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CULTURE ART ACTIVISM Ellie Bleach on creating Helping Grenfell’s The regeneration of musical luxury community heal waste into resources

MockupSlingshot.indd 1 11/03/2019 12:53 On the Cover: Ellie Bleach shot for the inaugural issue of Slingshot. Photography by Verity Smiley-Jones.

MockupSlingshot.indd 2 11/03/2019 12:53 SUSANNA JOSEPH MOLLY LONG KLARA BLAZEJOVSKA Editor-in-chief Sub-editor Digital editor

JEKTAERINA DROZDOVICA TORBJOERN JOERSTAD Social editor Picture editor Welcome.

Slingshot was birthed in a set of ideals born from a broken media landscape. Sometimes being a journalist starting out can feel a bit like facing Goliath armed with a few bits of wood. But with only idealism to lose, here is the best manifesto for the vision in our heads of what journalism should look like. In response to an in- dustry that is struggling to sustain itself in a tangled web of advertising, SEOs and Silicon Valley millionaires, we wanted to make something that was simple in its message and execution. Stories we cared about, covered responsibly, and delivered to the best of our capabilities.

We’re so grateful to everyone who has helped this issue come to fruition. While our objective was always clear, the formation of this magazine has been a long process and involved too many collaborators to list here (they are all credited in the overlying pages). It’s been emboldening to see what can come of shared values, talent, graft and passion. Thank you for being here and supporting Slingshot. We hope you are as inspired by the fruits of our labour as we are by the network of people prepared to support an honest, ardent and potent future for creative sectors.

Susanna Joseph

MockupSlingshot.indd 3 11/03/2019 12:53 What are you looking for? Bringing FGM on Kindness to Film 6 Making Comedy Compassion 10 Go Further Art and 14 Optics of Women Motherhood Who Love 16 Women Earthling 18 Ed’s Unity Diner 24 Drag,Drag, NowNow RevitalisingRevitalising 34 FoodFood WasteWaste 30 Feminism Revisited Lovely Pair: 38 Pubs and Inclusivity TheThe GreatGreat 40 WellnessWellness ConCon 44 SurvivingSurviving Online:Online: AA CreativeCreative Brexit StruggleStruggle Protests in 56 Pictures 60

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EllieEllie BleachBleach 26

CopingCoping withwith GrenfellGrenfell 48

MockupSlingshot.indd 5 11/03/2019 12:53 STOLEN SEXUALITY

Images: Jocelyne Saab Nadim Deaibes Jekaterina Drozdovica

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Jekaterina Drozdovica looks back at a film that translates the horrors of female genital mutilation into a feature-length insight. Jocelyne Saab’s Dunia (Kiss Me Not On The Eyes) follows a young victim of FGM on a journey to explore her sexuality

“Come on, my pretty, what are you afraid sexual pleasure in Arab poetry. of?” a grandmother asks an eight-year-old But it’s hard to study something you Yasmine curled up by the wall in their don’t understand. Her boyfriend, Mam- living room in Cairo. “We’ll remove a douh, accuses Dunia of physical coldness. small piece of your skin. It will only do From her secret poems, we discover her you good.” She puts a green blanket on mutilation and lack of sexual desire. “I the floor and a white tissue above. As the want it, but my body resists,” she says. nurse comes in, the grandmother forces Instead, Dunia translates her caged sexu- Yasmine on to the tissue. They open the ality into a passionate belly dance lasting girl’s legs and a double-edged razor blade one third of the two-hour-long film. Saab shines in the nurse’s hands. Yasmine maintains aesthetic harmony and shows resists, but her grandmother is holding her body curves without being vulgar. The up- legs and the upper body. The girl screams beat Arabic songs entertain and soften the breathlessly. The razor makes a sharp noise drama. The tension peaks as little Yasmine and the tissue is filled with red. opens her legs in front of the razor blade. Yasmine is a secondary character in the At least 200 million girls today have 2005 film “Dunia” directed by Leba- survived FGM, often in much worse condi- nese journalist Jocelyne Saab. The scene tions than Yasmine. Some real-life victims described shows female genital mutilation recall lying in a tent with tens other girls (FGM) – ritual cutting of a clitoris and all cut by one knife. Some saw their own labia to prevent sexual desire and ensure flesh on the ground. Somalian-born top women’s loyalty. The movie’s protagonist, model, Waris Dirie, was three years old Dunia (Hanan Turk), is a belly dancer when she was mutilated. In the biographi- and a literature undergraduate in Cairo. cal 2009 film “Desert Flower” birds ate her She writes her thesis on the expressions of sliced clitoris and labia. Opposite page and below: Stills of Hanna Tork in the 2005 film playing Dunia, a belly dancer and victim of FGM.

MockupSlingshot.indd 7 11/03/2019 12:53 “Come on Although Saab’s account of mutila- fails to realise that his paternalistic figure tion takes a lighter form, she was among overshadows her main protagonist. Ironi- my pretty, the first to address the taboo subject in cally, it seems that Dunia would always be cinema. Punished for her bravery, Saab frigid if not for Beshir’s guidance. received numerous threats for opposing He ignorantly describes sexual pleasure what are the practice. The state-sponsored Egyp- as “the summit of a peak that you only tian production company cut funding ten reach with pain and patience.” Well, you afraid days before shooting. Authorities tried certainly not the extent of pain Dunia to censor the movie as pornographic and suffered when first having sex. In severe of?” ruined the distribution. “But there is not types of mutilation, the whole genitalia a [single] Egyptian family that doesn’t are cut and the wound is sewed closed have it on a pirated DVD,” Saab said leaving a small hole for urination and proudly at the Vesoul International Film periods. Victims suffer from birth com- Festival of Asian Cinema in 2009. Today plications, chronic infections, urinating the DVD is sold on Amazon for 25$. problems and excessive bleeding. Saab “Dunia” is a movie about women’s so- ignores such details, which might be a cial liberation and we see positive female plus for those who faint easily. characters there, such as her two progres- But what is the explanation for such sive friends – Inayate and Arwe. Inayate cruelty? Mutilation is not a religious is a taxi driver who openly shows sexual requirement. The practise dates back at appetite, teasing her husband throughout least 2000 years and there is no single the film. She acts as Yasmine’s mother location of origin. Instead, FGM is and opposes mutilation for the girl, yet rooted in gender inequality. Women fails to protect her. Arwe is a university are men’s property; they must be loyal professor, free-spirited and financially and obedient, while sexual pleasure is a independent. The women meet in the privilege they are not afforded. The power evenings, smoke shisha and share person- of social norms is best shown in the 2004 al struggles. Senegalese movie “Mooladé” set in a They are supportive friends, but remote village in the west-African country hardly mentors. Instead, Dunia looks Burkina Faso. An open-minded Collé up to blind professor Beshir, her thesis refuses mutilation for her daughter and supervisor, oppositional intellectual and helps four girls to escape the ritual. The handsome brunette. In multiple scenes, villagers condemn Collé; her husband the two discuss poetry, love and desire, whips her publicly to the cheers of the but it’s mostly Beshir speaking. Saab crowd.

Left: The late director Jocelyne Saab was a journalist prior to making the film, and had seen the rippling effects FGM has on on communities. Opposite page: Graphic by Jekaterina Drozdovica

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In “Dunia”, the story is black and white. Saab fails to portray the stigma leading Yasmine’s grandmother to be- lieve mutilation is beneficial. The same stigma influences diaspora communities in Europe to cut their daughters. In the award-winning 2013 documentary “Bref” Christina Pitouli interviews Spanish immigrants from Africa who voluntarily chose mutilation to secure social status and chances to marry. For them, cutting is a social expectation, like shaving legs or tweezing eyebrows. In England alone there were 1030 newly reported cases from January to March 2018. During school summer holidays thousands of migrant families travel to their native countries where mutilation is easier and cheaper. The practise is illegal in the UK, but the lack of evidence makes it hard to prosecute. The girls rarely report their parents and the best way to save them seems to be shifting the social norm. We need films like “Dunia” to bring awareness and foster change. Saab pro- duced a light movie for those who want to dive into the topic, but are afraid of sickening details. Although the plot has some contextual gaps, the movie pleases with symmetry, harmonic colour-range and high-quality aesthetics. Dunia is an es- sential watch to reflect on the importance of female autonomy in building gender equality.

MockupSlingshot.indd 9 11/03/2019 12:53 Images: Courtesy of Barry Ferns

MockupSlingshot.indd 10 11/03/2019 12:53 11 THE SERIOUS JOKESTER

After more than 25 years in the industry, comedian Barry Ferns realized his true mission; to create a community for independent comedians to thrive, while staying true to the philosophy of people’s time being more precious than their money. Torboern Joerstad speaks to the man who opened a free comedy club

augher fills the room. It’s a Tuesday night, yet the tiny he adds. Eight years later, the club is regularly rated as a top-ten upstairs area of the Victorian-era The Camden Head in attraction for a night out in London by TripAdvisor and has LAngel is crammed to the brim with people, their eyes been branded a “comedy institution” by Time Out. fixed forwards. On stage, one man tightly grips the microphone Since stepping into the UK comedy industry some 26 years stand while barely containing his own laughter. His rough and ago, the scene has changed massively Ferns says. He credits per- unpolished looks, complete with thick, curly shoulder-length severance as the reason he is able to keep going, but admits the hair and an unshaven face may distract, but behind the façade, comedy life is not all just laughs and fun. Barry Ferns has full control of the crowd. After all, he is right “When stand-up comedy started 25-30 years ago, there wer- where he belongs. en’t as many agencies and there was definitely not this whole Shortly after the gig, as the crowd of 50 or so scrambles down money-making machine surrounding comedy. As this changed, to the bar, the man himself appears much calmer. The come- agencies sought a supply of theatres and clubs for their acts to dy-entrepreneur behind the award-winning Angel Comedy Club, perform in, and of course you wouldn’t be able to perform if you a collective hub for independent stand-up comedians to share weren’t on that agency’s roster. What essentially happened is the their work, is clearly not just a silly jokester. industry became more about making money than being funny, On June 6th 2010, in the very same upstairs area of The and if you were not with an agency you had nowhere to perform. Camden Head, Ferns, together with three fellow comedians, And that’s where the idea for Angel Comedy Club came from,” founded Angel Comedy Club, with the intention of “making he says. comedy more accessible for audiences and comedians”. The club In 2016 the club expanded after a crowdfunding campaign provides a platform for up-and-coming acts to perform, and for raised £46,000 and the crew were able to take out a lease on a established acts to test out new material. pub they named The Bill Murray (after the Scottish nobleman, “The philosophy behind it is that people’s time is more pre- not the comedian) on Queen’s Head Street, only a stone’s throw cious than their money. At the end they can give what they think away from The Camden Head. Today, Angel Comedy Club it’s worth, and if you’re a millionaire you may think it’s worth weekly hosts around 57 shows shared between the two venues. £10,000 because that’s as much to you as someone with no Several high-profile comedians have visited the club, like Dara Ó money giving £10,” he says. “That has never happened though,” Briain, Russell Howard, Eddie Izzard and Louis CK (“before that

MockupSlingshot.indd 11 11/03/2019 12:53 was a bad thing,” Ferns laughs). “Most comedy is just noticing things around you,” he says in In addition, the club regularly hosts workshops, comedy conclusion. “I tend to explore my own sense of self, or my expe- courses and community projects. A sitcom about Bill Murray is rience of the world. Before going on stage, I get into a mindset also in the works, he reveals. where everyone in the room is my friend, which removes the “I don’t believe that life has any actual narrative. Things hap- pressure to be funny. It’s like you’re just hanging out with your pen, and you make sense of it after the fact. The idea of a career friends.” is me choosing edited highlights of my narrative, in order to Despite the financial troubles once caused by it, an annual present myself in a certain way. In a sense, a career is really ‘what highlight for Ferns is still the Edinburgh Fringe. He now per- do I find significant about the things I’ve done?’” forms on top of Arthur’s Seat every year, but a stunt he pulled 11 “I convinced myself when I was around 21 that I didn’t want years ago tops even performing atop the extinct volcano. to do stand-up; I didn’t think the lifestyle suited me. But after “I legally changed my name to Lionel Richie by deed poll, as an eight-year break I eventually relented and figured ‘I guess this decided by the audience. I kept it for seven years, and it was that is who I am,’” he says. It hasn’t always been easy though – Ferns name I filed bankruptcy under. I had to go to the Royal Court recalls his experience of going bankrupt as a result of his repeat- of Justice and put my hand on the Bible and say ‘I, Lionel Richie ed attempts at making it big at the Edinburgh Fringe, the UKs do solemnly swear’… and the guy holding the Bible openly biggest comedy festival. laughed in my face,” he grins. “When I first started out it felt like I had no choice – If I wanted to be a comedian, I had to take a show to Edinburgh. But the cost of renting a performance space, a flat, producing flyers, the travel and taking time off work eventually left me with a debt of £35,000 in 2007. At that point I’d already worked whatever extra jobs I could get and squatted for eight months. I ended up having to declare bankruptcy,” he says. Despite this, the comedy life was still in his mind, and it had been for a long time. As a young boy with a working-class background from Dorset, Ferns knew early on what he wanted to do. “I was reading jokes into a microphone under a duvet when I was seven years old. My very first gig was essentially an underage, 15-year-old me in a crowded bar in Dorset swearing and saying inappropriate stuff on stage. It was great,” he laughs. Only a year later, he performed in the comedy tent at Glastonbury festival. Since then, he has won multiple comedy awards, filed for bankruptcy on more than one occasion and performed on stages around the country roughly 5,000 times. Apart from stand-up comedy, Ferns has written and directed sketch comedy for BBC, ITV and Radio 4 to mention a few. “I also spent six months as a monk in South East Asia when I was 28,” he adds, with a big, fat grin on his face.

“I don’t believe that This and previous page: life has any actual Barry Ferns has found his mission in delivering narrative. Things comedy that feels inclusive and accessible happen, and you to everyone. make sense of it after the fact.”

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“MOST COMEDY IS JUST NOTICING THINGS AROUND YOU.”

MockupSlingshot.indd 13 11/03/2019 12:53 Images: Thilde Jensen Molly Long MAKING CONTRIBUTIONS MATTER Slingshot’s Molly Long explores what can be done to help combat homelessness, in any (and every) season

All images: Danish- born photographer Thilde Jensen spent over a year documenting the lives of people who live on the streets of Syracruse, New York. Her project ‘The Unwanted’ is featured here. Opposite page graphic: Molly Long.

For many of us, Christmas and new year are already distant way through the winter,” Alan explains. Now past the festive memories. But the deficit in volunteer help that follows the season, Alan and his team are dealing with increasingly colder festive season is hard to forget for local homeless charities across temperatures without the help that Christmas brought. the country. Helping out in soup kitchens and donating festive Support workers like Alan are urging people to revisit their food is romanticised throughout popular culture. From January seasonal well-wishing as the spring approaches. “The thing is, to November, the subject drops off the public radar. if any of the people we end up turning away at Christmas came “People are homeless all year round,” says Alan Simpson, a back to help out in the New Year, we would be under far less support worker for the homeless at Ealing Soup Kitchen. “It’s pressure,” he says. so easy to find people to help through Christmas, but next to Instead, it is advised that people wanting to help do so impossible for any other time in the year.” throughout the year. This can be done through donations of Applications for volunteering roles can easily more than goods or time. By doing so, we can make sure festive goodwill quadruple in the weeks before Christmas, leaving shelters and makes a difference all year round. kitchens oversubscribed. “The problem is, Christmas is only part

MockupSlingshot.indd 14 11/03/2019 12:53 “If any of the people we end up turning away at Christmas came back to help out in the New Year, we would be under far less pressure”

MockupSlingshot.indd 15 11/03/2019 12:53 Text: Jekaterina Drozovica Images: Catherine Opie Hein Koh BOLD Renee Cox AND DIVERSE

CONTEMPORARY ART INSPIRED BY MOTHERHOOD Motherhood has long served as a fertile ground of inspiration. From the early stages of pregnancy, to the unique and long-lasting mother-child connection, art- ists around the world celebrate maternity. In 1976, American conceptual artist Mary Kelly showcased an installation of her personal diaries, stained nappy liners and slates engraved with her child’s first words. “Post-Partum Document” is the artist’s reflection on the complex rela- tionship with her six-year-old son. Using psychoanalysis to make sense of it all, Kelly welcomed the public onto her own journey. Although universal, motherhood is a multi-faceted experience. Renee Cox is a Jamaican-American artist and photogra- pher. In her 1993 “Yo Mama” self-por- trait, Cox breaks the stereotype of a mother being soft and tender. The naked artist holds her two-year old son while standing in high heels, being at once both feminine with her fine body curves, and tough in her ready-to-fight posture. A similar photo piece, Catherine Opie’s 2004 “Self-Portrait/Nursing” has a very different meaning. Opie is breastfeeding her son in a traditionally maternal pose while a faintly apparent scar reads “Per- vert” on her chest. The fresh wound fea- tured in her earlier work - 1994 “Self-Por- trait/Pervert” which explored leather subculture present in LA in the nineties. In “Self-Portrait/Nurturing” Opie shows her role as a mother blending in with her past identities. Feminine, tough, analytical, leather or high-heels lovers – mothers around the world are unique and different. There should be no boundaries to how they express it.

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M A O R T T H // I E S R T How artists like Hein Koh are finding strength in motherhood

In the UK, March 31st is Mother’s Day. But whilst we will celebrate our mothers then, the fact remains that in many pro- fessions, including the art world, having children is stigmatised. “I think most female artists are worried about the idea that one would have to divide attention between making art which is all-consum- ing, and caring for a child, which is also all-consuming,” says New York-based artist and sculptor Hein Koh. In 2015, Koh’s photo of her simulta- neously breastfeeding her five-month-old twins while working on a laptop went viral on social media. The picture was a response to Marina Abramovil’s com- ments that children hold female artists back. “Motherhood has made me strong- er, more motivated and more focussed in my practice. I have no time to waste or to think about the bullshit that I used to ruminate on,” Koh tells Slingshot. She says overcoming stigma is the key in liberating female artists to make an in- formed choice. “We need to understand that it is possible to be both a good artist Opposite page: ‘Self-Portrait/Nursing, Catherine and a good mother, and we need to dispel Opie (2004). the stereotype that those two things are This page, top: Hein Koh multitasking in 2015. Below: ‘Yo Mama’, Renee Cox (1993). diametrically opposed.”

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MockupSlingshot.indd 18 11/03/2019 12:53 TALKING ABOUT MY GIRL

The optics of women who love women are changing. But there is still a way to go before the reality is in the lens of the mainstream. Alongside photograher Holly de Looze’s project ‘Touch’, Susanna Joseph explores the enduring issues of representation and visibilty, from gay marriage to cinema

n March 2019, it will be five years since believe that far from accepting the battle same sex marriage was legalised in the is won, society should not be turning away IUnited Kingdom. The ruling came for from the very real issues still affecting many as a colossal moment, a signal that LGBTQ+ people everywhere, especially the Gay Rights Movement had broken those who do not fit into the ‘Love is Love’ through the mainstream once and for all marriage narrative. and settled into a comfortable place in “Gay marriage has always been about society’s consciousness. fitting the queer experience into the norm However, that assurance may have been and while that makes a majority of main- premature. Hate crimes against LGBTQ+ stream LGBTQ+ people ecstatic, it makes people have been rising steadily over those those that don’t want it feel even more 5 years, and still the community is yet to outcast than accepted. Pursuing queerness overcome relatively basic challenges like outside of following a heterosexual life being recognised in the national sex educa- plan is still frowned upon but those who tion curriculum. If anything, the marriage fit into the nuclear family model are assim- ruling has stagnated the push for equality ilated. Wanting this is not a negative but the last half century has seen. Activists and a society that only accepts a cleansed and commentators like journalist Gina Tonic palatable LGBT+ experience is.”

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Watching women: why lesbian cinema is still lacking Of all the infamous love affairs history has afforded us, perhaps none were so seismic as Virginia Woolf and Vita-Sackville-West. The two’s sexual relationship spanned only a few years, beginning in 1925, but the impact the affair had on both women’s craft was signifi- cant. Both writers forged art about the other, for each other; Vita’s son, Nigel Nicholson, once called Woolf’s 1927 novel Orlando “the longest and most charming love letter in literature.” Queer audiences were delighted to hear that their romance would be coming alive on screen in Vita and Virginia (2018). It promises to be literary and romantic and stimulating, as they were to each other. But unfortunately, it’s nothing we haven’t seen before. Left: Gemma Arterton and Gay women can’t catch a break. Carol Elizabeth Debinski star as (2015) is oft touted as a cinematic peak, and two of the 20th century’s most the relative scarcity of genuinely outstand- important authors in Vita and ing representation in film means that I can Virginia (2018). All other images: believe simultaneously that it was robbed at Photographer Holly de Looze captures Lucy and Heledd in ‘Touch’ (2019).

MockupSlingshot.indd 21 11/03/2019 12:53 the Oscars and also that we can hope for “Homosexual better. There is something about period dra- romance and mas and LGBT+ characters. The allure of a forbidden romance trapped in antiquated relationships in rules and norms is irresistible to filmmak- ers. Enter Lizzie and Vita and Virginia, two the media are films released this year that encapsulate the spirit of lesbian cinema in 2018: buzzword longing glances, casting, costumes necessitating the undoing of 500 tiny buttons to remove, and an end- epic letters, ing for the two women that will turn tragic. lingering touches” Homosexual romance and relationships in the media are longing glances, epic letters, lingering touches. It can be utterly thrilling. All that chemistry, hesitation, reservation and wanting is lethal fodder. The biggest LGBT+ pictures of the last year (The Mised- ucation of Cameron Post, Call Me By Your Name, Disobedience) harnessed this in a Left and below: Images from way that did not feel exploitative, and have ‘Touch’ (2019) by Holly de Looze. set a new precedent. Still, there’s sadness, An intimate revalation between two lovers that parallels with but the passion is unlike that of Blue Is The the tragic or performative Warmest Colour (2013); gone, hopefully, mainstream narratives of women are the days of such blatant performative who love women. male-gaze lesbianism. The most tender, intimate moments of these later films occur in clothes, fetishised no longer. It feels like gay people are starting to get the stories they want told. Vita and Virginia’s tale, two infamous, empowered women in a time that was far behind them, will be like blood in the water to LGBT+ audiences. Compelling, yes. But still so tortured. Suspension of disbelief and a license to dramatise aside, the treatment of gay rela- tionships in the mainstream media has seri- ous effects, particularly on the impressiona- ble young audiences who cling to any scrap of LGBT+ media as a lifeline. In reality, they may not have any gay role models to look up to. They may have never met another lesbian in their life. And to instill the idea that same-sex relationships are all fraught exchanges and hopeless dead ends until one party settles down to straight marriage and children and the other commits suicide is contributing little to a conversation that still needs enriching. There has never been a more promising time for LGBT+ cinema. There are thousands of amazing stories that need to be told, and plenty of diverse cast and crew ready to tell them. If we can’t find fulfilment in the past, maybe it’s time to look forward.

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MockupSlingshot.indd 23 11/03/2019 12:54 Illustrations: Gracie Ashton

Eating like an Earthling

For plant-based diners, it’s not always easy to satisfy cravings for delicious convinience. London’s new Unity Diner in Hoxton is here to serve. Founded by vegan activist Earthling Ed, the non-profit diner directs all funds raised back into animal welfare. But with a mission so righteous, Molly Long invesitgates whether the food measures up

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The speed of the service is somewhat of a let down. The staff, whilst undeniably enthusiastic about the establishment, can’t wholly compensate for food taking 45 minutes from order to table. Hungry and out of conversation, customers are frequently left tapping tables, eyes eagerly watching the kitchen. But there is little doubt that slow service will put customers off, especially when weighed against the restaurant’s charitable mission. Even for those uninterested in SURGE, the restaurant provides enjoyable plant-based food at a good price. Veganism is often chastised as being a lifestyle only really accessible for the middle and upper classes, and Unity seems to be gladly trying to overturn that. All in, vegans on a budget could easily get lunch for less than £7 and a two-course dinner for less than £15. It is easy, sometimes, for us vegans to get behind a person, a Ask any London-based vegan and they’ll tell you: good junk product or a restaurant just because of its being vegan, with little food lies to the east. There are ample places elsewhere in the city consideration for anything else. Case in point: the vegans who to get Instagram-worthy plant-based eats, but it is east London still buy supermarket vegan cheese, insisting it is just a good as that provides vegans with a healthy dose of the unhealthy. From the real stuff. With its non-profit mission, Unity could have fall- the vegan doner kebabs of What the Pitta, to the fried chick’n of en into this trap, serving below average food to crowds of vegans Temple of Seitan, the east pretty much has it covered. blinded by love and a good cause. Fortunately, the restaurant In the last six months, there has been a new addition to the largely has the flavours and dishes to back it up. Whilst service scene. Located in Hoxton, Unity Diner has all the trappings needs work, the entire Unity experience is good one. of a successful vegan restaurant. It is the brainchild of popular Being surrounded by competition throughout Shoreditch and vegan YouTuber and animal rights activist Earthling Ed and as elsewhere in east London, Earthling Ed’s non-profit does well to he himself claims, aims to help people “to become an active part set itself apart from the crowd. Being city-based, it is often hard of creating a world where compassion towards all non-human for a lot of vegans to feel like they are actively fighting against the animals is the norm.” oppression of animals. For one reason or another, we can’t all be The diner runs as a non-profit, donating its earnings to grass- breaking into farms on rescue missions or sabotaging fox hunts. roots animal rights movement SURGE. Proceeds help support Unity Diner therefore provides a step beyond traditional dinner; large-scale vegan advertising campaigns and outreach pro- combining great food with an accessible form of activism. grammes across the country and are also funding the construc- tion of the Surge Sanctuary - an ex-farm animal respite home set to open in late 2019. Between its practically-vegan-royalty owner, its location at the centre of the vegan junk food world and its non-profit mission, Unity talks a good game - but just how does the restaurant experience itself shape up? The menu offers a lot of food that vegans have likely seen before. Tofish bites (tofu ‘fish’), ‘cheeze’ burgers and seitan ‘chickken’ are not new by any means, but that we’ve seen them before isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Admittedly, some of the food isn’t great. Like so many ambitious vegans before them, Unity’s attempt at a mac and cheese is unexciting, bordering on bland. But then again, most vegans have at least one story about a disap- pointing mac and cheese. Aside from some disappointing pasta, the rest of the menu is largely a success. Diners can choose from a number of burgers, toasted sandwiches, salads and sharing platters. Most non-meat eaters will be well-versed in the mediocre veggie burgers of the world, but Unity’s managed to escape this fate. The clear winner is the ‘Moving Mountains Burger’; a juicy meat-free patty loaded with ‘cheeze,’ fried onions, grilled peppers and a sun-dried tomato pesto. For an extra £1, you can add into the mix some ‘bakon,’ - which comes highly recommended by this reviewer. The star of the menu and most original item by far is the chickpea and seitan ‘steakk’. Beyond the odd spelling, Unity’s ‘steakk’ manages to ‘tickk’ all the boxes. It is served with wedges, garlic curly kale, cherry tomatoes and a red wine gravy and whilst it isn’t going to fool meat eaters any time soon, it remains a great example of the ingenuity and creativity that modern vegan food can give rise to. From 12 until four o’clock on weekdays it also Top: Charlotte Ager’s mural in Unity makes an appearance as a toastie filling, along with mustard Diner captured by Molly Long. Opposite page and above: mayonnaise and roasted mushrooms - good news for any vegans Illustrations by Gracie Ashton of the still desperately searching for a decent sandwich. diner front and a happy patron.

MockupSlingshot.indd 25 11/03/2019 12:54 MockupSlingshot.indd 26 11/03/2019 12:54 27 The many faces of Ellie Bleach A versatile and metamorphic star-in-waiting has appeared. Susanna Joseph lays out why we think you’ll take a shine to her

Images: Verity Smiley-Jones Patrick Gunning

ven on a cold night like tonight, relishing every solo, pulling silly faces like a drummer and guitarist, incorporat- Ellie Bleach doesn’t fidget. While to mark their pleasure or disgust with ing synths and so forth until she found Ethe heater beside us keeps flick- their performance. “We’ve been playing the sound her moniker produces today. ing on and off, and people at the tables as a four piece since July,” she tells me, “I was working out my strengths, and around are pulling at their sleeves and smiling slightly. “They make shows fun. I [decided] the voice and the lyrics have to fiddling in their pockets for warmth. She can’t believe, looking back, I used to go to be at the forefront.” When she talks, it’s sits still, and when she does move it’s with shows on my own. If I’d stayed like that, not very remiss of the young musician’s purpose. Bleach is in high demand of late, it would’ve got so boring.” A few months stage presence, where her swagger is often travelling across the UK to support bands is not a long time, but all four members amplified by a bright red suit and tie. But like Juniore and Infinite Bisous, appear- of the Ellie Bleach band are accomplished you can hear some of the care that makes ing in the line-up at the latest issue launch musicians with years of experience to her lyrics such a delight. There’s a crafts- of Femme Collective zine, headlining the their names, and together they seem manship to her syntax, soft and precise, first shows with her freshly-formed band. intrinsic. like apple-picking in an orchard. For an artist staring down the barrel of a Born in Southend-On-Sea, Bleach Storytelling is something that has promising future, taking some time to be has spent the last three years in Nor- always come quite easily. “I’m not a calm must be important. wich studying English Literature at the brilliant guitarist, not a brilliant keyboard- On stage, Bleach crackles with ener- University of East Anglia. It’s during this ist. Songwriting is definitely the bit that gy. As her voice drawls witticisms over period that she began to attend open mic feels just natural. If I struggled with that the 70s lo-fi nostalgia generated by her nights, relying on her voice, a guitar and I’d be a bit like ‘why am I doing this?’” band, the four of them laugh together, an amp, gradually adding other elements she chuckles. Her eclectic music taste, to

MockupSlingshot.indd 27 11/03/2019 12:54 This page, above: Ellie performing in January 2019 as part of DIY’s ‘Hello 2019’ lineup at Old Blue Last. Below: Ellie shot for Slingshot. “If you are a fan Photography by Verity Smiley- which she credits her moderately unpro- Jones; syling by Ailsa Chaplin; ductive second year of university for getting of an art form, makeup by Alice Dodds; Hair by “really good”, coupled with her literary Sam Roman; Videography by knowledge means her pool of inspiration I can never Poppy Ashton; Assisted by Atikah Zaidini is deep enough to drown in. “I feel like once you go down the road of wanting to understand how write from a character’s perspective, it’s someone isn’t quite hard to go back. There are infinite lives that are more interesting than mine.” compelled to A new song, ‘Jackie Kennedy’, written in this vein, could be the next single released make that for at a headline show this Spring. It’s a fast dance number, she explains, quite unlike themselves” anything Bleach has released previously, but exploring a new direction is a cause for excitement, not worry. “I’m so impatient! I dented popularity after being featured on a really want new songs to be done.” Spotify Fresh Finds playlist, but this hasn’t The success of her summer 2018 track stopped Bleach from looking back and ‘Leave Me Alone’ has been galvanizing for questioning the song. “I hate it, it’s lame. the 21-year-old artist. The song is acerbic, The recording is basic-ass lyrics and guitar. melodic and dry. It’s the perfect revenge It’s got quite a lot of plays [on Spotify] be- song for a time-waster; rhythmic and cause of that playlist, but I do wish one of chastising, you can imagine the boy it’s my good songs could have gone on there. written about cringing while his friends It’s because I didn’t know what I was doing bop their heads around him. “I’m proud then!” she exclaims with mock-annoyance. of ‘Leave Me Alone’. I listen to that and It’s not the end of the world to change I’m like, yeah, that’s my style.” It’s unclear your mind, after all. And if the change whether this energy will last. Bleach seems comes from growth, well, even better. unresisting to adaptions in her music. It’s not as if this day and age is bereft of ‘Duvet Day’, a 2017 release, gained unpre- opportunities to creatively explore. “Every-

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one’s a renaissance man,” she says, taper- ing off slightly as she digests this thought. “I I really like that. That’s the plus side to the gig economy.” For an emerging artist, the music landscape currently can be a little bleak. Money is not easy to come by, and the industry can easily instill cynicism. But Bleach never really saw an option of just… Not bothering. “If you are a fan of an art form, I can never understand how Above: Ellie for Slingshot by Verity someone isn’t compelled to make that for Smiley-Jones. themselves.” Global domination isn’t re- All other images: Stills of the shoot ally on the agenda, just to labour for love. from videographer Poppy Ashton. “I’d love to be the kind of artist that has a small but dedicated following, like I just put an album out once every three years and it’ll be well received, maybe I’d tour it, then get back to writing the next one.” Sadly, artists do not always get to ano lessons and learning to play guitar. It’s craft everyone else’s perception of them. difficult to imagine what it’s like having Sometimes the public or a label will fling something that is just a part of your reality an identity over like a robe, regardless of become an issue to be navigated. “It’s whether it fits. For Bleach, who was born strange to be an object of intrigue. The without the lower part of her right arm, worst question is in the vein of, ‘where do this is more of a consideration than it is you get your confidence?’ because it’s kind for most. “I don’t know any other artists of implying that I shouldn’t be confident.” with a limb deficiency. We talked about Disabled musicians are extremely thin on it when we were bringing out ‘LMA’, that the ground, but hopefully the bullshit she people would be interested. I would be. deals with as traction is gained by playing But I forget that is the first thing people the music that she loves is minimal. “I’m notice just because it’s never been a thing fine talking about it if people want to. for me.” Her parents made sure that she As long as Facebook mums don’t call me never felt restricted, encouraging her in pi- inspirational. That’s my worst fear.”

MockupSlingshot.indd 29 11/03/2019 12:54 Food waste in the UK is on the rise. Despite the implications for the environment, the economy, and an ever-growing homeless population, enough is never enough for diners and restauranters alike. Slingshot’s Jekaterina Drozdovica investigates A whether we’ve finally had our fill Stinking

Problem Illustrations: Gracie Ashton

MockupSlingshot.indd 30 11/03/2019 12:54 31 “Malnutrition- It’s especially busy in a restaurant kitch- food-waste mash. Meanwhile, malnutri- en at the end of a service. Dozens of wait- caused death tion-caused death has doubled in England ers gather around black food waste bins between 2001 and 2017, with 8.4 million scraping leftovers off plates. Juicy roast has doubled in people in the UK struggling to afford beef smacks onto ice-cream topped cakes, food. salads and grilled vegetables mix with England between But the food can’t be donated due to chocolate mousse, salmon steaks blend 2001 and 2017, strict corporate policies. “We can’t donate into tiramisu, everything is seasoned with to food charities as our departments gravy. Once expensive high-end meals, with 8.4 million were previously accused of food poison- now they turn into a stinking mass of ing, which created too many problems,” waste, which makes everyone scrunch up people in the says Jurca Tamas, manager of Alexander their faces. House Hotel. As explained by Dr Viacha- An estimated three million tons of UK struggling to slau Filimonau, a principal academic of food is thrown away every year in the hospitality management at Bournemouth UK hospitality industry, but customer afford food” University: “If a restaurant gives food left- leftovers amount to only a half of all waste overs away and someone gets food poison- produced. A study by the Sustainable packed with tons of sausages, eggs and ing, they can sue the restaurant and get Restaurant Association revealed that 65% bacon even with only two guests in the compensation. This is called the liability of food waste occurred during cooking. room. The truth is that a half-empty dis- risk. If it’s a famous chain, the case would This is particularly relevant to fine-dining, play doesn’t look expensive and it’s always be all over the press, which will result in where portions are small and chefs cut better to be safe in case a client wants both financial and reputational losses.” carrots in half to make them look fancy. more. Sometimes managers deliberately The European Food Hygiene legislation Another factor is the obsession with prepare extra plates for a banquet to avoid lacks guidelines on how to donate food, customer satisfaction that dominates in the worst-case scenarios. The excess food and some of its rules can be interpreted luxury restaurants. Breakfast buffets are ends up in a bin decomposing into the rigidly. In Europe, only Italy has clear

Opposite page: For those without a steady food supply, Britain’s waste issue is even more urgent. Below: “It’s like Tinder for food” - the app Olio is making it easier to offer unwanted food, including fresh produce, to those who need it.

MockupSlingshot.indd 31 11/03/2019 12:54 “There must be a cultural shift to change our consumption habits. The resources we throw away might be vital in saving somebody’s life”

legislation that limits donor’s liability and three-quarters of all food is donated they’ll be in trouble.” To tackle the liabili- makes it easier to donate. The hospi- within an hour. Olio is a free mobile ap- ty fears, Olio provides donors with a legal tality managers must abide by certain plication, where users can post a picture document, which sets out responsibilities food-safety standards, which complicates of an unwanted food item while other of both sides. The only requirement for the process of food donation. “Even if users can request it for free. Scrolling businesses is to make sure the food is the food was cooked, there’s always the down the app you can find anything from safe when it gets to the volunteers. “The risk of post-contamination,” says Rob ready salted crisps to Planet Organic deli problem here is the overall apathy,” Jones Koojimans, the co-founder of Food Safety pots. “It’s like Tinder for food,” says Liam says. “The liability risk and food safety Experts. “You can find harmful bacteria Jones, Olio’s business manager in the UK. concerns are easy to overcome if people everywhere: in the air or even on people’s The social enterprise has a volunteering care enough.” skin. If the food was out for at least one scheme, which works with restaurants, Introducing tax deductions can be a hour, we already consider it risky. In ideal cafes and groceries. Trained volunteers way of encouraging businesses to waste temperature conditions, the number of pick up unwanted food items and store less and help those in need. In Spain, bacteria that food contains would grow them in their own fridges until someone 35% of the value of donated food can be by eight in one hour. Therefore, a charity requests the items on the app. claimed back as a corporate tax credit. In would have very little time for redistribu- For Jones, the main challenge is con- France, this number increases to 60%. tion.” vincing businesses to donate. “Everyone Dr Filimonau thinks that the government Yet on the food-sharing platform Olio, is terrified that if something goes wrong must take an action to guide the hospi-

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tality industry out of the food-wasting hungry,” says Erna Klupacs, the market- standard restaurant portions are too big catastrophe. Sadly, in a profit-driven ing manager at Winnow. The company to finish. More than a half of respondents environment, financial rewards or pun- has collected data from over 450 sites in leave 5-15% of the food on a plate. To ishments work better than the voice of 25 countries to analyse the food wasting tackle the issue, the Portuguese waste conscience. trends. “What we saw is that the most management company LIPOR created What if with every gram of wasted beef food waste in hospitality happens when the “Menu Dose Certa” campaign, which the hospitality managers could see its the food is prepared in advance because means “the menu of the right size”. The cost and its carbon footprint? Would this it’s often hard to estimate the demand.” company works with restaurants and cafes awareness appeal to their moral sense? Yet some businesses are abandoning creating a special menu that contains sizes Winnow is a UK-based food waste initia- “the more, the better” policy and are proportionate to what clients can eat. tive that does exactly that. The company striving for quality over quantity. Sonya The guests can then decide which menu installs digital weights under the food Meagor is the founder of Eco-Cuisine, a they want to order from. The menu with waste bins in professional kitchens. There sustainable and organic catering company balanced portions is usually cheaper. is a tablet that staff members must use to based in London. “One and a half rounds There must be a cultural shift to change identify an item and the reason for waste. of sandwich, plus some cake and a piece our consumption habits. The resources The system then calculates the amount of of fruit, in my opinion, is plenty to make we throw away might be vital in saving money and carbon emissions wasted. a good lunch. When I see other caterers somebody’s life. By ordering more than “Obviously, each of us has a different bringing plates and plates of hot food what we can finish, we waste carbon emis- motivation to save food, whether we’re for a lunch of 12 people, I think it’s too sions resulted from food production. A environmentally conscious, or whether much.” small act of thinking before ordering can we think that it’s socially unacceptable In a recent survey by Slingshot, change the world if everyone sticks to it. to waste food while so many people are over 65% of respondents said that the

Opposite page: In fine dining, where portion sizes are generally small, the most wastage occurs during preparation. Above: The liability risk and food safety concerns of donating are easy to overcome if people care enough.

MockupSlingshot.indd 33 11/03/2019 12:54 MockupSlingshot.indd 34 11/03/2019 12:54 35 Images: Eileen Bothways Wesley Dykes Jack Brennan Phoenix-Chase-Meares COMES TO Getty THE ISLE OF DRAG The British drag scene is raw, diverse and about to be hit with the biggest drag show in history. As reported by Klara Blazejovska, RuPaul’s Drag Race brings money, fame and controversies; but will he include the queer and filthy English drag performers as well, and will they want to be included?

he double-edged mic of RuPaul merous queens. But people don’t do drag mances. “Once you’re doing drag on the Charles will soon be swinging for the money. “To put it this way – you stage you don’t know who is coming to Tagain, this time in the UK. It will can bring in enough money to be scraping your show because weird people like drag make history as the first non-American by just as so many Londoners are scrap- – say people who are in theatre, in music Race the drag legend has ever hosted. In ing by doing temp jobs, office jobs, café and other artists. Somebody realises you his work as a drag queen, actor, model, jobs. You will be tired as fuck but you can could be in my music video, you could be singer, songwriter, producer and host, it’s do it,” says London’s drag king Wesley on the panel or be around this workshop obvious that whatever RuPaul touches Dykes. or ‘we are doing a play – can you audi- turns to gold. He is firmly in the his- Thanks to RuGirls’ immensely suc- tion?’” tory books of drag. With his show, the cessful global tours like Werq the World, For Phoenix Chase-Meares, RuPaul has lovechild of America’s Next Top Model launched in 2017, many queens, including changed his career “massively”. Phoenix and Project Runaway, he brought about some from the UK, have been paid in is a director of TobylikesMILK, the queer revolution, commercialised entertainment “exposure”. Ellie Clark, a female queen dance company. Because RuPaul has to for marginalised groups and enabled from Glasgow says: “They say: ‘You’ll get “some extent commercialized drag and many drag queens to profit. But his to open for them so why should we pay slightly queerness”, the public is now words have an impact that causes division you, you’re gonna be on Facebook,’ but more open to Chase’s choreography and among communities that for so long, have that’s not a payment at the end of the day. he even went on the European tour with stuck together. That’s not gonna pay bills, for makeup, RuGirls. “That was a massive bump in So, what can we learn from the original some wigs, some travel, that’s not even my career. I mean we weren’t doing drag, Drag Race and where does it go from gonna pay for a bus to the bloody venue.” we were men in heels with face paint on, here? Since RuPaul’s Race started, drag has but it changed my career. And I think it Local British queens make anywhere become increasingly commercialised and has changed a lot of drag queens’ careers from £40 to £200 a night after their first many queens have learned that doing drag because it has attracted people who year of regular performing. The average can become “an avenue for other things”, wouldn’t have usually sought out to see a ticket to a drag queen show costs around says Wesley Dykes. Queens and kings drag show,” says Chase. £8 and usually includes a line-up of nu- showcase other skills during their perfor- Drag Race has impacted the British

MockupSlingshot.indd 35 11/03/2019 12:54 drag scene already, but the question that remains is what happens after the UK Race is won? In America, many local LGBTQ bars and queens have taken to the internet to describe what they perceived as a negative impact on the drag business after the show grew to today’s proportions. After season 8, the Drag Race moved from Logo, the largest gay network on US TV, to VH1, a reality TV network, and from Monday to Friday. This seemed like a minor change at first, but it meant the world to the LGBTQ community. With this move, RuPaul had taken LGBTQ culture to mainstream TV. But what appeared on the surface to be a leap forward for a niche business and marginalised group, actually hurt the little people in it. Many LGBTQ clubs in New York City, where the show is shot, have reported a financial loss. Less busy Monday nights at the clubs were a time for community gatherings to watch and a chance for local queens to perform for significant audiences. The move, therefore, transformed it completely and finalised the creation of a whole new – wider – audience outside of the LGBTQ community. The participating queens became even larger, sought-after ce- lebrities, often at the expense of local queens and their clubs. Recently, RuPaul landed in hot water after defending why the trans community is so absent from his Races. Arguably, the show is relatable to the wider public because of the simple portrayal of what it means to be a drag performer. Drag queens on the show are cis-gender men dressed in ‘femme’ cos- tumes – the wigs, the corsets, the heels are Previous spread: Like many trans people, all central. This is now an issue for the UK Eileen Bothways is constantly fighting for scene. “British drag is so much more queer, the right to exist. This page: Drag King Wesley Dykes believes dirty and filthy and fun and ridiculous. It’s the commercialisation of drag has made it not about money or wigs or gowns. It’s really ‘an avenue for other things. RuPaul Charles, way more performative,” says Chase, who bottom, has had a hand in that. is a nonbinary drag performer dressing as a Club Kid. People like Chase or Eileen Bothways, a nonbinary transmasculine queen also per- forming in London, are underrepresented in RuPaul’s Drag Race. For many of them, doing drag is less about the performance and more about “being their authentic selves”, according to Chase. “We’ve seen how it’s created a standard for drag in the US and those of us who have performed in the US know the scene is actually just as rich, alternative, and nuanced as it is in the UK. If the producers try to cookie cutter drag over here and they put on a show that has no AFAB [Assigned Female At Birth] artists, genderfuck performers, no bearded queens, there’s going to be an uproar,” adds Eileen Bothways.

MockupSlingshot.indd 36 11/03/2019 12:54 37

The British drag scene is arguably one of the most diverse in the world, and for many it is a safe space to express them- selves. The transgender and non-binary communities of the UK are still feeling This page: Ellie Clark, the aftershocks of the TERF scandal at top, and Phoenix Chase- 2018 Women’s March and for many, the Meares, bottom, are part of drag community has become even more a new generation of queer performers Drag Race UK crucial. It’s hard to judge whether the could include. public exposure of performers actually puts the community at a greater risk but Chase says that doing drag, regardless of gender, is always “going to subject you to more aggression.” It’s justifiable to be afraid. According to the Office for National Statistics, sexual orientation and transgender identity hate crime is on the rise. There were 1,651 trans-identity hate crimes and 11,638 sexual orientation hate crimes registered between 2017/2018, both a 30% rise on the previous year. The office began research on gender identity in 2017 and continues to work on finding the best way to acknowledge the gender fluidity in administrative systems as well as public spaces. Eileen Bothways says: “After the transition to my ideal body I will be left incredibly vulnerable and open to verbal/ performers identify the community as an physical attack, potentially even murder, “After the inclusive and safe space. This makes it just for me trying to be me. In drag, if transition to my pivotal that RuPaul measures his British you’re AFAB, no matter how you identify, Drag Race to different standards. then you generally have to work twice as ideal body I will Ellie Clarke believes that RuPaul hard to get half the credit.” represents the older generation of drag. Psychologists Moncrieff and Lienard be left incredibly “He’s a smart person and he has done a in their study A Natural History of the vulnerable and lot for drag but I just don’t think he is the Drag Queen Phenomenon write that voice of this generation. He is stuck in the gay communities in which drag was open to verbal and the eighties. He needs to educate himself born serve as a backdrop because they physical attacks, more.” In recent years, the UK scene has were once excluded from the culture and registered changes within its community served as their survival tool. Research even murder, just as the drag kings and female drag queen says that performers incur costs to gain performers occupy the stage more and the praise of the community. Even today for trying to be me” more. “It is getting bigger. But there are still people who don’t accept us, especially gay men, especially older queens who have been doing drag for like thirty years – cis- male. I think it is getting better but there is a long way to go,” says Clarke. For Wesley Dykes, RuPaul would gain points for creating a more diverse show, but they say they’re not sure it would hurt that much if he carried on with the old formula. “For me it’s just a TV show. If you get on, because they’re feeling friendly then cool, and if not, I don’t think you should be using RuPaul’s Drag Race as any kind of a bar of your competence or capability.” RuPaul’s Drag Race will be aired in 8 episodes on BBC Three during 2019 with the exact dates yet to be confirmed.

MockupSlingshot.indd 37 11/03/2019 12:54 Images: Confetti Club Klara Blazejovska THE F* WORD Klara Blazejovska reflects on the importance of linguistics in a worldwide movement that is as inspiring as it is infuriating

“Feminism has, in recent years, become a hot topic again. It an online community to inspire girls and women to support stood resolute at the centre of the #MeToo movement, but also each other. They plan to continue to grow the community and faced a backlash after TERF (Trans-Exclusionary Radical Femi- connect even more female entrepreneurs. nist) protests were conducted during last year’s Women’s March It’s called feminism because “Equalism or Humanism is just and London’s Gay Pride event. It lead many to wonder whether not enough,” says Confetti Crowd. Feminism concentrates on the term ‘feminism’ had become outdated, or too wrapped up in the issues of all women because this is what needs to be elevated. the discriminatory connotations of the past. As a social movement, it has a duty to move with and react to March 8th is rooted in feminism and its ability to balance the changing obstacles that all femme-presenting people face women’s achievements with gender equality; as the International across the world. Women’s Day always has been or should have been. It means a campaign, a struggle, a goal, a pursuit, a need - and “Feminism is about fighting for those who don’t have a voice, so much more - for fair and equal chances for everyone and in for standing up for matters that affect the minorities,” says all aspects of life. Confetti Crowd, a group of four female activists who created

It’s far from perfect, but it’s alive.”

Left: ‘ALL THE RAZORS I’VE USED BECAUSE SOCIETY SAID I SHOULD’ By Confetti Crowd’s Heidi Petite. Above: Heidi on the South Bank by Lizzie Rose.

MockupSlingshot.indd 38 11/03/2019 12:54 39 FURTHER Klara Blazejovska’s recommendations to help you get inspired and stay motivated READING

Redefining Realness Janet Mock “I’ve heard parents say all they want is ‘the best’ for their children, but the best is subjective and anchored by how they know and learned the world.” She also fought no one’s problemative fave Piers Morgan - on Twitter and TV.

Bitch Doctrine Laurie Penny Do all men deserve these com- ments? “Of course, of course, not all men. But enough of them.” The not-so-nice-but-honest British writer and activist’s essay collections covering it all. I Am Malala Malala Yousafzai A memoir of a Pakistani girl Bad Feminist who fought for education, got Roxane Gay shot in the head by Taliban A critically acclaimed bisexual author and ended up in UN halls who writes about feminism for every- in the USA. “If one man can one. Gay wrote that feminism is flawed destroy everything, why can’t because people are, not because the one girl change it?” ideology of feminism is.

Forgotten Women Zing Tsjeng Editor of Broadly and the book series: The Leaders, The Scientists, The Writers and The Artists, Tsjeng fills in the holes in our educa- tion system with the women left out of the history books.

MockupSlingshot.indd 39 11/03/2019 12:54 TAKING ON SOCIAL ISOLATION... ONE PINT AT A TIME

Images: Klara Blazejovska Gipsy Hill Taproom

MockupSlingshot.indd 40 11/03/2019 12:54 41

From reckless teenager to social worker, Mike Huddart is fighting for British hospitality to start catering for people with disabilities. Slingshot’s Klara Blazejovska caught up with the man on a mission to make pubs accessible

I went to the festival called the Big away happy. For me it was that person have opened a socially inclusive taproom Chill in Herefordshire. I was really supporting that person that wanted to be and brewed beer with and for people with “hungover lying in a field feeling sorry somewhere where it was hard, it was like disabilities. But Huddart says that he has for myself. In the middle of this huge for- a thing.” never thought about it like that. “I think est, really hard to get into, I saw a guy in a Nineteen bus stops and a ten-minute the mindset was always there, they just wheelchair with cerebral palsy going past walk from Brixton station, you will find didn’t really know what it was.” the stage with some guy with him and I Gipsy Hill and a craft brewery of the same When he says that, one can’t help but thought: How did he get here? How is he name. This is where Huddart spends most believe him. We are half-way through a here? And then I just saw him looking out of his time, working under his official title pint, at the entrance of his taproom, right and I was like, oh shit, that’s something I of the brewery’s “Marketing and Events after a warm hug, when I realise that this have never thought about.” Guy”. is Huddart at his most authentic. A guy This was Mike Huddart’s epiphany, and Unofficially, he has known the owners with a hippy hair bun, stubble and noth- the reason that he works with people with since they were rolling kegs in the same ing but uncontrolled honesty when he disabilities today. One that happened only bar many years prior, a job he did to speaks about empathy and understanding a few years after he was partnered up with supplement the little pay-checks from the - the two things, he says, we really need a cross-project kid at Waitrose when he charities he worked for at the same time. to learn about and apply to be socially was 18. “We worked together and really I They asked him to join them full-time inclusive. didn’t see any difference, maybe I should, twice before he actually said yes. It took “a For five years he worked for charities maybe I should have been properly platform with no ceilings” offer for him aiding people with disabilities, taking trained.” to come around and he has transformed them out, helping them to have fun. He “I realised that every day, you can share the brewery into a community outreach frequently apologises that his research is it. If you can just make one life a little dif- business. limited and all he knows is from first- ferent in a positive way than you can walk Since Huddart’s joining, Gypsy Hill hand experience. One quickly comes to

This page: Mike Huddart captured by Klara Blazejovska. Next page: Image courtesy of the Gipsy Hill Taproom.

MockupSlingshot.indd 41 11/03/2019 12:54 “If you can just make one life understand that Huddart doesn’t realise wheelchairs, a lowered bar, accessible toi- his stories speak for themselves, saying lets and everything organised in straight a little different more than any research ever could. lines. At the taproom, all staff are trained He says that there is not a space for to accommodate individuals with and in a positive spontaneity in this life for people with without disabilities. way then you disabilities. “It was tough. It is very hard When you walk in, you’re more likely to be inspired when you are limited.” to notice the industrial modernity with a can walk away “We always ended up booking the train Scandinavian style influence than the sub- happy” and I just got tired and tired of doing tle changes that make the place socially that, so I would not book the train and inclusive. It raises a question: why aren’t I just said we need a ramp. I’d hold the there more such places? train doors until the ramp came and just Huddart says that the space and staff told the station staff to think about it a are very expensive, but the lack of knowl- little. It was quite aggressive.” edge plays an important role. A lot of peo- He phoned train companies urging ple think that having a disabled toilet and them to hire more staff, he would face a ramp is enough, but when they don’t inadequate facilities in cafes, bars and get many people with disabilities they just pubs. “All this structure, people didn’t use the toilet as a storage space and clear understand, the communication was not it when it’s needed. Huddart’s faith in people is unshakable. there. I just ended up having to split my Huddart plans to build a free online He is a father, and his mum worked as group up, and those were supposed to be training program for hospitality business- a nurse. He used to spend a lot of time social trips.” es across the UK. It will be a safe and around the elderly in particular. “I think Now working for Gipsy Hill brewery accessible place where the industry can that’s where a lot of this stuff started Huddart continues to champion social learn about social inclusivity and make originally. I have always felt comfortable inclusivity. The new Gypsy Hill taproom their business friendlier to the people around people. That was before I became was built using crowdfunding. The space with disabilities. a teenage piece of shit, partying,” says is open to everyone. It has easy-to-move Despite having many reasons to Huddart speaking fondly of others rather chairs, tables of appropriate height to suit be upset and frustrated with society, than himself one last time.

MockupSlingshot.indd 42 11/03/2019 12:54 MockupSlingshot.indd 43 11/03/2019 12:54 Images: Natalie Byrne Laura Dennison Imogen Forte The Great Phoebe Ackers Lifestyle Con: How ‘wellness’ makes us unwell

As dieting trends shift away from their rigid ancestors, Molly Long asks whether a lifestyle-not-a-diet is any better for us, and if we aren’t just falling for the same old tricks

n the 1830s, Presbyterian minister Sylvester Graham set to work reform- Iing the lives and diets of Americans. Through a lifestyle of vegetarianism, sobriety and whole-grains, Graham told his followers they could, and would, lead purer lives. The reverend’s lifestyle advo- cacy would go on to inspire the invention of foods like graham flour and graham crackers, both of which are still used and enjoyed today the world over. However, it’s not the foods created in his honour that are his longest-serving legacy, but the effect that his preaching had on the early stages of the diet indus- try. Graham is largely credited as being one of the first creators of a ‘fad’ diet. In the almost 200 years since ‘Grahamism’, countless diets have followed. Atkins, Dukan, Paleo, Ketogenic, Last Chance and Lemonade - to name just a few diets - have all made their way into the public consciousness, down a path he helped to forge. But to keep up with the ever-changing way we consume media, dieting compa- nies have had to change tactics. In the past, diet plans were plugged on teleshop- ping segments, in page adverts in glossy magazines or through high-stake celebrity sponsorships. Now, the advertising of weight loss products are done almost ex-

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Previous page: Illustrator Above: Laura Dennison was one Natalie Byrne encourages of the first to wise up to the idea wariness of online that ‘wellness’ just might not be ‘influencers’. as healthy as it appeared.

clusively through the work of social media ‘influencers’ and increasingly, they aren’t being sold as diets at all. Arguably the most successful method of Above: Becky Young set about covert diet advertising of the past few year challenging her own diet-culture- has been ‘wellness’. Far from its rigid, induced negative feelings, and she meal plan-focused, exercise regime-follow- welcomed others on her journey. ing ancestors, ‘wellness’ is a lifestyle, not a diet. Characterised by ultra-aesthetically Laura continues. “These influencers get ed by Slingshot, 70% of social media pleasing pictures - think houseplants, yoga people to adopt ‘wellness’ in a completely users were aware of ‘wellness’ and ‘clean and beaches - and trendy, ‘clean’ foods - unhealthy way and then when it doesn’t eating’ trends. Reflecting on their own so- think chia seeds, coconut oil and quinoa work out for you or it doesn’t produce the cial media use, over half said they believed - ‘wellness’ is a nebulous and inexact label results you were after, it’s your fault. You the trend was, or had the potential to that has pretty much become synonymous didn’t do it right.” become, dangerous to both physical and with everything we have come to expect The lack of nutritional education mental health. from photo-sharing apps. According to amongst the online ‘wellness’ commu- Urging people to think twice is exactly the Guardian, this lifestyle-not-a-diet in- nity is as common as it is worrying. At what a small-but-growing sect of activists dustry has amassed a worth of more than the peak of her Blonde Vegan fame, and social media users are doing. “This £500 billion worldwide. then-‘wellness’ blogger Jordan Younger trend just has such a limited scope of “It’s hard to decipher what is aspira- was able to sell more than 40,000 copies what ‘wellness’ means,” says Becky Young, tional, and what is just an advertisement of her five-day raw-vegan ‘cleansing’ pro- activist and founder of the Anti Diet Riot on your [social media] feed,” says Laura gramme at $25 a go - without the help of Club, “Of course we should all be looking Dennison, one half of blogging duo Not any nutritional qualifications whatsoever. after ourselves, but we do not need to buy Plant Based who have just released the At the highest end of the scale, actress into the brand of ‘wellness’ to do this.” As book Eat it Anyway. For Laura, ‘wellness’ Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop brand is valued an organisation, Becky’s Riot Club hosts is another kind of diet, except this one at $250 million. This comes despite her events and workshops designed to help is packaged as a vaguely coherent set of having no professional qualifications and people reject dieting culture as a whole. ideals and goals that are, for most, com- an ever-expanding list of controversies, As a self-confessed former chronic pletely unachievable without a drastic, the latest and most expensive of which dieter, Becky explains: “Outwardly, I was expensive transformation of lifestyle. being a $145,000 lawsuit disputing the confident but inside I had what many of “What I think makes the trend so scary, health benefits of her rose quartz and jade us live with under toxic dieting culture: more so than anything we’ve seen before, vaginal eggs. a dark friend saying ‘You’re too big, too is that it isn’t labelled as a diet. It’s a For the 39 million social media users fat. None of your success means anything ‘lifestyle’ - it says it will make you feel in the UK, scrolling isn’t just a mindless if you can’t keep the weight off’.” Whilst better but when you strip it all back, it’s pastime. It’s a shopping experience, and a Becky has largely rejected diet culture now just a harmful money making scheme,” dubious one at that. In a survey conduct- and tries to help others do the same, she

MockupSlingshot.indd 45 11/03/2019 12:54 “When it comes admits: “There are days when I realise I’m In online diet culture, aesthetics often still grieving the thin ideal.” to eating, we are rank higher than health or sanity. The This is true of many people. Pervasive ‘wellness’ world doesn’t mind all that narratives throughout western culture told not to trust much that doctors have continuously equate weight loss and thinness with our bodies, for debunked the effectiveness of detox teas success, whilst enjoying typically ‘bad’ or (little more than just laxatives), or that ‘unhealthy’ food is seen as something to fear of ‘falling off there are next to no additional health be ashamed of. As a Slingshot interview benefits to be found from substituting study revealed, the pressure to conform the wagon’” coconut oil into your diet. These things starts at an early age, particularly for wom- photograph well, sound vaguely healthy en. “Even though I wasn’t a ‘big’ teen, I and in turn, are easy to sell to the masses. still remember going to WeightWatchers Another woman Slingshot spoke to told With such an airtight formula, it is no with my mum and I couldn’t have been of her obsession with exercise and detox surprise then that well over half of re- more than 13,” said one woman we talked teas - drinks often promoted by stars as spondents to Slingshot’s survey said they to. Incidentally, a free teenage member- prolific as Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jen- had or had considered changing at least ship programme earned WeightWatchers ner - at just 14 years old. “I ran my young one thing about their life because of nega- extensive criticism last year. The British body into the ground because I thought tive pressure from influencers promoting Dietetic Association condemned the being fat was the worse thing that could ‘wellness’ or weight loss. company, saying that preying on the possibly happen to me,” she said, “And Diet culture tells us to override our already well-established insecurities of even though my mindset was ridiculously body’s natural hunger cues in order to young people would make them ‘fixated’ unhealthy, all I got was compliments lose weight. “We aren’t taught to ignore on dieting, ready to come back to the pro- from friends and family about how great any other biological needs; when we gramme later in life as fully-paying adults. I looked.” are tired we sleep; when we are thirsty

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All images: Sculptor Phoebe Acker’s project ‘How To Look Like A Kardashian in 30 Days’, 2019. A sharp and humerous rejection of the Instagram diet culture.

we drink,” says Dr Georgina Heath, a pervasive and covert tactics. More and dishonest practices, it begs the question, specialist eating disorder clinical psycholo- more, the Health at Every Size (HAES) is there any responsible way to mass-mar- gist, “but when it comes to eating, we are philosophy is being used. Georgina pro- ket weight loss? According to Georgina, told not to trust our bodies, for fear of vides her patients with scientific evidence activists and a growing number the ‘falling off the wagon’”. By suggesting that of the fact there is more than one size at public, the answer is a firm no. Dieting remaining ‘on-plan’ is a sign of strength, which to be healthy, with the intention companies and influencers promote a the opposite becomes true too. Moralising of countering the misinformation often one-size-fits-all regime for weight loss, but food - dividing people into those strong spread by diet companies and influencers. when biology is taken into account, this enough to diet and those too weak to “Dieting is a multi-billion dollar industry simply isn’t doable for most. To suggest resist indulging - is prevalent throughout and companies want to sell their prod- narratives about health and beauty that the ‘wellness’ movement, which consist- ucts,” she says, “Often the percentages or have permeated society for years could be ently urges followers to stay away from testimonials they offer prospective buyers reversed overnight is arguably as misin- processed, fast or typically unhealthy food aren’t gathered from evidence-based formed as much of ‘wellness’ and dieting entirely. research. They’re either skewed or they itself. But there’s no question the work of This presents quite a challenge for weren’t tested properly in the first place.” people like Georgina, Laura and Becky, doctors like Georgina trying to unpick If traditional dieting programmes and and philosophies like HAES, are a start. the work of an industry with increasingly modern ‘lifestyle’ regimes both rely on

MockupSlingshot.indd 47 11/03/2019 12:54 Images: Paint The Change Torbjoern Joerstad Satish Punji

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People perished, homes disappeared, and a community was changed forever. The Grenfell Tower fire shook the world and inflicted lasting wounds on an West-London neighbourhood. As told by Torbjoern Joerstad, some survivors and the community have found alternative ways of coping with their trauma HOW THE GRENFELL COMMUNITY IS COPING THROUGH ART

he images are hard to forget: A A monthly silent march in the shadow same goal. We need to do this for those towering apartment complex of the tower’s ominous remnants has who died,” he says. Tengulfed in flames, blackening attracted thousands of people since its Shortly following the fire, an array of and scorching floor by floor. The crying inception immediately after the fire. It’s community support groups and grassroots families desperately seeking signs of starting point, the Notting Hill Baptist organizations emerged. Groups such their loved ones, the thick, black smoke Church, is decked out in art installations as Justice4Grenfell, Grenfell United, drifting for miles over the west-London in honour of the community – from rich Grenfell Speaks and Grenfell News and skyline, and the emergency services flower decorations, to children’s drawings Action all work towards the same goals: working tirelessly for over 60 hours until and supportive messages, as more and to heal the community and ensure justice a charred, black skeleton was all that was more people gather for an appeal, holding is done. left standing of Grenfell Tower. signs and candles. Despite the serious Melissa Kizildemir Brigante remembers 72 people lost their lives in the UK’s overtones, the atmosphere is peculiarly seeing the fire in the media and thinking worst residential fire since the Second light. The march has for many become a of the trauma those involved must be World War. It prompted national outrage monthly tradition to remember and show experiencing. Originally from Turkey, over fire safety standards, the local author- support to the deceased and bereaved. the certified psychologist decided to ask ities facing accusations of negligence and A man proudly sporting a sweat- around online if there were any volun- corporal manslaughter. A year and a half shirt naming himself “the Man on the teers willing to provide mental first aid on, little appears resolved. An ongoing Ground” approaches. Max Livingstone, to survivors, and after an overwhelming public inquiry is slowly itching towards a local resident and artist, has attended response, she founded the Grenfell Hope answers, as gruesome accounts from that every single silent march. He says the fire Project. devastating day are told in public hearings brought the community together. “I knew the first days would be quite at Holborn Bars. “We’re all here working towards the chaotic and that there would be lots of

MockupSlingshot.indd 49 11/03/2019 12:54 people needing social support,” says Brig- to hold someone’s hand when they’re and so we wanted to go that way rather ante, who’s received formal training from crying. When they go forward they’ll than just being angry and criticising for the International Federation of Red Cross remember there was someone there for the sake of criticism. Ben Okri’s poem and Red Crescent Societies. them, and that’s very important for pre- was a perfect fit,” Vaillancourt says. “I organized all the volunteers and vention of anxiety and other disorders in A month later the mural was completed for the first six weeks we provided basic later stages,” she says. at Village Underground in Shoreditch, psychosocial first aid, working closely with A few weeks after the fire, a poem by with the line “you saw it in the tears of the NHS, the British Red Cross and all Nigerian writer Ben Okri made national those who survived” from Okri’s poem the other relief organizations. Since then headlines. Grenfell, June, 2017 featured painted in bright, contrasting colours by we’ve been trying to fill the gaps where powerful lines such as “It was like a burnt renowned London street art veteran Ben needed,” she says. Art therapy also proved matchbox in the sky” and “If you want to Eine. a valuable tool as they assisted survivors see how the poor die, come see Grenfell The artist himself says the type of col- and others affected. Tower”. ours and lettering was a conscious choice, “In the first few weeks we provided an The poem inspired Paint The Change, with red, yellow and orange infills, and art therapist. This was especially with the a street art collective promoting social blues and green outlines to symbolize the children in mind, because even during a justice, to create a mural in honour of the flames versus the tears. In the corner of traumatic event, children need to be chil- tragedy and its victims. The collective has the wall is the full poem. dren. What we did was give the children organized murals worldwide since forma- “As I was reading the thing, I was stand- a safe space where they could disconnect tion in 2015, all promoting social justice ing there crying,” says Eine. He believes and just be children again. We’d have and human rights. Project manager for street art has a positive effect on whoever them just sit around drawing, and it was the Grenfell mural, Saleem Vaillancourt, sees it, whether its conscious or not. almost like a normalization process. It says a mural in honour of Grenfell was a “The kind of street art I do; generally also gave relief to the parents,” she says. natural choice. uplifting, positive words and messages With no real connection to the Gren- “This didn’t need to happen, had written with lots of colours in neighbour- fell area, Brigante has kept the Grenfell things been managed differently. Paint hoods that are often poor and run down– Hope Project going since, as she knows The Change has always been about using even if you can’t read, even if you don’t the importance of what they’re doing. art as a creative, positive response to appreciate art, even if you can’t stand “It’s really crucial to be there, even just either discrimination, injustice or tragedy, street art – you walk down the road and

Previous spread: Photo by Satish Punji Left: One of monthly ‘Justice for Grenfell’ silent marches photographed by Tobjoern Joestad. Below and opposite page: Grenfell mural by street artist Ben Eine, featuring the line ‘you saw it in the eyes of those who survived’ from Ben Okri’s poem ‘Grenfell Tower, June 2017’

“It’s really crucial to be there, even just to hold someone’s hand when they’re crying. They’ll remember there was someone there for them”

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“There is much you see one, it’s gonna inject a little bit evidence that within a community. It reinforces social of happiness. I passionately believe that bonds and permits self-expression, both street art makes people a little happier,” community hallmarks of health and well-being. There he says. artmaking helps is also evidence that being surrounded Kensington and Chelsea council were by art (and plants) can having a soothing heavily criticised for their response in the people process effect,” she says. aftermath of the fire, particularly after The California-based therapist empha- reports emerged that a resident’s group through grief and sizes that different activities or materials had warned of fire safety issues in the loss as well as produce specific responses, all depending block years earlier, only to be threatened on an individual. Especially repetitive with legal action by the council. other forms or or rhythmic activities like drumming, After the fire, a number of emergency trauma” knitting, and crocheting have been shown programs were initiated by the council, to be particularly soothing. which in November of 2018 had spent a “When people consider the emotional grants programme established to help total of £23.6 million on social care and benefits of art making, stress-reduction of- provide immediate financial support to wellbeing services for those affected. ten comes to mind. You may recall a time organisations involved in the response “Approximately £900,000 of funding that you experienced a sense of pleasure, efforts,” a council spokesperson says. was awarded to groups specifically offering freedom, or relaxation while singing, play- Of the organisations funded, nine of relief through arts and culture,” a Free- ing an instrument, painting, doodling, or them offer trauma relief through arts and dom of Information request filed by Sling- dancing. Indeed, the potential uses for art cultural activities, including therapeutic shot revealed. In the summer of 2018, a to help us de-stress are numerous,” she art therapy, arts and crafts workshops, dra- study conducted by the council concluded says. ma and music workshops, textiles-based that 67 per cent of adults affected by the Back at Notting Hill Baptist Church, its workshops, cultural (carnival-related) fire would require treatment for post-trau- nearing the time of the march. The appeal activities, and circus and dance activities. matic stress disorder (PTSD). Up to half has ended, the crowd has thickened, and Erica Curtis, a certified art therapist of those living nearby who witnessed the people are slowly moving into formation. and leading expert in the field, says art fire were also estimated to be suffering “The Man on the Ground” catches me therapy can help reduce stress, overall from PTSD. looking at one of the many children’s sense of well-being, and improve vital “Local community organisations and drawings decorating the outside wall of signs. volunteers had quickly mobilised a variety the church. He’s made some smaller mu- “There is much evidence that com- of support but there was an urgent need rals in the area himself, he tells me. munity art-making helps people process for funding to expand the response fur- “We have to finish what we started. through grief and loss as well as other ther. In order to support the relief efforts We can’t go without a fight, we demand forms or trauma. People have long incor- happening on the ground the council set answers and the truth. We are the com- porated art and music into rituals that up an Emergency Funding Programme. munity,” he says, before joining the now address the passage of time or problems This was a cross-departmental emergency moving crowd.

MockupSlingshot.indd 51 11/03/2019 12:54 MockupSlingshot.indd 52 11/03/2019 12:54 PHOTOGRAPHING GRENFELL

MockupSlingshot.indd 53 11/03/2019 12:54 When graphic designer and hobby photographer Satish Pujji discovered a building block five minutes from his home was ablaze, the 32- year old grabbed his camera and jumped on his bike to document the devastating fire. Speaking to Torbjoern Joerstad, he explains how that terrible day unfolded, and its lasting effects Above: A policeman at Latimer Road Station the morning after the fire. Below: The western side of Grenfell Tower.

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Above: Camera operator observes the Grenfell fire from Avondale Park Gardens

une 13th, 2017 ended like any other day that summer. In Then he overhears part of a nearby conversation. his flat in High Street Kensington, graphic design freelancer “People were saying they could hear screams from the tower, JSatish Pujji (32) is having a late-night gaming session. At and that residents were using flashlights from the windows to sig- around 4 in the morning, he checks the news, only to be met nal for help. That’s when I realized it was a lot worse than I first by flashing headlines and pictures showing an apartment block thought,” he says. With his Nikon D7000 and an 18-200-millim- only minutes from his home in flames. eter lens, he spends the next two and a half hours photographing The London-native picked up photography as a hobby seven what was unfolding. years ago, and decides to act. “When I take pictures I’m always looking for contrast. I “I’ve done a few photography gigs, but never anything news- wanted to contextualize it, and so for me it was important to worthy. I thought to myself ‘I have to document this, this is a contextualize it and show this rich/poor contrast of burning major event’,” he says. Pujji, who has lived in the area for most devastation in a rich suburbia. This is my community,” he says, of his life, quickly recognized the burning building as Grenfell before continuing: tower. “I’d been pretty detached for a while since going away for He grabs his Nikon D7000 and jumps on his bike and rushes school, but this was the first time I felt a remembrance of that to the scene, as the first light of day on June 14th breaks. community that I used to be a part of.” “The first thing I noticed when I got to Ladbroke Grove Pujji knows several people affected by the fire. One friend was the smell. There was this scent of ash in the air which you lost his uncle and went to become an outspoken member of the noticed right away. I think the wind drifted west, so people from Grenfell Action Group. Another from his class moved out of the Paddington could sense it in the air too,” he recalls, arriving block shortly before the fire, and his parents who still live there around 5 in the morning. luckily got out in time. A friend of his sister was evacuated and “I rounded a corner and that was the first time I saw the burn- are still looking for accommodation. ing building. There were fire engines left and right, and whole Upon returning home and reading the news, he starts realizing families came out of their houses to talk to their neighbors see the severity of the situation. the building. At first, I only thought of it as this massive burning “I felt a bit detached, and the whole time I was taking pictures, spectacle, I assumed everyone had been evacuated. I doubted the atmosphere was pretty calm. At times it just seemed like I anyone got hurt, I mean it’s West London, everyone gets evacuat- was taking pictures of a massive bonfire, but of course it was ed, right?” he says. much more than just that.”

MockupSlingshot.indd 55 11/03/2019 12:54 Surviving Online Susanna Joseph reports how young creatives are navigating the mental health minefield of Social Media to make it work for them

Illustrations: Chloé Kerton

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efore notoriety was synonymous to put in the time and effort. Writers and Slingshot, respondents aiming to work in with going viral, young creatives comedians head to Twitter, while those a creative field claimed they knew about Bfaced a very different landscape interested in visual arts post on Insta- the synthetic element of the lives they when it came to achieving success in their gram. saw communicated in posts online, but it field. Comedians may land themselves a “If you’re an artist or musician, if you’re didn’t stop them from feeling bad about job on one of America’s biggest late night not online it’s almost like you don’t their own in comparison. Words like talk shows from their Twitter calibre; exist.” Jonquil Lawrence is a 24-year-old ‘inspiration’ and ‘drive’ were frequently while being picked up by a major music musician in London. “People are going to touted in explanation of why they found publication was a foot in the door for [ask] where they can follow you. What’s themselves religiously checking the site, bands, now, their biggest hit could ensue your @, where’s your Soundcloud, where but a spark of creativity can quickly lead from being played in the background of can I find your music? How else are you to a fire of self-doubt and inadequacy. A an internet celebrity’s Instagram story. going to expand your audience? Other study published last year in the journal It’s a strange new world. And statistically, than doing shows. But even if you did a Psychology of Popular Media Culture quite a brave one for all those choosing tour across England, afterwards people found that the comparisons inspired by to exist online. Studies released last year are going to want to follow it up. If they Instagram between ourselves and every- have offered incriminating details on the can’t find you, then your audience isn’t one else made the site more taxing on our long-term effects of Facebook and Insta- going to grow very much. You have to, brains than other social media sites like gram on users’ mental health. But despite almost.” It can be a damaging space, but Facebook and Twitter. While it seemed feelings of depression and inadequacy many feel it necessary. “As much as we’re that many of those accessing Instagram being known side effects of frequent use, all struggling with mental health issues, for professional reasons as well as personal more young people than ever are logging you also have to be online for all of the were aware of the toll it can take mentally, on. For instance, according to statistics jobs we want to do.” they also said they would have an extreme- released in June 2018, of Instagram’s 1 Unlike its peers, Instagram could be de- ly hard time changing their behavioural billion monthly users, 41 per cent are 24 scribed as the ‘aspirational’ social media patterns. 82 per cent of respondents years of age or younger. Young creatives site. Users seem to be aware that a lot of answered affirmatively when asked if they of all disciplines are finding that whatever the content they’re seeing is engineered would spend less time on social media their field, there’s a social medium that and fabricated, but that doesn’t stop them without it impacting their career or goals. will boost their profiles, if they’re willing being affected. In a survey undertaken by “I just can’t see a viable alternative”,

MockupSlingshot.indd 57 11/03/2019 12:54 “As much said Fashion Communication student by social media, but I don’t think they’re and stylist Ailsa Chaplin. “Even if my as we’re all the root cause. Like, if you have anxie- mental health got really bad and I wanted struggling with ty or insecurities you’re going to see it to delete my Instagram, all of that. It is everywhere anyway. You’re just also going my portfolio, and I don’t think I’d ever mental health to see it online,” says Harry Godfrey, an get the job I want without it.” These artist and performer studying Sculpture sentiments are supported by institutions issues, you also at Camberwell College of Arts. He does teaching the creative arts. “I get told quite not think that social media is to blame for a lot at university how important build- have to be online the increasingly high instances of mental ing an online presence is,” says Chaplin. illness in his peer group. “When you’re in “And they’re probably right, it does help for all of the jobs a creative rut, it doesn’t help to see people enormously to have name or brand recog- we want to do” being creative all the time, I definitely nition before you even leave school. But understand that, but I wouldn’t say my sometimes it can be so stressful. It’s basi- mental health issues are because of social cally a full-time job. Especially in London, before, and scrutiny of these sites and media. I’d say they’re pre-existing and can when you’re following people online you their societal ramifications has never been sometimes be amplified. I think it just know vaguely in real life and they seem higher. There is a lot of talk of ‘safeguard- adds on to what’s already there. I think to be much more successful than you and ing’ users, and ways that can exist. The it might seem like [things are worse off still going out every night of the week. removal of the ‘infinite scroll’ feature now for creative people] because there’s You think, it’s not that hard, if these peo- most sites incorporate is one suggestion much more of a discussion around mental ple can manage all this then why can’t I? being made to help users stay in control. health as well. It’s become so much more But it’s all fake. A few of my friends have In a survey for Slingshot, 84% of respond- of a prominent thing in recent years. May- just burnt out from Instagram. You feel ents said that they felt the feature led be it’s because there’s a wider discussion like you’re getting somewhere but it’s all to unhealthy usage patterns. But some people are realizing they might have more smoke and mirrors.” young creatives who have been battling issues than before.” Since smartphones are estimated to mental health problems for years remem- It’s true that the discourse around land in the hands of almost 200 million ber struggling long before they selected a mental health has changed massively more users in 2019, there will be more username. “If you have preexisting mental over the last decade, and a lot of that is users accessing social media than ever health conditions they can be amplified due to the internet and the sharing of

All images: Illustrator Chloé Kerton often addresses the struggles that accompany mental illness in her work.

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knowledge through it. But it’s no secret before last summer as she approached her to be involved.” But the time Freya spent that social media is made to be addictive, final year of university, the career anxiety away from the constantly posting, con- through everything from colour scheme became too much. “I started working as stantly watching world most of us inhabit to the sound of a homepage refreshing. a stylist, and I was on a job in London through devices in our pockets afforded a Without it, for better or worse, life is very and everyone else had smartphones we little bit of clarity. “Because I had the time quiet. Freya Ziemska, an aspiring stylist were all talking about how they were all off, I see it for what it is, it doesn’t get me and casting director in Brighton, took a saying how important it was for them down. I see it gets my friends down a lot. year off from social media through the to have social media and Instagram to I do worry that the longer I spend on Ins- ingenious method of breaking her smart- promote themselves. I had a moment tagram the more it would impact me, but phone. Her replacement device had the where I thought, I’m never going to get in I feel quite grateful that at the moment, capacity to call, text, and work as an alarm the loop for work if I always had a brick because of the time I had off, it doesn’t clock. That was it. It lasted for a year phone. I also felt like I missed it. I wanted get to me too much.”

MockupSlingshot.indd 59 11/03/2019 12:54 LET’S GET PAWLITICAL PROTESTING BREXIT ON FOUR LEGS

We all know Brexit’s a bit of a dog’s dinner, and not exactly a walk Bottom, second left: in the park either. Slingshot’s Torbjoern Joerstad takes a look at Daniel Elkan, founder of Wooferendum. All probably one othe most peculariar protest movement so far: meet other images: the march captured by the four-legged protesters barking out against Brexit Phil Watson.

“Let’s make the biggest bark in history,” reads or marched against Brexit. the mission statement. The widely covered Wooferendum march Of all the grassroots movements spawned in Central London on October 7th last year in the wake of the 2016 Brexit referendum, was attended by hundreds of dogs and their the Wooferendum campaign is easily among owners. The ‘biggest pawlitical march in the cutest additions. The concept? Man’s best history’ spawned pictures of hilariously cute friend barking out against Britain leaving the four-legged protesters and featured ‘pee sta- European Union, which is due to formally tions’ with pictures of Nigel Farage and Boris happen at the end of this month. Johnson, as well as slogans such as “Brexit’s The campaign was launched by freelance barking mad!” and “Brexit is not a walk in the journalist Daniel Elkan, ironically not a dog park”. owner himself, who started it all as a “secret With the success of the first march fresh protest”, taking photographs of dogs with in mind, Elkan says that the Wooferendum signs protesting Brexit. campaign isn’t laid to rest just yet, promising “The Wooferendum campaign was a way more disgruntled barks to come. to give more people - and dogs - a voice on a “Article 50 may be extended, a People’s tough topic: Brexit,” he says. Vote is becoming more likely, and there’s “Sometimes campaigns are like fireworks, a good chance the dogs will be coming out you build up the excitement and expectation, again - en masse - to campaign for us to stay in light the firework, it goes up and creates a the EU,” he adds. great explosion,” continues Elkan, who hopes Whether loud barks against Brexit will have the campaign helped inspire people who made a change, remains to be seen. might not otherwise have spoken out publicly

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MockupSlingshot.indd 61 11/03/2019 12:54 NEVER GONNA GIVE EU UP: THE BEST OF BREXIT PROTEST ART

The UK’s divorce from the European Union is at last right around the cor- ner, but the journey has been anything but smooth. From the 700,000 strong People’s Vote march, to the near daily protests from both sides outside West- minster and Number 10, there’s no de- nying that the 2016 referendum caused nationwide polarization. However, one thing has united the fronts throughout the last two and half years – a creative outpour of protest art, conveying both pro- and anti-Brexit messages in the most hilarious ways; be it by puns, memes, costumes or satirical artwork. Here are our favourites, as selected by Torbjoern Joerstad PHOTO: ILOVETHEEU / WIKIMEDIA COMMONS Boris is targeted outside the 2017 Conservative conference in Manchester. PHOTO: ROBERT MANDEL PHOTO: ROBERT Michael Gove, David Davis, Boris Johnson and Theresa May - Whoever merged them together into this monstrosity sure knows how to scar. From a protest march in Manchester.

MockupSlingshot.indd 62 11/03/2019 12:54 MockupSlingshot.indd 63 Shoreditch. 007 prefers hisBrexit shaken, notstirred, obviously. Spotted in going according“Everything’s to my plan...kinda.” Street artinSwansea. bananas-loaf? Are you tempted by someof Ms.May’s Brexit fudge cake? OraBrexit isjust

PHOTO: ROBERT MANDEL London pub. A newkindofreferendum foundina

PHOTO: REDDIT / THEDUDEABIDES80

PHOTO: AP / MATT DUNHAM

PHOTO: REDDIT / OHWHATNOWOSCAR

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PHOTO: AP / RUI VIEIRA MockupSlingshot.indd 64 11/03/2019 12:54