In Focus

In Focus

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Bosch

Of all the great paintings in Madrid’s Museo Nacional del Prado, the one that possibly attracts the most visitors is Hieronymus Bosch’s “Garden of earthly delights”.   Sean Sheehan   It is a large triptych – over 213 cm (seven feet) high and 365 cm (12 feet) wide – but  […]

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The urban void: the mystical city

The cityscape contains empty spaces, voids, which are the as-yet undeveloped tracts within the urban setting. But the word ‘void’ possesses a dual meaning. It is also a spiritual word. The void is what mystics experience in the depth of their ecstasies.   Steve Latham   Similarly, ‘nada’ is used by […]

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Labelling identities

By ‘stereotyping’, we refer to labelling a person or culture with particular characteristics, whether ‘good’ or ‘bad’. In education, it is said that the student becomes ‘what the label denotes’.    Nigel Pocock   The label therefore becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. A student labelled an ‘idiot’ becomes one. There are […]

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Anne Bonny, an indecipherable mystery

She was the first woman to be part of that clan that terrorised the seas and she became known for crossing the Caribbean, but, most of all, for fighting under the command of Captain “Calico Jack” Rackham, from 1718 to 1720.   Silvio González   Bonny has been the inspiration […]