more, this will be more impactful'. So it's usually, if I'm honest, when looking back at the picture that's taken, that's the first thing I look at – how can this be cropped to make it have the impact that it should really."</p> <p>Zak, who has taken many photos of Prince Harry and Meghan as well as other royal family members agreed and said that the photographers do their best to get the shot right to reduce the need for editing. </p> <p>"You try and get it right first time around when you're taking the picture," he told 9Honey. </p> <p>"Ideally, you don't want to have to do too much to the picture but yeah, it's very basic what we do.</p> <p>"I think cropping is really important because you're trying to find the best version of that picture, so if it means cropping in tighter to make it a nice portrait or keeping it wider to show more in what's going on in the event.</p> <p>"It's pretty basic what we do to the picture because it's all about when you take the picture, you're looking through the viewfinder [and] that's when you want to get it right."</p> <p>The topic of re-touching royal photos sensationally <a href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/lifestyle/family-pets/princess-kate-sensationally-speaks-out-over-photo-fiasco" target="_blank" rel="noopener">made headlines</a> over a manipulated image posted by Kate Middleton, and has now made its way back into the spotlight following the launch of the <a href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/entertainment/art/incredible-treasure-trove-of-unseen-royal-images" target="_blank" rel="noopener">new exhibition</a> at The King's Gallery exhibition in the Buckingham Palace.</p> <p>The exhibition which runs until October 6 has noted darkroom techniques including  cropping and framing out backgrounds or brightening up levels in a few of the negatives, including one label that read: "retouching is an essential part of photography.</p> <p>"Analogue retouching can occur at three stages: Modifying the negative, Manipulating the image during printing, direct retouching on the final print."</p> <p><em>Image: 9Honey/ </em><em>Royal Collection Trust / © His Majesty King Charles III 2024.</em></p>

Art

Placeholder Content Image

Rare, unseen Beatles pics released ahead of landmark exhibition

<p dir="ltr">On Thursday, The UK's National Portrait Gallery unveiled five photos from Paul McCartney’s personal archives, teasing a series of unseen photographs of Beatlemania through his own eyes.</p> <p dir="ltr">The exhibition, "Paul McCartney Photographs 1963-64: Eyes Of The Storm”, will run for three months from the 28th of June and is set to showcase what McCartney calls a "humbling yet also astonishing" experience.</p> <p dir="ltr">McCartney approached the gallery in 2020, after stumbling across the images taken on his Pentax camera, which he thought were lost.</p> <p dir="ltr">"Looking at these photos now, decades after they were taken, I find there's a sort of innocence about them," he said..</p> <p dir="ltr">"Everything was new to us at this point. But I like to think I wouldn't take them any differently today.</p> <p dir="ltr">"They now bring back so many stories, a flood of special memories, which is one of the many reasons I love them all, and know that they will always fire my imagination," he added.</p> <p dir="ltr">The images include black-and-white self-portraits shot in a mirror in Paris, John Lennon also in the City of Love, George Harrison in Miami Beach, and Ringo Starr in London.</p> <p dir="ltr">These are five out of the 250 images shot by McCartney between November 1963 and February 1964, and the exhibition will feature in the London gallery's reopening after three years of refurbishments.</p> <p dir="ltr">An accompanying book of photographs and reflections will also be published on June 13.</p> <p dir="ltr">Click <a href="https://uk.news.yahoo.com/unseen-mccartney-photos-beatles-early-230100596.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a> to see the five recently released images.</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Images: 1964 Paul McCartney / National Portrait Gallery</em></p>

Art

Placeholder Content Image

Clothes women wanted to wear: a new exhibition explores how Carla Zampatti saw her designs as a tracker of feminism

<p>The late Carla Zampatti is celebrated in a splendid retrospective Zampatti Powerhouse at the Powerhouse Museum. Planned well before the fashion designer’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-carla-zampatti-pioneered-wearable-yet-cosmopolitan-clothes-for-women-and-became-a-fashion-icon-158377">untimely death</a> last year, the unveiling of her legacy will be bittersweet to her many fans. </p> <p>Zampatti is often referred to as “Carla” by friends and those who worked for her, rather than her brand name, Carla Zampatti. Here, the simple name “Zampatti” removes the emphasis from Zampatti as designer to a simpler assertion: businesswoman, mother, philanthropist-entrepreneur. </p> <p>It is a move as deft and elegant as the rest of the exhibition choices. </p> <p>In one of the best-looking fashion exhibition designs Australia has seen, creative director Tony Assness serves up a dynamic vision of clothes punctuated by a vibrant red (one of Zampatti’s favourite design choices) that encourages excitement and discovery. Clothes are arranged by themes – jumpsuit, jungle, graphic, blouson, power – rather than date.</p> <p>Curator Roger Leong leverages his years of experience to do a relatively new thing for Australian museums: tell the stories of clothes through the stories of women who wore them.</p> <h2>A migrant story</h2> <p>Zampatti’s story is an Australian migrant story. Born Maria Zampatti in Italy in 1938 (not 1942, as is often believed), she did not meet her father, who had migrated to Fremantle, until she was 11. </p> <p>In Australia, she was forced to change her name to Mary. It was claimed the other kids could not pronounce Maria. She did not finish school. When she moved to Sydney in her late 20s, she reinvented herself as Carla.</p> <p>The fashion business started on a kitchen table in 1965 under the label ZamPAtti. By 1970, Carla had bought out her business partner husband, and was sole owner of Carla Zampatti Pty Ltd. </p> <p>Zampatti flourished in fashion. She had a finger on the pulse, was in the right place at the right time, and knew a more glamorous role was possible for a fashion designer than the industry “rag trader”.</p> <p>In the 1970s, the markets suggested that the ultra-expensive haute couture was about to disappear, to be replaced by informal ranges created by a new type of designer often called a “stylist”. It was the decade of flower power, retro dressing and ethnic borrowings.</p> <p>Until the 1960s, fashion had been dominated by the rise of haute couture and the “dictator-designer” system – mainly men who determined hem lengths and silhouettes for women. But in 1973, the French body governing high fashion added a new layer of designers, créateurs (literally “creators” or designers), who produced only ready-to-wear. </p> <p>In 1972 Zampatti opened her first Sydney boutique, inspired by informal shops she had seen in St Tropez. Zampatti offered women bright jumpsuits, art deco looks and peasant-inspired ease.</p> <p>She aimed to provide women clothes they wanted to wear. She draped the cloth and colours on herself. Like many women designers historically, she was alert to how her clothes made women customers look and feel. Zampatti remained the fit model for the whole range and would not produce anything in which she did not look and feel well. </p> <p>Zampatti saw her “clothes as a tracker of feminism”.</p> <p>The 1980s cemented Zampatti’s rise to prominence. She became a household name, even designing a car for women. In this time, personal expression became more important than unified looks dictated by designers. Zampatti’s Australian designing coincided with a new development in Italy: the stylisti. Small, focused family businesses alert to the zeitgeist and understanding quality flourished. It was an approach that emphasised quality and glamour. </p> <p>Zampatti identified talent. She employed well-known couturier Beril Jents on the shop floor after she had fallen on hard times. She then employed Jents to improve the cut of her designs. </p> <p>Zampatti continued to embrace the services of stylists and other designers including Romance was Born, whom she recognised could take her work to the next level.</p> <h2>The stories of clothes</h2> <p>Worn equally by politicians and their circles on the right and the left, Zampatti injected more than power dressing into women’s wardrobes. She inspired a sense that women wore the clothes, not the clothes them. </p> <p>In this exhibition we are given many examples, from Linda Burney’s red pantsuit worn for her parliamentary portrait to a gown worn by Jennifer Morrison to the White House.</p> <p>The exhibition viewer can turn from serried ranks of brilliantly styled mannequins and enter large “listening pods”, screening brilliantly edited videos in the manner of artist Bill Viola. The women, who include Dame Quentin Bryce and Ita Buttrose, discuss the creative mind of Zampatti or reflect on their own Zampatti wardrobe. They are amongst the best such “talking heads” I have seen in a museum.</p> <p>Like many designers, Zampatti was not that interested in her own past. She did not keep substantial archives and records, which is a testament to the skills demonstrated by the museum in bringing us this show. </p> <p>Zampatti never turned her back on her personal story, but she was a futurist, one who looked forward rather than backward.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p> <p><em>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/clothes-women-wanted-to-wear-a-new-exhibition-explores-how-carla-zampatti-saw-her-designs-as-a-tracker-of-feminism-194040" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. </em></p>

Beauty & Style

Placeholder Content Image

How a man used a cancer diagnosis to explore his artistic talents

<p dir="ltr">A 70-year-old has spent seven years discovering his artistic talents, after a shock cancer diagnosis forced him into early retirement. </p> <p dir="ltr">Michael Kiely, from the NSW central west, found his love of painting when he was 63, despite struggling to keep the brush steady after living with Parkinson’s disease for 20 years. </p> <p dir="ltr">He didn’t let his ailments stop him, instead using art as a form of therapy to come to terms with his health issues. </p> <p dir="ltr">After a second cancer diagnosis in which he was given just three months to live, the former farmer decided he needed to host an art exhibition. </p> <p dir="ltr">The exhibition, which has been cheekily called <a href="https://www.mykidscoulddothat.com/shop">My Kids Could Do That</a>, will be held in Sydney’s Circular Quay on October 30th. </p> <p dir="ltr">He told <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/real-life/article-11334375/Artist-reveals-turned-art-stage-four-cancer-diagnosis.html">Daily Mail Australia</a>, “I paint every day - if I stop it feels like I am going to explode, but I still feel like a fraud.”</p> <p dir="ltr">“I am amazed when regular people come up to me and tell me they like my paintings. It means more than when they say it, because regular people can't afford to buy them unless they do like them,” he said.</p> <p dir="ltr">As Michael came to terms with his illness, by spending time on his artworks, he was able to embrace his life-long love of creativity.  </p> <p dir="ltr">“I hadn't painted since I was nine years old. But when I got cancer (the first time) and my wife and I decided I should retire I started again,” he said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“When it is working for you then painting is like breathing. When it isn't, it is frustrating - but I find you can only come back to a work a few times before you lose it, then it is for the bin,” he said.</p> <p dir="ltr">Now fulfilling his dream of putting on an exhibition, Michael is focusing on how lucky he feels to be alive to see it. </p> <p dir="ltr">Thanks to experimental immunology, it's been three years since his devastating three-month diagnosis.</p> <p dir="ltr">“He spent two years doing the treatments, and saw his oncologist recently who is really impressed with how things are,” Michael’s daughter Jessica said.</p> <p dir="ltr">While Michael admits he doesn’t understand much about art, including what makes artists popular, he hopes his unique style will strike a chord. </p> <p dir="ltr">“Do yourself and an old man a favour, buy my art before I die. I want to see these pieces going home with people. And just think, as soon as I cark it, they all become limited editions,” he said. </p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image credits: Supplied</em></p>

Art

Placeholder Content Image

Russian guard sentenced after doodling eyes on exhibit painting

<p dir="ltr">A Russian security guard has been found guilty of vandalism after doodling eyes on an abstract painting by avant-garde artist Anna Leporskaya last December.</p> <p dir="ltr">According to the <a href="https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2022/08/29/russian-museum-guard-yeltsin-centre-doodles-sentenced">Art Newspaper</a>, he must serve 180 hours of “compulsory labour” and undergo “psychiatric evaluation”.</p> <p dir="ltr">The painting, titled <em>Three Figures</em> (1932–34), was on loan to the Yeltsin Centre from Moscow’s State Tretyakov Gallery and valued at 75 million rubles (US$1.2 million).</p> <p dir="ltr">News of the vandalism broke when visitors alerted gallery staff of two crude eyes drawn on the painting’s faceless figures in a ballpoint pen. </p> <p dir="ltr">A police investigation revealed the culprit was 64-year-old Aleksandr Vasiliev, a security guard employed by a private company who was on his first day on the job. </p> <p dir="ltr">After the damage was deemed “insignificant”, it was restored and has since been returned to the Tretyakov Gallery. </p> <p dir="ltr">Vasiliev’s lawyer, Aleskei Bushmakov, shared a letter on his Facebook page that he sent to Zelfira Tregulova, the general director of the Tretyakov Gallery.</p> <p dir="ltr">He wrote that “taking into account the circumstances of the criminal case, the damage inflicted to the painting <em>Three Figures</em>” and “the high level of public attention in connection with the incident,” the museum considered closing the case “via reconciliation” but ultimately decided that it “does not regard it as possible to take such an appeal to the magistrate.”</p> <p dir="ltr">In an interview with Russian news site E1, Vasiliev said he believed the 20th-century work by Leporskaya was a “children’s drawing” and claimed he was goaded by teenagers to deface it.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I’m a fool, what have I done,” he said.</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image credits: State Tretyakov Gallery / The Art Newspaper Russia</em></p>

Art

Placeholder Content Image

Johnny Depp makes over $5 million in art sales

<p dir="ltr">Johnny Depp has made over $5 million in just a few hours through the sale of his debut art collection.</p> <p dir="ltr">The Hollywood actor sold 780 prints through Castle Fine Art's 37 galleries within hours of announcing the sale on Instagram.</p> <p dir="ltr">The <em>Friends And Heroes</em> collection depicts famous people who have inspired him, including Rolling Stone Keith Richards and Hollywood actress Elizabeth Taylor.</p> <p dir="ltr">"I've always used art to express my feelings," the 59-year-old said.</p> <p dir="ltr">"My paintings surround my life, but I kept them to myself and limited myself. No one should ever limit themselves."</p> <p dir="ltr">Depp said he used his art, which also depicted actor Al Pacino and folk legend Bob Dylan, to "reflect on those who matter most to me, like my family, friends and people I admire".</p> <p dir="ltr">All 780 artwords sold within hours after the sale was announced, with individual images going for almost $7,000, and the complete portfolio of four images selling for just over $26,000.</p> <p dir="ltr">Depp's post on Instagram, captioned only "NOW AT #CASTLEFINEART", prompted a rush of traffic to the gallery's website causing it to crash within minutes.</p> <p dir="ltr">In a press release, the gallery described the actor's work as existing "at the intersection of pop art and street art" and as "pop art with feeling".</p> <p dir="ltr">The gallery had long been in talks with Mr Depp about staging an exhibition and sale of his work, and expects to host more of it in the future.</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p>

Art

Placeholder Content Image

Galleries continue to erase women artists in their blockbuster exhibitions

<p>The National Gallery recently <a href="https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/about-us/press-and-media/press-releases/after-impressionism">announced</a> its summer 2023 exhibition, After Impressionism, claiming the show will celebrate the “towering achievements of Cezanne, Van Gogh, Gaugin and Rodin” among others. The <a href="https://twitter.com/NationalGallery/status/1528729976542986242">response on social media</a> to this announcement was largely, “where are the women?”</p> <p>Some on Twitter offered suggestions of women who should be included in the exhibition, including Suzanne Valadon, Paula Modersohn-Becker, Gabriele Münter and Sonia Delaunay, to name just a few. The National Gallery <a href="https://twitter.com/NationalGallery/status/1529758889150930944">tweeted</a> the same text to several of these replies: “We have announced a small number of confirmed loans to the exhibition. This includes Camille Claudel’s Imploration. We will share more loans, including major works by women artists, closer to the opening.” </p> <p>While it remains to be seen what these works will be, it is clear they are not considered integral to the show, or a significant draw for the public, by the gallery. If they were, they would have been mentioned front and centre in the press release. </p> <p>That was accompanied by an image of Cezanne’s <a href="https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/paul-cezanne-bathers-les-grandes-baigneuses">Bathers (Les Grandes Baigneuses)</a>, which depicts a group of nude women. Clearly in 2022, the easiest way for a woman to get on to the walls of the National Gallery is <a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/guerrilla-girls-do-women-have-to-be-naked-to-get-into-the-met-museum-p78793">still</a> by being nude.</p> <p>The National Gallery is somewhat of an outlier among global museums in its continued failure to broaden the narratives it tells through its collection and exhibitions. But its focus on extremely well-known white male artists demonstrates what it considers to be innovative and important – and therefore what it does not. </p> <h2>When women have been blockbusters</h2> <p>The expectation that “blockbuster” shows be about household-name artists is a vicious cycle – artists cannot become household names if they’re not included in big exhibitions. The lack of women in traditional art historical scholarship has led to the belief that there simply weren’t many, or indeed any, important women artists working in Europe in this period, which is entirely false – as the backlash on Twitter highlighted. Yet museums still seem unable to recover them into the canon.</p> <p>The idea that only household names sell tickets has also been repeatedly debunked over the past decade. The best example is New York’s Guggenheim Museum’s 2018 <a href="https://www.guggenheim.org/exhibition/hilma-af-klint">exhibition</a> of the works of Swedish artist Hilma af Klint, the first major retrospective of the artist’s works in the US – and the first time most people attending the show had seen or heard of her. The exhibition became the museum’s <a href="https://news.artnet.com/art-world/hilma-af-klint-breaks-records-guggenheim-1522192?utm_content=buffer3ce14&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=facebook.com&amp;utm_campaign=news">best-attended show ever</a>.</p> <p>The National Portrait Gallery’s 2019-20 show <a href="https://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/pre-raphaelite-sisters/exhibition/">Pre-Raphelite Sisters</a> and Madrid’s Museo del Prado’s 2020-21 show <a href="https://www.museodelprado.es/en/whats-on/exhibition/uninvited-guests-episodes-on-women-ideology-and/197d4831-41f1-414d-dbdf-5ffd7be4cc3f">Uninvited Guests: Episodes on Women, Ideology and the Visual Arts in Spain (1833-1931)</a> both foregrounded women in traditionally male art movements and periods. </p> <p>Both were the recipients of <a href="https://www.frieze.com/article/pre-raphaelite-sisters-national-portrait-gallery-review-ode-sisterly-solidarity">some</a> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/19/prados-first-post-lockdown-show-reignites-debate-over-misogyny">criticism</a>, largely arguing that the curators had not gone far enough in centring work actually made by women, rather than simply depicting them. Both shows, however, represent steps towards imagining new methods of disrupting traditional art history narratives. </p> <h2>Still woefully underrepresented in permanent collections</h2> <p>In the autumn and winter of 2020, the National Gallery hosted its first exhibition headlining a female artist. It was a retrospective of the works of the remarkable Renaissance artist <a href="https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/exhibitions/past/artemisia">Artemisia Gentileschi</a>, one of the few women whose work is held in the gallery’s permanent collection. </p> <p>Women artists are woefully underrepresented in the permanent collections of major museums around the world – these are the works of art that are owned by museums and hung on the walls year-round, not just during special exhibitions.</p> <p>The National Gallery, which boasts a collection of more than 2,000 works, owns only <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/jan/31/female-artists-are-finally-in-our-galleries-lets-keep-them-there">24 works</a> by women, representing just <a href="https://artuk.org/discover/stories/the-eight-women-artists-of-the-national-gallery">eight</a> women artists. While this ratio is remarkably bad, the National Gallery is not alone in having a profound imbalance. </p> <p>The arts publications Artnet and arts podcast In Other Words partnered in 2019 to <a href="https://news.artnet.com/womens-place-in-the-art-world/visualizing-the-numbers-see-infographics-1654084">analyse</a> the representation of women in the collections of American museums. They found that between 2008 and 2018, just 14% of work in museum exhibitions was by women and just 11% of museum acquisitions were works by women. These acquisitions and exhibitions are heavily skewed towards modern and contemporary art. </p> <p>Women artists working before 1900 are far less represented in museum collections. In some cases, their works are in smaller museums or in private collections and, in others, they are untraced or lost. This makes including their work in exhibitions more difficult because it can be harder to find.</p> <p>Yet despite the fact that women’s work has been less reliably preserved throughout history, a great deal of it still exists. Museums that hide behind the excuse of a “lack” of work by women are perpetuating a lie that has been debunked by innumerable feminist art historians since Linda Nochlin’s famous 1971 essay, <a href="https://www.artnews.com/art-news/retrospective/why-have-there-been-no-great-women-artists-4201/">Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?</a></p> <p>Writing in 2015, art historian Griselda Pollock <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-national-gallery-is-erasing-women-from-the-history-of-art-42505">explained</a> evidence of women artists is “there in black and white” in exhibition and sales records in the 19th century. “This is the primary evidence. It cannot be contradicted. But it has been consistently ignored by 20th-century art historians and 21st-century museum curators.”</p> <p>The National Gallery’s continued reliance on outdated art history is a failure of its duty as a steward of the British public’s art collection. Museums, particularly those like the National Gallery which receive significant public funds, have the responsibility to accurately communicate the history and relevance of the objects they own. They should also continue to innovate and respond to cultural changes. </p> <p>A museum whose collection is less than 1% female is hardly representative of a country whose population is 50% female. Nor is it representative of a history of art which, while still not offering equal opportunities for men and women, certainly fostered an abundance of pioneering women artists.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p> <p><em>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/galleries-continue-to-erase-women-artists-in-their-blockbuster-exhibitions-184988" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. </em></p>

Art

Placeholder Content Image

New Air NZ exhibit celebrates Māori culture

<p dir="ltr">A new exhibition promises to take visitors through the skies of New Zealand by combining virtual reality with the real world.</p> <p dir="ltr">The exhibition, launched by Air New Zealand, sees a virtual version of Pou Tikanga, Pou Pūrākau (cultural leader, storyteller) Joe Harawira take guests through the story of Matariki, the celebration of the Māori new year.</p> <p dir="ltr">"Attendees will board the waka rererangi (canoe in the sky) to visit the Guardians Tanē Mahuta (forest), Tangaroa (sea), Papatūānuku (land), and Ranginui (sky) to experience the Matariki story, all without moving an inch,” Air New Zealand Senior Cultural Development Manager Jahmaine Cummings-Hodge said in a <a href="https://www.airnewzealand.com.au/join-araraurangi-air-new-zealand-in-the-waka-rererangi-for-a-matariki-journey" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a>.</p> <p dir="ltr">"A full 3D virtual version of Joe has been created which appears in the experience at a human scale. We have also replicated the carved waka in its entirety digitally using similar techniques, mimicking intricate carvings and textures."</p> <p dir="ltr">A combination of facial motion capture, photogrammetry, and scanning techniques was used to bring the virtual versions of Joe and the waka to life, which can be viewed using Magic Leap headsets.</p> <p dir="ltr">The technology used by Magic Leap layers digital objects onto the real world, meaning that light enters the eye just like it would if a real object were being viewed.</p> <p dir="ltr">The virtual reality experience comes after the airline worked with Harawira for a new safety video celebrating Māori culture, released in May this year, and as part of the company’s efforts to support te ao Māori (the Māori worldview).</p> <p dir="ltr">"As the national carrier, Air New Zealand has a responsibility to demonstrate an authentic and holistic support of Māori culture,” Cummings-Hodge said.</p> <p dir="ltr">The experience, launched at the Canterbury Museum on June 18-19, will be live at Te Puia in Rotorua from June 22.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-73e10ed5-7fff-2715-1fe5-c9fa598026d9"></span></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: @canterburymuseum (Instagram)</em></p>

Domestic Travel

Placeholder Content Image

Elvis takes centre-stage in unlikely destination

<p dir="ltr">A blockbuster exhibition of all things Elvis Presley is taking over the regional Victorian city of Bendigo, with over 30 activities featuring across the four month celebration.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-e2855737-7fff-6496-3e4e-e95a964df353"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">Elvis: Direct From Graceland has taken over Bendigo Art Gallery displaying about 300 personal items on loan from Graceland, Memphis, including Presley’s military uniforms, jumpsuits, his wedding suit and Priscilla’s wedding gown and veil, and their daughter’s toys.</p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CbWu5Y4twRG/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CbWu5Y4twRG/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Bendigo Art Gallery (@bendigoartgallery)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p dir="ltr">Even the King’s vehicles have made the journey, with his custom Harley Davidson and the red convertible from the film Blue Hawaii - the only car Elvis actually owned from his movies - included in the display.</p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-72aa5824-7fff-8be8-fb5d-2fbc697e22e9"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">One room is dedicated entirely to his outfits, including the one he wore to meet President Nixon, an array of his bedazzled Vegas suits, and casual off-stage outfits.</p> <p dir="ltr"><img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/05/elvis-bendigo1.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Elvis’ personal items, including an array of his dazzling suits, are also on display. Image: @bendigoartgallery (Instagram)</em></p> <p dir="ltr">But, the Elvis-themed festivities extend beyond the gallery, with appropriately themed cuisine appearing in the local restaurants and Bendigo Central’s chocolatier.</p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-ca309c2b-7fff-9f96-9a2a-9c3b3279d53b"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">Hustler, Bendigo’s modern American diner, has added two burgers to its menu: the Burning Love burger and the Fool’s Goldburger, featuring a 150g beef patty, crisps, peanut butter and raspberry jelly between a doughnut bun.</p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CbcDAGZrZrJ/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CbcDAGZrZrJ/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Hustler (@hustlerbendigo)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-45413cd0-7fff-ddd8-6e60-edc664959410"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">Another highlight is the Shake, Rattle and Roll tram, a moving bar operating every weekend and offering Love Me Tender cocktails to sip on as you trundle along the picturesque cityscape with a soundtrack of Elvis classics.</p> <p dir="ltr"><img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/05/elvis-bendigo2.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>The Shake, Rattle and Roll tram makes its way through the city streets every weekend. Image: Supplied</em></p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-1b8d5a86-7fff-f037-f508-14530678ffbd"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">The conservatory in Rosalind Park has also been transformed to include interactive displays that pay homage to Elvis’ favourite hangouts, while performers and screening of Elvis movies descend on Hargreaves Mall.</p> <p dir="ltr"><img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/05/elvis-bendigo3.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Elvis’ wedding suit and Priscilla Presley’s gown on display at the gallery. Image: @bendigoartgallery (Instagram)</em></p> <p dir="ltr">So whether you’re a die hard Elvis fan or are looking for a unique weekend away, Bendigo will be the place to head to until July 17, when the King heads home once again.</p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-299505cc-7fff-311f-0183-65dc7bbcb0d2"></span></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: @bendigoartgallery (Instagram)</em></p>

Domestic Travel

Placeholder Content Image

Salvador Dali exhibition heads to New Zealand

<p dir="ltr">The works of surrealist artist Salvador Dali are the subject of a new multimedia exhibition headed for Auckland and Christchurch that promises to wow art connoisseurs and first-timers alike.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-9847cd07-7fff-bb62-5654-0c315ef447f7">Inside Dali comes from the same team behind last year’s Van Gogh Alive exhibition which has appeared in capital cities across New Zealand and Australia over the past year, per <em><a href="https://concreteplayground.com/auckland/arts-entertainment/a-breathtaking-multimedia-exhibition-of-salvadore-dalis-work-is-coming-to-new-zealand-this-year-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Concrete Playground</a></em>.</span></p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cb_QyP0P_cQ/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cb_QyP0P_cQ/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Inside Dalí NZ (@insidedalinz)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p dir="ltr">The exhibition, which comes directly from its current home in Florence, promises to take visitors on a chronological trip through Dali’s life through floor-to-ceiling moving images, real-life objects, and interviews.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-cbe122c3-7fff-d3fa-5a2e-627878e5106a"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">There are five rooms to explore, including the celebration of Dante’s Inferno in the Divine Comedy Room with 100 colourful wooden engravings of the epic poem, and a surreal 360-degree mirror room where you’ll be surrounded by moving imagery of his masterpieces.</p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cb8fMVkLClF/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cb8fMVkLClF/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Inside Dalí NZ (@insidedalinz)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p dir="ltr">The exhibit is expected to <a href="https://blog.ticketmaster.co.nz/arts-attractions/inside-dali-new-zealand-3011" target="_blank" rel="noopener">open</a> first in Auckland from May 28 until June 30, before it takes up residence at the Air Force Museum of New Zealand in Christchurch from July 11.</p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-783a0a79-7fff-f03a-ff4e-376cdf0b7264"></span></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Ticketmaster</em></p>

Domestic Travel

Placeholder Content Image

British Museum unveils female spiritual beings exhibit

<p dir="ltr">A unique exhibition is set to open at the British Museum later this year that celebrates how femininity has been perceived across the globe through history. </p> <p dir="ltr">The exhibit, titled <em>Feminine power: the divine to the demonic</em>, is the first of its kind to be showcased in the British museum. </p> <p dir="ltr">The figures on display range from a Hindu goddess considered the master of death, to a magical Greek enchantress, as the exhibit explores women in both world belief and mythological traditions. </p> <p dir="ltr">The exhibition includes representations of Lilieth, a character from Jewish mythology thought to be the first wife of Adam and later the consort of Satan, as well as Guanyin, the Chinese goddess of mercy.  </p> <p dir="ltr">The idea behind the exhibit is to bring together ancient sculptures, sacred artefacts and contemporary art from six continents to explore how femininity has been portrayed, and how it influenced the way we view women and their power today. </p> <p dir="ltr">For the first time, the British Museum has invited special guest contributors to respond to the themes in the exhibition, sharing their personal and professional viewpoints.</p> <p dir="ltr">The special guests include doctors, professors, activists, authors, lawyers and former members of the British Army, who will share their own stories of feminism, and how they have fought for the rights of women. </p> <p dir="ltr">Muriel Gray, Deputy Chair of Trustees of the British Museum, said, “The Citi exhibition <em>Feminine power: the divine to the demonic</em> is brimming with magic, wisdom, fury and passion.”</p> <p dir="ltr">“I am very proud that through the breadth and depth of the British Museum's collection, alongside special loans, we can tell such powerful and universal stories of faith and femininity from the most ancient cultures to living traditions around the world.</p> <p dir="ltr">Following the display at the British Museum, the exhibition will be seen internationally, starting at the National Museum of Australia in Canberra.</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image credits: The Trustees of the British Museum</em></p>

Art

Placeholder Content Image

Never-before-seen portrait of Diana goes on display

<p dir="ltr">A previously unseen portrait of Princess Diana is set to <a href="https://honey.nine.com.au/royals/unseen-portrait-of-princess-diana-revealed-for-life-through-royal-lens-exhibition/9cedcc32-1f96-4060-b855-fedad3546d0c" target="_blank" rel="noopener">go on display</a> for the first time at a new exhibition in her former home of Kensington Palace.</p> <p dir="ltr">The photo, taken in 1988 by minimalist photographer David Bailey, reveals a different side to Diana.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-b3dc988f-7fff-dc55-38d4-15c0e7f308ea"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">Claudia Acott Williams, the curator at Historic Royal Palaces, said the image was one of several taken during the sitting, which was kept by Bailey while the rest were shown at the National Portrait Gallery.</p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cab7ZAAoRnr/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cab7ZAAoRnr/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Historic Royal Palaces (@historicroyalpalaces)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p dir="ltr">“For me, this is the most powerful of all the pictures in that sitting,” Ms Williams told <em>The Telegraph</em> UK.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Here, she’s retreating from the camera a bit, she looks stoic. It’s doing something very different.”</p> <p dir="ltr">The photograph is a late addition to the exhibition <em><a href="https://www.hrp.org.uk/kensington-palace/whats-on/life-through-a-royal-lens/#gs.rgro6r" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Life Through a Royal Lens</a></em>, which features some of the most iconic images taken of the British royals.</p> <p dir="ltr">It was loaned to the exhibition by the digital Princess Diana Museum with Bailey’s agreement.</p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-0c93fe6f-7fff-f554-4dd0-938d42e4b420"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">Other never-before-seen images include one of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh laughing together during their 70th wedding anniversary photo shoot in 2017, which was considered too intimate and informal to be released as an official portrait.</p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CNen0VzA5I_/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CNen0VzA5I_/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Matt Holyoak Photographer (@mattholyoak)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p dir="ltr">“I think this speaks to their relationship with each other,” Ms Williams said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“This is them as a married couple, as husband and wife, not just monarch and consort.</p> <p dir="ltr">“It’s such a subtle difference from the existing photographs and yet it tells us a different story, the chemistry between these two as long into their marriage as it was.”</p> <p dir="ltr">A photo considered to be the earliest surviving image of a royal family member will also be on display, taken by William Constable in March 1842 of Prince Albert.</p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-60ea9130-7fff-0e62-7d58-f21e682562a1"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">More intimate shots of Queen Elizabeth II and her children will be on display as well, along with photos of Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis taken by the Duchess of Cambridge.</p> <p><iframe style="overflow: hidden; border: initial none initial;" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fkensingtonpalace%2Fposts%2F5032744336748945&amp;show_text=true&amp;width=500" width="500" height="754" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p> <p dir="ltr">50 photographs taken by members of the public, including one of Diana from her 1993 visit to Hinde Street Church, round out the exhibition, which opens on Friday, March 4.</p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-59178110-7fff-299d-c273-076fcb9e69e1"></span></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Kensington Palace</em></p>

Beauty & Style

Placeholder Content Image

Exquisite new portrait of Crown Princess Mary unveiled

<p>Crown Princess Mary has brought her family along to open a very special exhibition that will give fans of the royal an unprecedented look into her life so far.</p><p>Mary, who will celebrate her 50th birthday on the 5th of February, unveiled a new portrait of herself that took her husband's breath away.</p><p>As the cover was pulled away and down, revealing the painting, Prince Frederik was heard gushing in amazement.</p><p>The portrait is now on display at the National History Museum at Frederiksborg Castle in Hillerød, north of Copenhagen, and was created by Spanish-born artist Jesús Herrera Martínez. It contains a subtle tribute to Australia, where Mary was born in 1972.</p><p>The painting was staged in the Crown Princess' study inside her home in Frederik VIII's Palace at Amalienborg. Painted on the wall behind her is a shadow of a eucalyptus tree which is native to Australia.</p><p>On Mary's right hand is her aquamarine cocktail ring, rumoured to have been given to her, along with a pearl choker and earrings, upon her engagement to Prince Frederik.</p><p>The portrait was unveiled as part of the opening of the special exhibition 'HRH Crown Princess Mary 1972 - 2022', created for her birthday. Mary was joined by Crown Prince Frederik and three of their four children - Princess Isabella, 14, Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine, both 11, for the opening.</p><p>As they arrived the bells of the castle played 'Waltzing Matilda' in another special nod to Australia.</p><p>The family toured the display, which tells the story of Mary's life through personal items, photographs, official portraits and clothing. Mementoes from Mary's childhood in Australia are featured, with Mary and her family taking time to look over the items before moving onto the larger display of her gowns.</p><p>Some of Mary's favourite dresses are on show, including her blue sequined Jesper Høvring gown, a grey Prada dress, the tiered gown she wore for Prince Frederik's 50th birthday celebrations and her white frock by Mark Kenly Domino Tan that she wore in Paris in 2019.</p><p>The Crown Princess will celebrate her 50th on February 5 in private gathering after a planned gala dinner at Rosenborg Castle was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.</p><p>Recently she took Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine to Copenhagen Zoo to launch the expansion of a new exhibit housing Australian animals, called Mary's Australian Garden.</p><p><em>Image: 9News</em></p>

Art

Placeholder Content Image

Prince Charles holds largest exhibit of his watercolours to date

<p dir="ltr">The largest ever exhibition of artworks created by Prince Charles has opened at the Garrison Chapel in Chelsea Barracks, a recently restored chapel in a converted army barracks in London’s Belgravia district.</p> <p dir="ltr">A painting enthusiast, Prince Charles has extolled the benefits of art, saying it “transports me to another dimension”, that painting is "one of the most relaxing and therapeutic exercises I know," and that it "refreshes parts of the soul which other activities can't reach."</p> <p dir="ltr">The exhibition contains 79 of the prince’s paintings of landscapes of the French countryside, the Scottish Highlands, and Tanzania, which is one of Charles’ favourite places to paint. He regularly paints the family’s estates, including Balmoral Castle and Sandringham House, and has also produced works depicting Turkey, Nepal, and the Swiss Alps.</p> <p dir="ltr">As for why he started painting, Charles said, "I took up painting entirely because I found photography less than satisfying. Quite simply, I experienced an overwhelming urge to express what I saw through the medium of watercolor and to convey that almost 'inner' sense of texture which is impossible to achieve via photography."</p> <p dir="ltr">Like Queen Victoria before him, Charles is a “keen watercolourist” who “paints whenever his schedule allows”. Of his early works, he said, "I am under no illusion that my sketches represent great art or a burgeoning talent! They represent, more than anything else, my particular form of 'photograph album' and, as such, mean a great deal to me."</p> <p dir="ltr">While the prince does not sell his paintings, lithographs of his works are used to raise money for his charity; in 2016, it was reported that he had sold approximately £2 million worth from a shop at his Highgrove House residence. The National Gallery of Australia exhibited several paintings of his in 2018 to mark his 70th birthday.</p> <p dir="ltr">The curator of the exhibition, Rosie Alderton, said that Charles "likes to sit in the actual environment and paint 'en plein air.” She added, “His passion for creating beautiful art is conveyed strongly in this exhibition."</p> <p dir="ltr">In addition to the watercolours, there is a tapestry based on his painting "Abandoned Cottage on the Isle of Stroma” that took weaver Ben Hymers eight months to finish.</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images</em></p>

Art

Placeholder Content Image

Queen Elizabeth II’s outfits exhibited in royal residences

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">To commemorate Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022, a trio of her most recognisable outfits will be exhibited in the royal residences. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Royal Collection will showcase the Queen’s outfits from her accession, coronation and jubilees at Windsor castle, Buckingham Palace and the Palace of Holyroodhouse. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Among the pieces will be the pink silk crepe and chiffon dress and coat worn by Her Majesty in June 1977 to mark her 25 year reign.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The iconic ensemble was designed by </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">royal couturier Sir Hardy Amies and a matching hat by milliner Simone Mirman. </span></p> <p><img style="width: 500px; height: 281.25px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7845734/queen-exhibit-silver.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/307f48ed25b24399bfff029341527f20" /></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Image credits: Getty Images</span></em></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Also among the collection will be the Queen’s Coronation Dress and Robe of Estate she wore for her coronation in 1953. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This gown took eight months of research, design, workmanship and intricate embroidery to complete in time for her Majesty’s coronation. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Caroline de Guitaut, curator of the displays, said the collection will showcase timestamps in the monarch’s reign, with royal fans being delighted with the insider look. </span></p> <p><img style="width: 500px; height: 281.25px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7845732/queen-exhibit-coronation.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/f32dc6586af54278b4bc786e87e863c6" /></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Image credits: Getty Images</span></em></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Their historic significance resonates all the more greatly given their depiction of the longest reigning monarch in British history.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Visitors to the exhibitions will also see a rare collection of Her Majesty’s personal jewellery collection that adorned these historical outfits. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Among the priceless pieces on show will be the Queen's Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara - an heirloom wedding gift given to her by her grandmother, Queen Mary, when Princess Elizabeth married the Duke of Edinburgh in 1947.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Commonly known as Granny's Tiara, it is one of the Queen's favourite and most treasured pieces and she often wears the glittering headpiece, made of diamonds in a festoon and scroll design, to state banquets.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">These exhibits will celebrate the 95-year-old monarch’s 70 year rule, which will be celebrated on February 6th 2022. </span></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Image credits: Getty Images</span></em></p>

Beauty & Style

Placeholder Content Image

White male artists dominate US galleries

<p>The walls of art galleries in the US are hung, almost to the exclusion of all else, with the works of white men.</p> <p>That’s the conclusion of a team of statisticians and art historians, <a rel="noopener" href="https://doi.org/%2010.1371/journal.pone.0212852" target="_blank">published</a> in the journal PLOS One.</p> <p><span>The researchers, led by Chad Topaz from the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Williams College in Massachusetts, US, examined the public online catalogues of 18 major US museums and extracted records for 9000 named artists.</span></p> <p>These were then given over to a crowdsourcing platform, and with the help of the many people thereon the majority of the artists were successfully identified and biographies built.</p> <p>“Overall,” the authors report, “we find that 85% of artists are white and 87% are men.”</p> <p>Topaz and colleagues position their work in the context of previous studies that have examined diversity in museum and gallery staff, as well as visitor profiles.</p> <p><a rel="noopener" href="https://mellon.org/programs/arts-and-cultural-heritage/art-history-conservation-museums/demographic-survey/" target="_blank">One study</a>, for instance, found that 72% of members of the US Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) identified as white. The same study found that while 60% of museum staff are female, women occupy only 43% of senior positions.</p> <p><span>Other studies have looked at visitors, and identified communities to target through outreach programs in attempts to increase diversity.</span></p> <p>The present work, though, is the first to study diversity among the artists represented.</p> <p>“If museums find knowledge of staff and visitor demographics important for programming decisions,” the authors write, “one might ask if demographics of the artists are important for collection decisions.”</p> <p>They cite “anecdotal evidence” that in the field of contemporary American art some collections are being actively augmented to rectify diversity imbalance, with the welcome effect that “it is now not unusual for these museums to compete with each other for major works of African American art”.</p> <p>However, the big picture – no pun intended – remains overwhelmingly coloured by men who are white.</p> <p>“With respect to gender, our overall pool of individual, identifiable artists across all museums consists of 12.6% women,” the authors report.</p> <p>“With respect to ethnicity, the pool is 85.4% white, 9.0% Asian, 2.8% Hispanic/Latinx, 1.2% Black/African American, and 1.5% other ethnicities.”</p> <p>Introducing greater diversity, however, is perhaps not as difficult as some might imagine.</p> <p>“We find that the relationship between museum collection mission and artist diversity is weak, suggesting that a museum wishing to increase diversity might do so without changing its emphases on specific time periods and regions,” the researchers conclude.</p> <p>They also admit that their analysis is constrained by a couple of limitations. First, a small proportion of artists identified could not be satisfactorily identified by gender or ethnicity. Second, artworks made by more than one artist were not included, and, third, many works of art – those from the Graeco-Roman period, for instance – are not assigned to identifiable individuals.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Shutterstock</em></p> <p><em>This article was originally published on <a rel="noopener" href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/people/society/white-male-artists-dominate-us-gallery-collections/" target="_blank">cosmosmagazine.com</a> and was written by Andrew Masterson. </em></p>

Art

Placeholder Content Image

How Dubai is building an art collection without buying any art

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In recent years, Dubai has established a vibrant and unique local arts scene due to their position between Africa, Asia and Europe. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">These global cultural influences have seen a boom in the local artists showcasing their works in private galleries all through the capital of the UAE. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Due to this increase of the art scene, the </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Dubai government is building its first institutional art collection from scratch with a very unique twist. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Instead of purchasing art for the collections, Dubai will be borrowing pieces to showcase.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The initiative was </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">developed by Dubai Culture &amp; Arts Authority and Art Dubai and will boast a unique digital museum that can be enjoyed by all, as well as annual physical exhibitions of carefully curated works. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">National art collections and museums were made popular during the 19th century in Europe and are typically built over a long period of time, but Dubai’s initiative aims to fast-track the process. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The idea behind the initiative is to promote a collective culture and create a canon of art history that has not been available in the Middle East.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A spokesperson for Art Dubai said this idea is the first of its kind, and is happy to rely on government funding to boost the arts industry. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Contributors are invited to lend their works to the Dubai Collection for a period of 10 years, while remaining legal owners of their pieces."</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">So far, 87 works have been commissioned during the first curation process: most of them by Emirati artists or artists from the wider Arabic world.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Part of the Dubai Collection initiative is a digital museum, which will allow more people to see the art, and will include educational materials.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This easily accessible digital museum will encourage art lovers to engage with a collection of international pieces, with the aim of highlighting emerging artists and their important stories. </span></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Image credit: Shutterstock</span></em></p>

Art

Placeholder Content Image

An Italian museum’s innovative way of tracking viewer interactions

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Art researchers in Italy have discovered a new way to help more accurately curate popular museum exhibitions. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Working with the Italian national agency for new technologies, the Istituzione Bologna Musei in Bologna has installed 14 small cameras that use artificial intelligence (AI) to study the reactions of viewers. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The cameras pick up facial expressions, posture and positioning of those who pass through the gallery on a daily basis. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The data collected by these cameras is then used to draw broader conclusions about future exhibits and specific artworks. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Researcher Riccardo Scipinotti came up with the initiative, referred to as ShareArt, to record how long visitors look at art, the paths they take through galleries, where their eyes are drawn to on particular canvases.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">All of these factors make up each piece of art’s “attraction value”, as well as analysing which exhibits are the most popular. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The ShareArt technology has the potential to revolutionise the museum and art world, as the data shared from the AI could determine placement of certain works in a gallery, how works are lit or hung, or how works are displayed in relation to one another.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The team of researchers began to roll out ShareArt in early July as COVID-19 restrictions were lifted in Italy, and has already started to yield interesting results. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The technology is also fitted to detect if museum-goers are flouting making-wearing rules.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The AI device is programmed to flash red if a visitor is wearing their mask incorrectly, or not wearing one at all. </span></p> <p><em>Image credit: Shutterstock</em></p>

Art

Placeholder Content Image

New exhibit to commemorate Prince Philip

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A new exhibition at Windsor Castle will commemorate Prince Philip’s life and legacy and will include many items that have been gifted to him during his official duties and visits overseas.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The exhibit, titled ‘Prince Philip: A Celebration’, opens on Thursday, June 24 and features more than 100 items from his life.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">After seven decades of involvement in the royal family, Philip passed away on April 9 aged 99.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The exhibition formed part of the 100th birthday celebrations planned for Philip, who would have turned 100 on June 10, curator Sally Goodsir told Reuters.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“But following his death in April, we have delayed its opening just by a couple of weeks and are still holding it,” she said.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Goodsir said Philip had been aware of both the exhibition and its contents.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The highlights of the display include the coronation robes and coronet Prince Philip wore to the Queen’s coronation in 1953, as well as his chair of estate which normally stands next to the Queen’s at Buckingham Palace - and will be on display at Windsor Castle for the first time.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The items range from personal mementos - including Queen Victoria’s journal recording the birth of Philip’s mother, Princess Alice, in 1885 - to more eccentric objects - such as a human-sized grasshopper wine cooler the former French President Georges Pompidou presented while visiting the UK in 1972.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Other items on display include: photographs of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in a Faberge frame that was a wedding gift; a chess set gifted from Nelson Mandela during his UK visit in 1996; and a pair of cowboy boots inscribed with the words ‘Prince’ and ‘Philip’ in gold, which the prince received during his 1991 visit to Houston, Texas.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The remains of Windsor Castle’s St George’s Hall clock and a fragment of a burnt beam - salvaged by Philip following a fire that swept through the castle in 1992 - will also be on display.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I think without people being able to gather for the funeral, as they might ordinarily have done, I hope they might be able to come to the castle and learn a little bit more about him,” Goodsir said.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The public will be able to see the exhibition until September 20.</span></p>

International Travel

Placeholder Content Image

Princess Diana's wedding gown to be displayed for the first time in decades

<p>Princess Diana fans will get the chance to see her iconic wedding dress in real life 40 years after she wore it down the aisle thanks to a new fashion exhibition opening at Kensington Palace this summer.</p> <p>Historic Royal Palaces curators made an announcement on Monday that Prince William and Prince Harry have given their permission to their late mother's gown included as the centrepiece of a new temporary exhibition called Royal Style in the Making opening on June 3 in the Orangery of Kensington Palace.</p> <p>This is the first time the gown will be on display since the Princess was in residence.</p> <p>The show will shed light on the relationship between designers and their royal clientele throughout the years.</p> <p>Other items included in the exhibition will be never-before-seen historical pieces such as a rare surviving toile for the 1937 coronation gown of the Queen Mother.</p> <p>“Our summer exhibition at Kensington Palace will shine a spotlight on some of the greatest talents of British design, whose work has been instrumental in shaping the visual identity of the royal family across the twentieth century,”<span> </span>Matthew Storey, the exhibition curator at Historic Royal Palaces, said in a statement. “We'll be exploring how the partnership between each designer and client worked, and revealing the process behind the creation of a number of the most important couture commissions in royal history. While one of the highlights will undoubtedly be Diana, Princess of Wales's show-stopping Emanuel designed wedding dress, which goes on show at the palace for the first time in 25 years – we've got some real surprises up our sleeve for fashion fans!”</p> <p>One of the designers behind Princess Diana's gown, Elizabeth Emanuel, told<span> </span><a rel="noopener" href="https://people.com/royals/princess-dianas-iconic-wedding-dress-to-be-displayed-at-kensington-palace-in-new-royal-style-exhibit/" target="_blank"><em>People</em></a><span> </span>that getting to visit her creation at the exhibition, “will be like seeing an old friend after all these years. I was looking at the images again today and I can't believe how many sequins we sewed onto the dress. This is going to be a wonderful exhibition.”</p> <p>The wedding dress came complete with the longest train in royal history measuring at 25 feet and covered in sequins.</p> <p>The exhibition will also kick off a number of commemorative events in honour of what would have been Diana’s 60th birthday.</p>

Beauty & Style