Secularism has become the hallmark of contemporary British culture. Well, let’s say certain segments: Educated, white, Anglo-Saxon, formerly Protestant, etc.
When God is dead, what purposes do such admonitions constructively serve? To discourage religious relations with political authority? With the market?
Camden and Hoxton. London, January 2010.
Arab grocery store. Golborne road, west London, February 18th.
Signifiers of comfort food. Maramia Cafe, up the street, the same day.
Editing the US edition of Martin Bull’s Banksy: Location and Tours when we first moved to London in 2008, I imagined the work of the controversial street artist to be posted, as it seemed to Bull, practically everywhere. Much to my surprise, two trips to the fabled Hoxton/Shoreditch area yielded nothing.
Strolling through Brick Lane yesterday, I found two Banksy pieces, the same prints pasted in different parts of the neighborhood. Having seen Exit Through the Giftshop recently, I couldn’t help but be suspicious. As though the repetition was intended to mess with Banksy-snapping tourists, like me.
As much as I miss Berlin, spending the last six weeks in London has had its advantages. Perspective being the main thing. Hard at work on an essay about German identity politics, I’ve had to come to terms with how profoundly living in Germany these past eight months has effected me.
Visiting London’s Imperial War Museum last October, I encountered this fragment of the Berlin Wall. I wondered if it was an ironic embodiment of a distance I was looking for then. The kind that frees you up to start writing, that relieves you from feeling overwhelmed by your subject matter.
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