Grandmother’s Sandwich Story

Ruth Hartley Storytelling, Installations1 Comment

Sandwich stories by columnist Stephen Bush, was in the Financial Times last week in response to Kemi Badenoch’s Spectator statement that she doesn’t eat them. Somehow Grandmother was mentioned, too, so Grandmother determined to write her own stories about sandwiches – here they are. Read at your peril if you don’t eat or do eat Bread. Padkos or Road Food […]

The Mpapa Gallery: Lusaka Zambia 1978 – 1996

Ruth Hartley Storytelling, Art by Ruth Hartley, Books by Ruth Hartley, Installations, m’Other Art, Mpapa Gallery A monograph The history of Mpapa Gallery Lusaka Zambia 1978-1996, The Tin Heart Gold Mine2 Comments

A Monograph by Ruth Hartley It is done. Published this year 2024 and delivered to Zambia where Lechwe Art Gallery has generously and efficiently distributed copies to those artists and creative people connected with the Mpapa Gallery or wishing to research a part of the history of Zambian art. We have been sending out PDF copies to people who are […]

Covent Garden Encounter

Ruth Hartley Storytelling, antisemitism, Art by Ruth Hartley, Conflict, Displacement, Freedom Fighters, Graphic Novel, Human rights, Installations, Justice, Politics, Power, Religion, War4 Comments

As I  walked up from Covent Garden Tube to Neal’s Yard I saw my teenage son coming towards me. We had not planned or expected to see each other there or then. As we smiled at each other in recognition we both became aware that a small demonstration was taking place on the street between us. To my right was […]

On being non-gendered

Ruth Hartley Storytelling, Feminism, Installations2 Comments

I read this wonderful piece in the marvellous The Marginalian compiled by Maria Popova and thought with delight that it may explain me and perhaps other women of my generation.  Ursula Le Guin writes: “I am a man. Now you may think I’ve made some kind of silly mistake about gender, or maybe that I’m trying to fool you, because […]

Fly with me

Ruth Hartley Storytelling, Art by Ruth Hartley, Books by Ruth Hartley, Displacement, Installations, Migration, Refugee, When We Were Wicked2 Comments

We have a wonderful red Chinese kite that we bought in Shanghai in 2007. It’s a giant squid that flies with beautiful ease, but needs both space and wind. Here in our village we have space, but not much wind. That’s changing with the climate. The wind we get now is gusty, dusty and inconstant. In Zambia I would see […]