Some things that made me smile in... March 2024
Including Radical Care, vitamin sea in Sussex and wine tasting in south London
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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I hope you’ve had a good March and are adjusting to the new season. Here in the northern hemisphere I’ve been easing out of hibernation mode, though looking out of the window at the grey skies and heavy rain as I write this you wouldn’t imagine that it’s officially spring here in London.
For me it’s been a pretty full month, but a brighter one compared to last month, which felt rather heavy.
As I wrote earlier this month, March is special for me as it’s my birthday month and this year March also marks my first anniversary on Substack (which means it’s also a whole year since the very first “Some things…”) and two years since my book, Rest + Calm was published, which leads me on to the first of the things that made me smile this past month…
A gentle book club with Luisa Skinner
If you like the idea of book club that is slowly, gently and seasonally paced and centres female authors then
’s gentle book club is for you!As I shared on Substack notes, I think this is a beautiful offering from Luisa and I feel honoured that she has included Rest + Calm in such a wonderful book line-up for the 2024/25 reading list.
I’ve pre-ordered the first book choice of the year, Weathering by
on Audible (I do love an audiobook, even more so when the author is the narrator). It’s publication date is 28th March, just in time for the start of the gentle book club.See the full reading list, join the gentle book club and subscribe to Luisa’s Substack Writing Around The Edges here:
Radical Care, Radical Empathy podcast with Lehni Lamide Davies
I was thrilled to be asked by Lehni to take part in her Radical Care, Radical Empathy podcast series. In Lehni’s words:
“Through conversations with Black Women artists, thinkers healers and space gatherers – the Radical Care, Radical Empathy Podcast series explores Black Women’s collective gatherings as sites of creative social practice, engaging with joyful resistance and acts of liberation.”
I was a guest on one of the episodes alongside Mindwalk Yoga founder, Zakiya Bishton where we discussed the importance of radical self care for Black women, yoga for anxious bodies, restorative yoga and social justice.
I really enjoyed our discussion and listening to the conversations with fellow contributors Foluke Taylor and Rambisayi Marufu, who I also had the great pleasure of meeting at a beautiful in-person gathering organised by Lehni.
Learn more and listen to all three episodes of Radical Care, Radical Empathy here.
Wine tasting with Brixton Wine Club
Did you know that wine in cans and paper bottles is more sustainable than glass? I must admit that I didn’t.
A close friend introduced me to Brixton Wine Club and little did I know that they did wine tastings too.
Since launching as a canned wine subscription business, Brixton Wine Club has been listed as 'best wine club' by Stylist, Red Magazine and the Evening Standard.
As a birthday treat I enjoyed a wine tasting evening hosted by Brixton Wine Club in well, Brixton!
Brixton Wine Club founder, Louisa guided us through a selection of very different (and all delicious) red wines. The whole vibe was informal, relaxed and friendly. Perfect if you’re a wine tasting novice like me, plus it’s a great way to try wines that might be new to you and get together with friends.
Wine tasting kits are also available to order via their website for you to try in the comfort of your own home if you can’t make it to an in-person event.
Find out more at brixtonwineclub.com.
Museum-tastic March
Unusually for me I made it to three different exhibitions this month:
The Turner Prize at Towner Eastbourne
I find it hard to describe how therapeutic I find the sea - hearing it, seeing it and being near it.
After visiting Whitstable last November I pledged that I would see the sea at least once a year whether here in the UK or elsewhere. Before then the last time I remember being by or in the sea was in Ibiza back in 2019 - too long, as far as I was concerned.
So, when a close friend invited me to her special birthday celebration in Eastbourne (I seem to know quite a few people who were born in March like me!) I was excited that I could be there for her big day. I also realised:
a) I’d never been to Eastbourne
b) I’d get the chance to be by the sea
I made sure to do ‘b’ after a lovely couple of hours up the road at Towner Eastboure taking in the Turner Prize 2023 exhibition. I really liked Towner itself too - great gallery spaces, a welcoming cafe, a restaurant/bar, a cinema and of course, a little shop.
The Turner Prize is one of the world’s leading contemporary art prizes and the four featured artists this year are Jesse Darling, Ghislaine Leung, Rory Pilgrim, Barbara Walker.
I found both Rory Pilgrim and Barbara Walker’s work particularly moving.
Watch the curator Noelle Collins talk about each of the four nominated artists and see some snippets of their work here:
(Many thanks to the friend who recommended this exhibition to me!)
You can see the Turner Prize exhibition for free until 14th April 2024 at Towner Eastbourne, Devonshire Park, College Road, Eastbourne BN21 4JJ . Find full details including accessibility information here.
DIVA at the V&A
This was a wonderful birthday treat from school friends!
DIVA is full of fabulousness, as you’d expect but one thing that did throw me a little was a Dolly Parton doll that didn’t really look like Dolly Parton (well, not to me, anyway). What do you think?
Unfortunately, the DIVA exhibition is now sold out unless you are an V&A member. But if you can get down to see it before it closes I highly recommend it.
If you’re not able to make it there then check out these exhibition highlights and features including the DIVA playlist.
DIVA is on until 10th April at the V&A South Kensington, Cromwell Road, SW7 2RL
Women in Revolt! at Tate Britain
This incredibly comprehensive exhibition features a vast range of feminist art by over 100 women artists working in the UK with works that range from 1970 to 1990.
Women in Revolt! was hugely inspiring, though in some ways I was left feeling a bit disheartened with how far we still have to go considering what women were campaigning for in the 1970s and 1980s. For instance, the Equal Pay Act was only enacted in 1975, yet we know that today the both the gender and race pay gap are very real across most (if not all) industries. (Just this week Olivia Colman made the news for stating that she’d be paid a lot more if she was a man.)
Seeing works and materials related to OWAAD in this exhibition reminded me of the Black Power Women of Brixton walking tour I did last summer...
Growing up in the 1980s in London a lot of the images on display were familiar, like these…
And this artwork by Sutapa Biswas depicting a contemporary version of Kali was one of the pieces in this exhibition that really stayed with me.
There is so much to see in Women in Revolt! and much to reflect on.
Not able to see Women in Revolt! in-person? Find out more via the exhibition guide and watch interviews with the artists here.
You can also listen to the Women in Revolt! playlist here and check out the 6-part podcast series.
Women in Revolt is on until 7th April at Tate Britain, Millbank, London SW1P 4RG . Tickets £17 (concessions available).
Last but never least, this month’s kitchen dance track is from the great Miriam Makeba, inspired by Lehni, her Radical Care, Radical Empathy podcast and our wonderful group gathering:
Over to you:
What’s made you smile or brought you joy this month? I’d love to know!