The Brazilians

I am showing you two of the people I met today.

I slept in to 0800 and went to breakfast at 0900, so my day started very slowly. I walked to the British Museum, stopping on the way for a coffee. It was a tiny coffee bar in the front of a wine bar.

I was the only customer so chatted to the owner. He is from Brazil. You can see him in the extra. I told him about going to hear Sebastian Salgado this evening. He soon found him on the web.

At the British Museum I headed for the Munch exhibition. I knew nothing about him apart from The Scream. In my opinion that is not his best work, but the collection is very sombre and disturbing. He had a sad early life, losing his mother when he was only 5 and his sister later. Both events are documented.

He had terrible problems in his relationships with women too.

After the overcrowded rooms of Munch’s work and a delicious lunch in the restaurant, I was relieved to find that Rembrandt’s drawings were unpopular with the crowds. They are exquisite. He believed that all artists must be able to draw well.

I used buses after my morning walk and I’m getting the hang of the system. It’s impressive.

My first visit to Photo London this weekend was to hear Sebastian Salgado speak. Amazing! I was sorry that we saw no more than one image on the screen, but he talked freely and with huge enthusiasm and passion about his work. He is yet another documentary photographer who became ill after witnessing wars and genocide. He had to stop for a while. He and his wife took on the project of planting trees on his father’s land, which was barren. They have created a forest and it has been a healing process.

The title of the talk was Gold not Old as it may appear.

On my way back to the hotel, I called in a pub for a meal. It was noisy with a TV, music and banter. The tables felt sticky even after being wiped! I had a good steak and a beer for a reasonable price.