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Stitching Light photo by Sean Pollock via BBC
The year was 1757, and British forces had just won a victory of the local people at the Battle of Plassey. A semi-private army, the military wing of the East India Trading Company was the British Government’s business venture, intended to enrich the nation through industrial conquest. The Nawab of Bengal was beaten by superior technology, tactics, and a better understanding of psychology. The enlightenment era had given Western nations like Britain a clear advantage over more tradition-based cultures. This gave them the power to colonise many places around the world to install their ways of thinking and their business interests. Bengal was seen as a lesser nation at the time, with no appreciation for their thought or style, the East India Trading Company just saw a resource with cheap labour.
Under the premise of bringing education, technology, government, and prosperity, the civilians were often subjected to humiliating practices and underpaid hard labour. The exploitation of the area was complete when local leaders became installed as agents of British interests and began to see themselves as separate from those they once served. Within a few generations, through the education system and the legal system, the whole Indian subcontinent had become Anglified. Where the local leaders enjoyed some prosperity, relative to the wealth in the local economy, most of the profit went straight back to Britain where it funded the lavish lifestyles and projects that define the upper class to this day. The rise of industrial Britain can be directly linked to the wealth brought in by the East India Trading Company, who for a time, exceeded their mandate and created a lot of opportunity for investors. Things didn’t last long, however, and through various poor business decisions, changing moral politics of the time, and a series of unavoidable serendipities, the whole system began to collapse. Corruption and natural resistance combined and with a few acts of nature, the house of cards fell to pieces. What happened next was a horrible period of war and suffering as the subcontinent split at the North to form Pakistan. It didn’t end there, and war continued unto the 1970s until the final creation of a third state, Bangladesh. Because of the British influence on the area for the past 200 years, the government systems in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh are all mostly British in origin. The education, political, legal, and civic systems in the three nations are all based on the way things are done in Britain. This makes citizens of these nations extremely suitable for cooperation and bridge-building to help all our cultures move into more prosperous and firmly equitable tomorrows. This working together and cooperation began in the 1950s when many families from the Bangladeshi regions, notably Sylhet, immigrated to Britain to help with the post-war effort. The expert weavers and textile workers were brought in as highly skilled labour and as communities grew, the food industry began to change and offer more even more opportunity. During the 1950s many people from the old Empire, now called the British Commonwealth, answered the call to help rebuild, replace, and refurbish the nation. In return they were offered complete citizenship. Where we’d had handfuls of foreign workers throughout the past few hundred years, and a steady travelling market scene, with so many new residents from different cultures settling, it was a challenging time for everyone. The story of Bangladeshi women is being told in a new way. Many women from the British Bangladeshi community were invited to contribute their stories for an exhibition by Lou Scholes called Stitching Light. Women from places as far and wide as Tower Hamlets, Middlesbrough, Worcester, Salford, and Bradford have submitted stories. These tales of perseverance, resilience, and optimism have been transformed into pieces of vibrant and richly decorated textile art. The Bangladeshi folk-art designs were meticulously crafted by Dhaka-based artist. Each piece tells a narrative of struggle, earned prosperity, hard work, and changing times. The pieces stood for the weekend in the town hall at Middlesbrough, where a large British Bangladeshi community lives. It seems a shame to only have them out for a day or two when so much work was done to create the work. The original article doesn’t even mention the artist’s name, which is regrettable. Let’s hope they get more attention soon and the background to the collection can be put into the public sphere. These things are too valuable to use like flashcards. What are they afraid of? Enjoy yourself in the kitchen and support this journal at the same time: The Culinary Canvas of Bangladesh: A Chef's Journey - by Arfatul Islam Palaeolithic Pareidolia Demonstrates Neandertal Abstraction With Simple Act Of Creativity18/11/2025 
We know that humans and Neandertals were not so different. Not only were we around 99.5% genetically identical; the way we perceived the world was also incredibly similar. This has been ever more apparent with a recent discovery in Spain at a famous Neandertal site. The San Lazaro rock shelter has preserved some wonderful specimens from this ancient culture, and the recent discovery of a purposeful fingerprint in the centre of a stone is one of the best.
We know that it’s not unusual to see faces in nature. Our brains are designed in such a way that alerts us when we perceive what could be a predator or another person. It’s not just faces, either, which is known as pareidolia. Our central perception system or Reticular Activating System can quickly interpret patterns and shapes that allow us to detect many things that might or might not be there. Animal shapes, faces, our own name being called in a crowd, danger or urgency are important psychological factors that these shortcuts have helped us to navigate. The stone with a fingerprint in the middle resembles a human face. It could be a Neandertal or a Homo Sapiens, the abstraction allows us to see what we believe. The evidence demonstrates that a creature very similar to us, around 45,000 years ago, deliberately made an impression on stone that activates the facial recognition systems. Consciously manipulating psychology in this way is the beginning of symbolic art, which in turn became language and writing. With a bit of imagination, the face could even be wearing a mammoth head as a shamanic device. The eye shaped mark to the left of the dot could be the human eye. We can see the clear creative element, the Neandertal who made the mark saw that the stone looked a bit like a face. At some point, they decided to embellish the natural piece with an ocre dot, using one of their fingers. It’s a delicate and purposefully round mark. It’s not a smudge or a semi-conscious impression, you can see it was done with great care and thought. By seeing the face and deciding to place the dot, the Neandertal displayed creative thought. These little acts of inventiveness are what allow us to move forward as a species. Across the planet we share around 20% of the Neandertal genome, according to recent studies. We each have a few percent. Our societies were clearly not so different that breeding families could form and remain together to ensure survival of the children. Whether through choice or circumstance, these unions left enduring traces in our DNA. What can we learn from this one ancient being who saw the face before they made it? Playfulness and imagination are key ingredients in the formula for progress. If we can’t play with information, ideas, and tools, we can’t learn about the extent of their reach. Once we find new uses for things, new ideas, and new ways to express information, we can begin building culture that lasts beyond the grave. What connects us to an ancient Neandertal human can connect future humans to ourselves in generations to come. Our little changes, originality, and courageous imagination can leave traces that ripple onward for ever. If Stone-Age archaeology interests you, check out this online short course. Explore the mysteries of Star Carr. Via The Independent 
A scar is not just a mark of pain. It is a symbol of survival, a reminder that we endured and adapted. A scar is a bookmark in our story that allows us to see the writing again, maybe from a new perspective. As we create our stories and write our own histories, the scars we have as reminders can become much more than a bad memory. Creativity is the act of rewriting the scar’s meaning, turning pain into a symbol of resilience. When we deliberately author our own story with the experience as periphery, we can define the moment in our own words and in a light that manifests a positive outcome.
Regardless of how it felt then, with time we can redefine the symbols and reanalyse the events to see how our presence and misfortune was something more than just a nasty incident. Often our scars and tribulations are not unique to us, they’re shared among likeminded and self-similar communities across cultures, generations, and social groups. As we navigate our own story, the framework that others have adapted to for empowerment through trauma and discontent can become prompts for our own sense of progression. These scars remind us that suffering is inevitable, but they also remind us that survival is possible. No matter how good, prepared, or well-loved we are, bad things will happen. Whether on an individual basis or on a community basis, injustice and natural progression alike can cause us to suffer, to lose joy, and to feel unwanted things. During the initial moment of pain, we respond as natural beings. Our feelings, our actions, our decisions are immediate and fleeting. From this moment of vulnerability and weakness, we have a choice to continue and grow or to fall on our knees and give up. This experience shapes who we are as we move forward, it becomes a page in our story, and it carries reasons and causes for all manner of things that come next. How are we going to let these things change the way we progress? Will we cry victim and demand better from them or will we cry evolution and expect better from ourselves? Maybe it’s a bit of both. Like the Japanese art of kintsugi, mending broken pottery with gold, when the world smashes the pots of our spirit, we can use the magic of story and of personal agency to carry them into a positive light. As these stories and progressions grow, as communities learn coping mechanisms and the tools for acceptance in strength, these symbols and stories become enshrined in the community consciousness. Across cultures, artists have long shown us that creativity is not just expression, it is alchemy, turning wounds into wisdom. Killed On Day One Of The Somme Entire Sheffield Battalion Remembered Through Local Sculpture5/11/2025 
Known for his recent sculpture of William Plommer, a World War One veteran who was murdered by a Sheffield gang, and for displays in nearby Barnsley, 63-year-old Sam Sherborne is now at the Millennium Gallery, Sheffield. Following on from a health scare in which he was treated for cancer, Sam has dug deep and thrown all his passion into his art. He has now created an eternal memorial to the 270 men who were killed in the first ten minutes of battle during the Somme.
He calls it “The worst ten minutes of Sheffield’s history” (BBC). A much smaller city in those days, a quarter of a thousand young men would have been a significant blow to the community. It has taken the skilled blacksmith four months to produce the piece, a brass sculpture representing all 270 of the men. The remembrance of the entire war and those there-after is on Sunday, with the official day being the 11th of November on the following Tuesday. There were two types of war in the first half of the 20th Century. Where the second was a fight against tyranny, the first was a reactionary war to hubris, dissociation, and fanciful ideologies. World War One saw men being spent like pennies for slivers of land and mass murder on a scale no one had seen before with no crime to be punished or no crown to be won. It was all about seeing who was the strongest, the richest, and the most prepared to go all the way. Who had the best command of their citizens? That's why it was so tragic. When nations finally started to see sense and brought an end to the war, the reward was to take the role of the vanquished and suffer the consequences. This was the big mistake that ultimately led to more fighting. This sculpture, made by Sam Sherborne, shows the 270 souls who did their duty, demonstrated huge courage, and were completely let down by their command. It’s not that they had a choice, you’d be executed for not going forward in those days. Having the stomach to remember the whole picture and appreciate the wastes and suffering that brought no good, can bring these soldiers and their stories to a new light. Do we blame them for what they did or were they trying to break free from their own environment with disastrous consequences? If we learn the lessons and never repeat the same grave errors, we can’t get justice for the fallen but maybe we can get it for their ancestors. Remember and Celebrate what you feel strongly about with art at home. Browse the Art.Com to support this journal. 
Painted in 1843, the stylish artist’s miniature portrait of a 31-year-old Charles Dickens was displayed at the time, way back in 1844. Since appearing at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, a prestigious Victorian event, the painting by Margeret Gillies disappeared from public view. Acquired privately, the image no-doubt spent some time on the wall somewhere before being packed up as an heirloom or out-of-trend knickknack too valuable to give away. This was back in 1844, more than 160 years ago.
Back in 2017, before we received our collective pandemic trauma, in an auctioned South African pile of belongings, a dust and mould covered painting was uncovered. It looked like Charles Dickens, but with the grime and the discolouration, it was difficult to tell. Thankfully, its owner took the portrait to Fake or Fortune art connoisseur Philip Mould to clean it up and have a proper look. The extremely reputable authority on art of this period was able to clarify that it was not only a portrait of Dickens but the lost portrait from the Summer Exhibition of 1844. Naturally, the new owner decided to sell the piece, maybe to make the money back from the initial auction. This is where the Dickens Museum in Holborn came into play. You might think that the Dickens name carries huge wealth, yet the money didn’t come from them. With the help of fans and enthusiasts, family, friends, and locals, the venue was able to find the fee and bring their artist back home. To be displayed among the many other Dickens related treasures they have on show, an image of the younger man is back in public view. Already famous for his Pickwick Papers, a serialised storyline involving a pantheon of relatable characters including the immortal portrayal of Professor Pickwick, and his friendly nemesis Alfred Jingle. Although not an international superstar, which was to come much later with thanks to films made from his later stories after his death, Dickens was still a man of significant regard in his day. Dickens drew on his early experiences of marginalisation and poverty when crafting his narratives. From a family who struggled with debt, which in those days would put you in prison if you could not pay, the aspiring novelist carried this sense of injustice forward with his literary creations. Known for highlighting the difficulties of the poor and the working class in a system that provides very little to some and everything to others, Dickens’ work no-doubt went on to shape real public policy when concerning the topics he cared about. When you go and see the painting, or if you simply see it on this page, look at the face and ask if he could possibly have known who he was to become and what his work would achieve. Look at the quiet dignity the artist has given him, although already battered by age for his day. What blemishes and pains do you think she decided to hide when creating his best likeness? Don’t you think we all should get the same dignity handed to us, if not for what we’ve done already but for what we’re going to do throughout our lives? Via The Standard Go ahead and look through the Dickens bibliography on Amazon. Purchases support Alternative Fruit. |
CategoriesAuthorAlternative Fruit by Rowan B. Colver 
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