Some things that made me smile in… May 2025

Including love through art, insightful conversations and Death through a different lens

‘Din avec la mains dans le miroir et jupe rouge’: Medical student Din - a muse of Mickalene Thomas - depicted in rhinestones, glitter and acrylic paint on canvas. From the All About Love exhibition at London’s Hayward Gallery.

If you’re a regular here, welcome back! If you’re new, this is my round up of some of the things that have made me smile over the past month. Please feel free to share in the comments anything that’s brought you joy too, whether big or small! Are you currently a free subscriber but would like to upgrade? You can do that here.

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How has your May been?

Five years ago this month I was broken. The world was heavy.

Five years on the world is still heavy.

Joy is still necessary. Not as a means of avoidance but as a means of resilience and resistance.

If you’ve been doomscrolling it’s time to step away.

And if you’ve been feeling helpless, some ways to help here, here and here.

For just a few of the things that made a smile - and gave me food for thought - this past month, read on…

All About Love

At the start of the month I took myself on a solo trip to see this beautiful exhibition at The Hayward Gallery on London’s South Bank, inspired by bell hooks 1999 book of the same name (All About Love: New Visions)

Comprised of over twenty years of artist Mickalene Thomas’ work, All About Love features installations, large-scale paintings, photographs and collages, centring and celebrating Black women at rest.

“The central place of my work, and my art, is from a loving space.” - Mickalene Thomas

Mickalene’s work features a number of muses including her own friends and family as well as well-known figures.

There was beauty and a real sense of intimacy, deep connection, joy, strength and community in the artworks depicting Black women and aspects of Black racial identity, through a Black gaze. Mickalene Thomas declares, “I define my work as a feminist and political act… I’m Black, Queer and a Woman.”

Love really did shine through the work.

At a time when I had been feeling depleted this was just the uplift I needed and the best way to spend a morning.

It was also a good reminder to myself of the benefits that getting out of your regular routine when in a slump can bring - not least when going on holiday isn’t an option. And of the power of art to shift one’s perspective and inspire.

This exhibition is on an international tour and has now finished its run at The Hayward Gallery. It will be showing at Musée-Frac Occitanie Toulouse, France from June 13 - Nov 9 2025.

See a few Hayward Gallery highlights here. And learn more about Mickalene Thomas and her work here.

White Man Walking

L to R: Rob Bliss, executive producers Luti Fagbenle, Maxine Watson and Andy Mundy-Castle at the White Man Walking screening

I was fortunate to attend a screening of this documentary ahead of its official release.

May 25 2025 marked five years since the horrific murder of George Floyd and this timely film takes us back to the months directly after.

White Man Walking, follows filmmaker Rob Bliss as he walks 1500 miles from Mississippi to Washington in a Black Lives Matter t-shirt. His journey through a deeply divided America on the cusp of the 2020 election is revealing, and not always in ways the viewer might initially expect.

The film explores this divide and asks why advocating for Black lives sparks so much anger in certain communities.

The screening was followed by a Q&A with Rob Bliss and executive producers, Luti Fagbenle, Andy Mundy-Castle and Maxine Watson. This provided further valuable insights and points for reflection, particularly considering all that’s happened in the five years since. It was a privilege to be able to hear from the programme makers.

Not a comfortable watch, but an important one.

White Man Walking is part of the Storyville series and can be watched online here.

Tea with Tooting Mama

I loved this conversation between my old running buddy,

Ranji Thangiah

and Laura Hicks. And I did indeed listen with a cup of tea!

In this episode of Ranji’s Tea with Tooting Mama podcast, Ranji and Laura discuss surviving cancer (Laura had a rare form of bone cancer as a teenager), appearing on MasterChef (where Laura brought string hoppers to the show in celebration of her Sri Lankan heritage), the influence of colonialism on food and much more.

Laura’s family lineage is British Sri Lankan with Dutch Burgher roots. She talks both warmly and poignantly about her British Sri Lankan dual heritage - reconnecting to her Sri Lankan heritage via food, and of the times when she has been deemed, in her own words “…too brown for the white community and not quite brown enough for the brown community…” due to her fair complexion.

I chuckled in recognition when Ranji and Laura discussed the difficulties of trying to get their mothers to write recipes down. Whenever I would ask my mother about recipes for dishes she made us she never had an idea of specific quantities of ingredients for anything. Now my mother is no longer here I still regret not being able to replicate the exact taste of her signature soup.

This conversation was full of honesty, joy and warmth. You can listen here.

Also… Have you ever wanted to learn how to make hoppers?

If you’re in London this summer, you might like to join the Sri Lankan Culture Collective’s celebration of Sri Lankan culture through food, comedy and music.

The Sri Lankan Culture Collective is an initiative founded by Ranji, Rosh Olivelle and Thana Sivasambu in 2024. This not-for-profit festival celebrates South Asian Heritage Month and events will include hands-on cooking demos and workshops, a wine tasting that will guide you through how to pair wine with spice, a Sri Lankan market and much more!

Last year’s festival was a sell-out success. Find more info on this year and join the waitlist for early bird tickets here.

Mrs Death Misses Death

My current read: Mrs Death Misses Death by Salena Godden

My current read is a fabulous present from a very good friend.

I was familiar with Salena Godden’s work as a poet and, in particular, I’m a fan of her poem Pessimism is for Lightweights. However, I hadn’t read her debut novel.

In Mrs Death Misses Death, Death is depicted as a number of Black women.

As soon as I started reading the opening pages, where Death introduces herself to the reader outside a crowded London train station, I was drawn in. There’s caustic humour and a relatability in terms of understanding what it is like to be both invisible and hyper visible at the same time.

“They erased me and made you all believe that Death was male in spirit… Remarkable that nobody questioned it really, don’t you think? For only she who bears it, she who gave you life, can be she who has the power to take it… And only she who is invisible can do the work of Death. And there is no human more invisible, more readily talked over, ignored, betrayed and easy to walk past than a woman; than a poor old black woman, a homeless black beggar-woman with knotty hair, broken back, walking ever so slow, slow, slow, pushing a shopping trolley full of plastic bottles.” - from Mrs Death Misses Death written by Salena Godden

I’m rationing this read because I don’t want it to end too soon.

I have the paperback of Mrs Death Misses Death but if you prefer audiobooks, it is available (narrated by the author) on Audible.

London Nootropics

For full transparency, I was gifted a selection box of this adapotgenic coffee from London Nootropics with no obligation to post about them. However, I will say I was very pleasantly surprised!

I’m sharing here because if you’re looking for coffee without the jitters but with added benefits, you might be interested in London Nootropics.

I’ve really enjoyed trying these blends and I feel that the Flow blend (Lion’s Mane and Rhodiola) helped me on days when I needed extra capacity to focus for some detailed work I needed to complete. (So, for me it did as promised.)

Find out more about about London Nootropics here.

Last but not least….

…this month’s kitchen dance track is a song that made a very pleasing appearance during my visit to the All About Love exhibition:

Over to you:

• What’s brought you joy this month?

• What’s your favourite poem(s)?

• What are your favourite causes to support? We might not always be in the position to donate but sharing can amplify.

Please share and spread the love.

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UPCOMING OPPORTUNITIES TO PRACTICE YOGA WITH ME:

In-Person:

Hatha Flow, Wednesdays 9.30-10.30am at Yoga Point, Brixton. Book here.

Wake-Up Hatha Flow, Thursdays 9.30-10.30am at MIND Yoga & Pilates, Forest Hill. Book here.

Rest + Restore, Saturday 14 June 3.30-5pm at Embody Wellness, Vauxhall. Find full details and book here.

Online:

Not able to join me in-person? There’s now two years’ worth of yoga and meditation practices from me here on Substack in A Peaceful Pause and The Reset, like this Restorative Yoga for Anxiety practice: