In the weeks before my pops' birthday, I was gassing an exhibition that was going down at the Saatchi Gallery, located in the heart of London. I made the quip to my pops that we should go on his birthday.
As it turns out, we ended up going on his birthday! And to make more of the day, he had the hook up to get a stadium tour of The Emirates, home of Arsenal. As a non-Arsenal fan, if Pops likes it, I love it.
And I enjoyed taking pictures of him, so it was a net positive.
Now, you would think the 2nd half of my day was the best part. And we’ll get to that. But it was what we did in between that’ll sit with me for the longest.
We’ve never had a reason to explore where my pops lived his formative years, but we were so close, might as well.
I ended up being shown where Highbury (Arsenal’s former stadium) was and the majority of Gillespie Road, where my pops grew up.
He showed me his childhood home, where his friends lived; where the local corner shops that he used to hit were. It was all so fresh for me and it was evident that pops didn’t talk about his childhood like that in a minute. Never with me, that’s for sure.
It was those 20 minutes out of the whole day that meant the most.
Okay… The Main Event.
Hitting this exhibition really opened up something I haven’t really respected before.
I’ve been to museums before and I’d like to think I treat the spaces with more respect than most. Trying to see everything, enjoying the moment, not rushing. But I never hit up a proper exhibition such as the Bob Marley: One Love Exhibition @ Saatchi Gallery.
I don’t know how long we were in there for, but every minute was so rich in colour & history about the legendary artist…
I’ll leave you with this:
No, not the random building art as we trekked home. This:
There are over 100 Museums/Galleries in London alone. Over 1,700 in the UK. It’s an important player in the artistic ecosystem.
It’s all a matter of time, our most important currency. Money is sometimes an element, but 100% of the time, it is simply asking yourself “Do I want to spend time walking and looking at stuff?”
I’ll do you a favour and answer it for you… Yes. Yes you do.
Now, here’s a couple of landscapes I got on the way home:
Charlie Taylor
chillicharlie.taylor@gmail.com
Born in Camden, North London.
Bred in Leigh-On-Sea, Essex.
Screenwriter/Podcaster/Photographer/
Hip-Hop Student