Before the NHS: A walk through East London’s medical past

In recognition and celebration of the 70th anniversary of the NHS, discover the traces of East London’s medical past. This map reveals the hidden relics of the hospitals that existed prior to the inception of the NHS, and links together St Bartholomew’s Hospital, The Royal London Hospital and  Mile End Hospital.

The map was commissioned for the 2018 Being Human Festival. The festival highlights the ways in which the humanities can inspire and enrich our everyday lives, help us to understand ourselves, our relationships with others, and the challenges we face in a changing world.

The Map was designed by Alban Low (artist), Richard Meunier (Archivist, The Royal
London Hospital Museum) and Harvey Wells (Senior Lecturer in Medical Education, Barts and the London School of Medicine).

Before the NHS:
A walk through East London’s
medical past
Designed by Alban Low, Richard Meunier, Harvey Wells
Published November 2018
ISBN  978-1-910578-91-9
Folded – A5 (148 x 210mm) 4 page
Flat – A3 (297 x 420mm) 1 Map
Colour
SLB0103
QMUL Being Human Map 1
Price – £2

Alban, Richard and Harvey launched the map at the Royal London Hospital Museum as part of the Being Human Festival 2018. As part of their research they walked the route and have made this film for you to enjoy.

Before the NHS: A walk through East London’s medical past from Alban Low on Vimeo.

Rogues and Roses – Poems on love affairs (Potcake Chapbook)

9781910578889_50%Lovers! What’s not to love about them?
Head into the ambiguities of love affairs and enjoy these poems by a dozen of the finest formal poets writing today. There may even be an answer to the question “What is love?” Or maybe not…

The “Potcake Chapbook” series is named for the dogs of the Bahamas and the Caribbean – strays that live off the burnt scrapings of cooking pots. The poems in the series are a mixed bunch – but the potcake of our logo wears a bow tie to show that he and all the poems are formal. These poems are memorable in part because they rhyme and scan, as all truly memorable poetry does. We subscribe to the use of form, no matter how formless the times in which we live.

To read more about the poets featured in this chapbook visit the Potcake Poets page.

Rogues and Roses
Poems on love affairs
A.E. Stallings, Ann Drysdale, Brian Allgar, Chris O’Carroll, Daniel Galef, Edmund Conti, Gail White, George Simmers, Jerome Betts, John Beaton, Marcus Bales, Robin Helweg-Larsen
Published October 2018
Illustrated by Alban Low
Art Director Eliza Helweg-Larsen
ISBN 978-1-910578-88-9
A6 Size
16 printed pages
Colour
Potcake Chapbook 2
SLB100
Print run of 250
Price – £2.60

Tourists and Cannibals – Poems on travel (Potcake Chapbook)

“Tourists and Cannibals” provides a dozen memorable poems on travel by some of the most skillful, witty and highly praised poets writing today. It gives a delight-hearted review of the varieties of travel experience, good and bad, that are available to us all, whether youths or seniors.

The “Potcake Chapbook” series is named for the dogs of the Bahamas and the Caribbean – strays that live off the burnt scrapings of cooking pots. The poems in the series are a mixed bunch – but the potcake of our logo wears a bow tie to show that he and all the poems are formal. These poems are memorable in part because they rhyme and scan, as all truly memorable poetry does. We subscribe to the use of form, no matter how formless the times in which we live.

To read more about the poets featured in this chapbook visit the Potcake Poets page.

Tourists and Cannibals
Poems on travel
A.E. Stallings, Ann Drysdale, Daniel Galef, Edmund Conti, Gail White, Jerome Betts, John Beaton, Marcus Bales, Martin Parker, Robin Helweg-Larsen, Terese Coe
Published October 2018
Illustrated by Alban Low
Art Director Eliza Helweg-Larsen
ISBN 978-1-910578-87-2
A6 Size
16 printed pages
Colour
Potcake Chapbook 1
SLB099
Print run of 250
Price – £2.60

Taking Flight – Judith Parry

Judith Parry has been playing with words for as long as she can remember and confesses to being an inveterate show-off who will take any opportunity to perform. She wants people who encounter her work to be inspired to change, to know more at the end than they did at the beginning, but often simply to have a good laugh.

This is her first anthology, consisting chiefly of verses created during her creative writing studies.  Many of the pictures in this book were also produced during times of work and study, where Judith maintains they acted as ‘aids to concentration’.

It is hoped that the resultant combination of words and doodles is a quirky, thought-provoking collection that people will enjoy.

Taking Flight
Judith Parry
Published July 2018
ISBN 978-1-910578-86-5
A6 Size
16 printed pages
Colour
Chapbook 30
SLB098
Print run of 100
Price – £2

Judith launched her chapbook at the Gwyl Coda Festival at the beautiful and friendly Dol Llys campsite in Llanidloes. Her talk to festival goers “The Space-hopper is my Spirit Animal’ was inspirational, it was full of hope, and full of brilliant ideas. Find out more about Judith’s work at www.tellingstoriesblog.wordpress.com

John’s Rocket – Jill Hedges

Earth’s moon; the brightest object in our night sky, has not only helped civilisations to observe the changing seasons, it has also helped us to chart important family landmarks too.

John’s fascination with technology and engineering has been a constant joy and we’ve enjoyed watching his ideas take shape and come to life. We always said that if Christina discovered a distant star, John would be the one who’d figure out how to get us there.

Created using print and collage techniques by artist Jill Hedges, who has had a lifelong fascination with the Moon and the stars, this charming little book celebrates love and family ties.

John’s Rocket
Jill Hedges
Published July 2018
ISBN 978-1-910578-85-8
A6 Size
16 printed pages
Colour
Chapbook 29
SLB097
Print run of 100
Price – £2

Jill Hedges is currently exhibiting her artwork at the Rooftop Arts Centre, Chisholm House, 9 Queens Square, Corby, NN17 1PD from 1-25 August 2018. TIME is a contemporary group exhibition exploring the idea of time and its relationship to the body, memory, and perception. Alongside Jill will be artists Bethany Murray, Sharon Read and Warren Shaw.
Works include drawing, sculpture, painting, sound and installation.

Health is a Human Right: Celebrating 70 Years of the NHS

9781910578841Over 200 nursing students from Kingston University and St George’s University of London have tapped into their creative juices to produce inspirational writing on the 2018 International Nurses’ Day theme ‘A Voice to Lead: Health is a Human Right’.

Visiting Professor Karen Norman introduced this year’s Art of Caring writing competition by inviting participants to create an ‘aphorism’ on the IND theme. An ‘aphorism’ historically refers to the medical rules written by Hippocrates. Nowadays, it’s defined as ‘a concise expression of doctrine or principle of any generally accepted truth conveyed in a pithy, memorable statement.’ A good example is Florence Nightingale’s famous aphorism: ‘Hospitals should do the sick no harm.’ Here we present 27 written works chosen by the Kingston University Nursing Society in this special chapbook.

Health is a Human Right
Celebrating 70 Years of the NHS
Various Authors
Published July 2018
ISBN 978-1-910578-84-1
A6 Size
16 printed pages
Colour
SLB096
Print run of 100
Price – £2

This chapbook was launched as part of the NHS 70th celebrations at the Art of Caring exhibition in St George’s Hospital on the 5th July 2018.
Art of Caring website

Art_of_Caring_NHS_70th_exhibition_2 copyArt_of_Caring_NHS_70th_exhibition_3 copy

London Violins 2018 – DJ Ritu and Alban Low

The radio programme ‘A World in London’ has been at the heart of the capital’s music scene since 2007. Originally broadcast on the BBC, it is now based at SOAS Radio (University of London) and Resonance FM. Hosted and produced by DJ Ritu , the show has an unrivalled reputation for presenting a rich cultural mix that truly reflects the diverse musical tastes of London and its people. Since 2016, Alban Low has been the show’s artist-in-residence, sketching the musical guests as they play live in the studio.

DJ Ritu and Alban Low are publishing a series of books that document the ever-changing live music scene in London. London stirs with musicians from all nations, playing in venues from grand concert halls to vibrant upstairs rooms in pubs. This books aims to capture a moment in a musician’s life and tell the story of their favourite venues.

Alban Low at the London Violins exhibition 2018

The first chapbook in the A World in London series is London Violins 2018. The book’s journey started with an art exhibition at the Yehudi Menuhin Concert Hall (February – June 2018) and will be officially launched on A World in London radio programme at Resonance FM on the 6th June 2018 (6.30-7.30pm). Musicians featured in the chapbook include James Patrick Gavin and Tad Sargent, Alice Barron and George Sleightholme, Olga Baron and John Macnaughton, Robert Atchison and Olga Dudnik, Agnes Branner and Martin Weightman, Anna Lowenstein and Rey Yusuf, Richard Jones and Christian Miller.

DJ Ritu is a pioneering international turntablist & BBC Radio presenter. In the ‘90s she co-founded Outcaste Records, signing Nitin Sawhney and Badmarsh & Shri. Ritu has also broadcast for BBC World Service, Kiss 100 and many others. She manages two London club nights, Kuch Kuch and Club Kali, which are the longest running Bollywood events in the UK.

Alban Low is an artist working within London’s jazz scene, sketching in clubs by night and creating album covers by day. www.artofjazz.blogspot.co.uk

London Violins 2018:
A World in London
DJ Ritu and Alban Low
Published June 2018
ISBN 978-1-910578-77-3
A6 Size
16 printed pages
Colour
Chapbook 28
SLB085
Print run of 100
Price – £2

Musicians featured in the chapbook include James Patrick Gavin and Tad Sargent, Alice Barron and George Sleightholme, Olga Baron and John Macnaughton, Robert Atchison and Olga Dudnik, Agnes Branner and Martin Weightman, Anna Lowenstein and Rey Yusuf, Sarah Montague and Andrew Ryser Szymański, Richard Jones and Christian Miller.

A special thank you to Sofia Gaetani-Morris, Norman Druker, Patrick Bernard and Sophie Darling for their support.

Perceptions of the Self – Sharon Read

Much of Sharon’s work presents a sense of the self, this, at first glance isn’t altogether obvious. Peel back the layers of material, mark making along with an internal monologue and this becomes something of a trait throughout her thinking, making and artistic philosophy.

“Quietly being in whatever form they
have reached.  Broken, used, or disregarded
they exist in full vibrancy.”
Sharon Read 2017

www.sharonread.co.uk

Perceptions of the Self
Sharon Read
Published May 2018
ISBN 978-1-910578-83-4
A6 Size
16 printed pages
Colour
Chapbook 27
SLB091
Print run of 50
Price – £2

Palm Protector, 2018 – Bethany Murray

23 moulds of the palm of my left hand, putting pressure on my fingers in an attempt to replicate the permanent position of one of my patients’ hands following a stroke 23 years ago. The patient’s hand has been significantly neglected and it is this neglect that has left her hand in this position. I cannot replicate it fully but in the moments that I have tried, there has been pain, doubt and disbelief; disbelief that a person’s hand has suffered such change and neglect following a life-altering event in the brain. As artists, our minds and our hands are our most valuable tools; this work is a contemplation on the effect of illness and time on the hand and the brain. Accompanying these photographs are words from two of my poems Pure and Old Wounds that touch on elements of the sacred in previous works; these poems along with earlier sculptural works hold a preoccupation with the sacred and humanity’s impalpable sense of transience.

www.bethanyrm.com

Palm Protector, 2018
Bethany Murray
Published May 2018
ISBN 978-1-910578-82-7
A6 Size
16 printed pages
Colour
Chapbook 26
SLB090
Print run of 100
Price – £2

Financial Times – Wayne Sleeth

Wayne Sleeth is a british painter who from his studio in France has since 2015 been re-interpreting certain works of French master Claude Monet, including his Nymphéas (MonetMonetMonet, ISBN  978-1-910578-27-8). Keen to re-appropriate Monet’s views of Westminster and the Thames of a century ago, Sleeth has continued the ‘channel-crossing’ tradition, returning to London in painting and haikus in what are important, contemporary, and financial times.

Financial Times
Wayne Sleeth
Published May 2018
ISBN 978-1-910578-81-0
A6 Size
16 printed pages
Colour
Chapbook 25
SLB089
Print run of 250
Price – £2