#spitalfields

Halloween in London

Old Spitalfields hand loom with jacquard mechanism

From Hell Chapter Fourteen - Gull, Ascending

John Allin (1934–1991) began painting while serving a six month prison sentence for minor theft, and achieved considerable success in the sixties and seventies with his vivid intricate pictures recalling the East End of his childhood. There is a dreamlike quality to these visions in sharp focus of an emotionalised cityscape, created at a time when the Jewish people were leaving to seek better housing in the suburbs and their culture was fading from those streets which had once been its home.

Returning from National Service in the Merchant Navy, Allin worked in the parks department planting trees, later as a swimming pool attendant and then as a long distance lorry driver — all before his conviction and imprisonment. After discovering his artistic talent, he devoted himself to painting and won attention with his first exhibition in 1969 at the Portal Gallery, specialising in primitive and outsider art. In 1974, he collaborated with Arnold Wesker on a book of reminiscence, “Say Goodbye: You may never see them again” in which he reveals an equivocation about the East End. “I saw it as a place where people lived, earned their living, grew up, moved on … they had dignity … I like painting the past with dignity…” he said in an interview with Wesker, “but what they’ve done to the East End is diabolical! They’ve scuppered it, built and built and torn down and torn out and took lots of identity away and made it into just a concrete nothing… But people go on, don’t they? Eating their eels and giving their custom where they’ve always given their custom … Funny how people can go on and take anything and everything.”

Intérieur d'une maison du tout début XVIIIème siècle construite pour des Huguenots de Londres qui faisaient le commerce de la soie comme la plupart de leur coreligionnaires dans le quartier de Spitalfields.

@spitalflelds ( aurora ) said : “let me do it for you, okay?”

                  SHE  WAS  MORE  THAN  EXHAUSTED  at  this  point .  if  she  had  known  just  how  stressful  it  would  have  been  going  to  the  united  states  for  a  portion  of  the  tour ,  she  might  have  thought  twice  about  it .  but  it  had  been  an  opportunity  that  she  couldn't  turn  down .  even  cardi  had  encouraged  it .  though ,  she  suspected  that  he  was  hoping  that  she'd  be  able  to  report  back  that  HIS  BROTHER'S  TOUR  WAS  CHAOS  and  that  cardi  had  been  right  all  along ,  that  his  era  as  papa  should  have  never  ended .  would  that  have  made  perpetua  frater ?  a  thought  that  probably  didn't  need  to  happen .  unfortunately  for  cardi ,  all  signs  pointed  to  the  tour  being  a  success .  social  media  had  been  buzzing  with  excitement  and  after  each  ritual ,  it  seemed  as  though  the  entire  internet  FLOODED  WITH  EXCITEMENT  about  the  new  papa .

but  she  had  underestimated  how  taxing  the  flight  over  would  be .  she'd  been  so  sure  that  she'd  be  ready  to  dive  into  work  the  moment  she  landed ,  but  she  didn't  take  jetlag  into  account .  she  had  been  told  she  could  go  to  the  hotel ,  get  some  rest ,  and  start  working  THE  NEXT  DAY ,  but  that  felt  wrong .  it  felt  like  taking  advantage  of  the  generosity  of  a  first  class  flight  and  a  hotel  room  that  most  on  the  crew  wouldn't  get .  she'd  insisted  she'd  be  fine  with  an  energy  drink  and  something  to  snack  on  from  catering .  it  wasn't  as  though  her  job  was  THAT  HARD .  point ,  click ,  and  point  some  more  and  help  out  wherever  she  could .  simple  enough .

maybe  it  was  the  ADRENALINE  OF  BEING  AT  HER  FIRST  RITUAL  or  maybe  it  was  the  monster ,  but  she'd  made  it  through  the  show  itself  without  a  damn  bit  of  issue .  she'd  enjoyed  herself ,  had  taken  all  of  the  pictures  she  could ,  danced  along  with  the  crew ,  and  even  helped  with  breakdown .  theoretically ,  she  should  have  been  fine .  and  she  was …  until  everything  quieted  down  and  SHE  MADE  HER  WAY  TO  CATERING .  and  it  all  went  downhill .  she  felt  like  she  was  asleep  on  her  feet .  everything  she  reached  for ,  seemed  to  slip  through  her  fingers  and  she  could  barely  keep  her  eyes  open  even  just  standing  at  the  table .  

when  aurora  slipped  up  beside  of  her  and  spoke ,  judith  NEARLY  JUMPED  OUT  OF  HER  SKIN ,  but  at  least  it  had  woken  her  up .  embarrassed ,  she  turns  from  a  pathetically  empty  plate  to  the  ghoulette  standing  beside  of  her  and  holds  it  out .  “ just  a  little  out  of  it .  long  flight ,  long  show ,  too  much  fun …  i  wasn't  drooling  yet ,  WAS  I ? ”