In the Tate Modern Museum what I found most impactful was the Guerilla Girls section. The Guerilla Girls are an anonymous group of women artists who combat sexism and racism within the art world. These women’s murals were tugging at my heart strings immensely. Most of the art pieces were text style posters that were printed with feminist rage quotes, sarcastic pleading at the industry, and calling out the plight of women by the white man. As a young woman who went to film school in high school and theatre school in college there was a poster (I will attach) that called out how film history regrets mentioning the accomplishments of Alice Guy Blache. A French female filmmaker who made over seven hundred films in her lifetime and opened the first film studio in America. Alice Guy Blache was a revolutionary of her time and not just because of her being a woman, but quite literally a pioneer of the movie industry. Motion pictures were not presented to audiences until 1895. Alice Guy Blache released her first movie in 1896 titled “La Fée aux Choux” and she was also present at the first live film event I mentioned above in 1895. Seeing that history has forgotten her was quite sad and having never heard of her in my entire film studies is baffling.  

The other piece I loved was Ming Wong’s Life of Imitation film. In this film she puts the same exact scene side by side with two different groups of actors. One group was men cross dressing as women and the other group were women of color. They said the exact same lines and acted similarly and watching these scenes had me shocked. The men were almost more feminine than the women and that interested me so much. I wonder if that was a choice solely done by the male actors or if Ming Wong had instructed them to do so to show how women are logical and steadfast and resilient despite the societal idea that men are more so. Seeing the women of color act so stoically made my heart flutter with joy because the scene is so heart wrenching, you would expect some “feminine” behavior from these women. A mother and a daughter arguing as the daughter leaves. The men performed this scene with tears streaming down their faces and yelling across the room while the women had an energy that penetrated you through the screen without having to put in any strenuous theatrical effort. 10/10 Ming Wong. Ten out of ten.  

Lastly, I lovvvvvved A Midsummer Night’s Dream at The Globe. Reading Shakespeare, not so fun. Seeing Shakespeare? A whole other story. I stood with the groundling during the second act and that brought this already very lived play to a different peak. Their stomps ricocheted off my arms that were leaning on the stage. Their eyes met mine as they turned to address the audience. Seeing this particular production full of a queer cast was also wild. Never had I ever thought I would see more women and queer people in a Shakespeare play than cisgendered men. I believe I counted one cisgendered man on that stage and it made me really hopeful for all of my friends who do not fit into the binary that theatre creates. Overall that past two days have gained a rating of 9/10. My only deduction today of –1 is of how tired my poor little body is. Night, night.  

Oh, Tate Modern. I loved one particular floor, where there were pieces of art that made me think and feel really inquisitive. Everything else, I’m just lost. I walked around and tried to find something that I really liked, and it took a while. There was a whole wall of just a collection of paper with lines in graphite dividing the paper differently…okay…? And…? There was a canvas just painted blue. Nothing else. Just blue. I just don’t see how that’s “art.” I know art is in the eye of the beholder, but as an artist, I just don’t see the beauty in a paper divided by lines or just one solid color.

Now, for the art that actually made me stand and look for a while, I LOVED. There was one painting with some added textures by Evelyne Axell called Valentine. It was made during the space race and meant to show the mixed perceptions of the first woman going to space, Valentina Tereshkova. The helmet is to resemble how she’s the first woman and the feminist movement that inspired women to work and pursue jobs that were once not available. But, the unzipped female silhouette refers to the sexualization Tereshkova faced for being a female taking a “man’s job.” I love this piece because it brings light to problems that people may not experience.

I also love a piece by Douglas Gordon called I am the curator of my own misery. These words are drawn on the museum’s wall in blue ballpoint pen. I love that the pens are laid on the ground below also. To me, it shows the personal touch of humanity and the fact that we hold the pen of our destiny. The thing about pens also is how they are “permanent.” You can erase pencil led, but not easily undo a stroke of the pen. This creates the feeling of either a possible self-deprecating “I can’t change this” or the feeling of you holding the pen of your own misery and possibly being able to change it. I wasn’t in love with the Tate Modern Museum, especially with all the floors of art that I didn’t really like. I tried looking at an exhibit that was made by an artist featured in the Crystal Bridges Museum, but you needed tickets… EVEN ON MY BIRTHDAY? Rude.

One thing that I did love, surprisingly, was A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Shakespeare Globe Theatre. I have a dreadful history with that specific play and was fully expecting to not enjoy the show. But, I think the cast and the directing of the show worked so well and created an amazing show. The costumes were very interesting, and the characters would add or take away pieces depending on the scene. The actress who played Hermia has dwarfism, which created a very interesting dynamic in terms of the script and how her love interests, Lysander and Demetrius, treat and interact with her.

When Lysander is in love with Hermia at the beginning of the play, he speaks on her level, but their chemistry and relationship didn’t make the action of lowering to his knees feel demeaning. Their chemistry and the love that could be felt from them didn’t make the interaction feel like an accommodation for Hermia’s height, but instead a natural progression of wanting to speak eye-to-eye to someone you love. It also made for some really cute blocking when Hermia was spun around.

But, when Lysander was under a spell to hate Hermia, he stays standing, leaving a large space between them and a significant height difference that emphasized the hatred and disconnect he felt for her. Even further, when Lysander referred to Hermia as a dwarf, which is written in the script, it redefined the word because of their previous relationship and demonstrated a very belittling interaction. A unanimous gasp fell through the audience, and it created a very interesting dynamic because of the casting they had done.

I thought the acting was SUPERB. I absolutely adored the comedic timing and all the decisions the actors had made to do with the script. They individually found a lot of humor in their lines and stayed faithful to their character even if no one witnessed their actions. Specifically, I’m referencing Sarah Finigan, who played Egeus and WORKED their double casting. As the lion when performing the “new play,” there were little faces and movements that they did that were absolutely hilarious and added to their character so much. I adored her performance.

While I loved this performance of this Shakespearean play, I’m not sure it has changed my mind about the play itself. I think the script is hilarious…when done correctly. There’s a lot of room for error, but only time will tell if there will be comedy in those errors. (pun intended.)

The Tower of London is, surprisingly, not a tower. It is a castle! Or at least, that’s what I say it is. I thought the Tower of London was just one tall building when in reality, it is a whole establishment. I learned a lot about the Tower of London while walking around and was even treated like royalty at one point (details on that later).

The first prisoners I saw when walking into the grounds were the ravens. They were in cages, and those that weren’t had little red tags on their legs. There is a legend established by Charles II that if all six resident ravens (the imprisoned/caged ones) fly away, the monarchy will fall. So, they have caged them to prevent that from happening. Interestingly, ravens aren’t the only animals that inhabited the Tower of London either.

Lions, monkeys, an ostrich (r.i.p.), and even a polar bear once lived in the Tower of London. During King Henry III’s rule, gifted animals inspired him to create a zoo within the grounds. This led to many animals inhabiting the area, including a polar bear that was chained to the River Thames so it could swim and hunt fish. The zoo was open to the public in the mid-1800s. This led, unfortunately, to the closing of the monkey exhibit after one monkey attacked a boy. Additionally, the ostrich (r.i.p.) died after one visitor believed birds ate iron and fed it a long nail.

Other than animals, there were humans that were imprisoned as well. Richer and more respectable prisoners were given more hospitality and better treatment than those who were suspected or convicted of treason. By the Tudor period, starting in 1485, the Tower of London was the most established state prison in the country. One of the most famous, however, one that probably everyone is going to write about, is Princess Elizabeth, who was imprisoned by her half-sister, Queen “Bloody” Mary I. Famously, Princess Elizabeth was the daughter of Anne Boleyn, one of King Henry VIII’s wives, another prisoner of the Tower of London. Princess Elizabeth was eventually released, but was held until the day of her mother’s execution.

The Tower of London itself was extremely beautiful in terms of architecture, but tragically haunting in it’s history to me. I would have loved to see the crown jewels, but the line was painfully too long, so alas, I will settle for the forbidden photographs some people in the group took. I witnessed a lot of children running around and even had food thrown at me by a few children from a tour group – when in London.

I do wish I could have seen the crown jewels, but as it is just jewelry, I felt that seeing the architecture and learning about the history was more important to me. I did see many character demonstrations as there were employees of the Tower of London dressed in costumes in the time period of their stories.

At one point, on my way up to the top of a staircase to a corner of the castle, a group of people were listening to a “soldier” of the royal guard. I’m not sure of the details he was telling, but I know the group was invested. When I got to the top of the stairs, I realized the group and the guard were looking at me. I waved and said, “Hello.” He said something back, but I couldn’t hear him, so I responded, “What?” This he replied, “Carry on, your Majesty.” I then waved and said, “Thank you, thank you.” Everyone laughed. I smiled. And I will never be the same again.

We got to go to the Tower of London yesterday! It was such a cool experience, we got to see the ravens, the crown jewels (thank goodness they were back because the coronation of King Charles was only a few weeks ago), we also saw the armory where all the weapons and armor that were used in the battles were stored, then we got to see the torture chamber.

I think seeing the crown jewels was my favorite part because they were beautiful and each one of them was unique in their own way and made for a specific King or Queen. Also, something I found interesting was the ravens. The brits think that if the ravens fly away then the monarchy will fall so they keep them locked in a cage, which I think is a little ironic. One person that really stuck out to me that was held and killed in the Tower of London was Josef Jakobs, he was a Nazi spy and was killed by gunfire from a firing squad on August 15, 1941.

Overall, I really enjoyed the Tower of London and would go back! I think that it is a really good place to go learn the history of London and see some really cool buildings and things that have been around for 1,000 years or more!

On day three of our trip, our group had the privilege of visiting the Tower of London. During our visit, we learned many interesting things about British culture and the history of the old and beautiful tower. When we first entered the beautiful arch way that led into the castle’s grounds, off to the left was an exhibit of caged ravens. The reason that they keep ravens here is because ravens used to freely roam and dwell in the grounds and it was said that if all of them ever left, it meant that the monarchy had collapsed. Of course, they wouldn’t want that and so they just locked the ravens away so that there was no chance of that ever happening.

The first thing we did after observing the ravens was wait in line to see the Crown of Jewels. The line was so long and winding, but the wait was definitely worth it because I think that this was my favorite exhibit. The first thing I saw was a glass casing of regalia from the investiture. During the investiture, the monarch is given all the clothing and objects that symbolize their royal authority, known as regalia. Inside the case, was a beautiful golden and flowery stole worn by Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. I made my way in line with the others to see all of the ornamental crowns. I was startled all of a sudden by the conveyor belt that quickly led us along to see the crowns. The first crown was the King’s crown. This crown is the one that a king or queen wears when they are coronated. I was so amazed at the fact that I was finally getting to see it in person. It was hard to believe that I was staring at an object that had been on Queen Elizabeth’s head and had only just recently been worn by King Charles. As the conveyor belt took us through, I got to see many different designs and sizes of crowns worn by people in the monarchy. Crowns were not the only thing to be seen in this exhibit. I also had the chance to see all of the gold and ornate objects that the monarchy would use for certain ceremonies such as gold basins for baptisms. My favorite object was probably a giant gold punch bowl that I saw which was larger than my bathtub at home. All of the decorative  objects had detailed images of people and scenes engraved into the gold.

The next exhibit that we decided to visit was The White Tower. This tower is the central tower of the grounds and is the oldest of them all dating back to the year 1097.The White Tower is a masterpiece. It was built to resist any attack and was constructed by skilled stoneworkers called masons. The Master Mason was the most senior person on site and was in charge of all workers. One of the first rooms that we entered was a room that educates tourists on how the tower used to keep and abuse exotic animals. The tower would allow visitors to approach the animals quite closely which resulted in some dangerous, even fatal accidents. Once, a woman approached a lion to pet its paw and it reached for her arm and tore it off. Surgeons were able to amputate her arm, but unfortunately she died only a year later. After viewing that room, we made our way to the artillery rooms where weapons and knight armor were displayed. I got to see canons and staff weapons. The staff weapons would have been issued from Henry VIII’s arsenal at the Tower. Staff Weapons were one of the oldest and simplest forms of weapon. I really enjoyed viewing the many different historical lessons and objects that we learned about inside the White Tower. You can truly feel the history seeping from its stone walls as you climb the endless revolving stairs to the top.

One of the most interesting things that I learned about the Tower of London was that many historically famous people were executed there. One of my favorite paintings is known as The Execution of Lady Jane Grey painted by Paul Delaroche in 1833. Lady Jane was charged with high treason. Lady Jane reluctantly became Queen when unscrupulous politicians placed her on the throne. She only ruled for nine days at the young age of fifteen. The execution of Lady Jane Grey took place in Tower Green of the Tower of London. I have always been emotionally moved by the painting of her execution because of the innocence and youth of Lady Jane Grey. Rather than giving the throne to who was next in line which would have been King Edward’s half sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, the throne was given to Lady Jane Grey because she and her male heirs were designated successors. Mary was so angry by this that the Queen was charged with the crime of high treason along with her husband. She was imprisoned in the Tower of London before her execution and then they both were killed in the Tower Green. I really found the discovery of how she had been executed at the Tower of London to be very emotionally moving because I really love the painting of her execution.

Overall, our day trip to visit the Tower of London was very successful. I learned so much historical facts about famous figures that I just thought I was familiar with. As I scanned my surroundings during our visit, I tried to conjure up images of people from the medieval times roaming the same very cobblestone I walked upon. I must confess that I wore the wrong shoes for the occasion for with every step, I felt every cobblestone beneath my feet.

Thursday was a terrible day to wear uncomfortable shoes. When we walked on the cobblestone streets passing the river, it was impossible to look away from the nine-hundred-year-old tower of London. With pigeons and multicolored flowers covering the grounds, this tower was an unbelievable site. We started our adventure by waiting in a nearly two-hour-long line to see the crown jewels. Once we got in, the room was completely dark, and we could barely adjust to the light before an overwhelming shine of gold and diamonds stared back at us. We stood on a conveyor belt while staring at all of the different crowns made of purple or red velvet with stolen jewels topping them off.

After that long but worth it journey, we made our way over to another tower where we encountered more than two hundred wooden stairs and an exciting amount of horse statues. We saw armor, historical facts, canons, ruins, and a whole lot of pictures of men. Once my feet felt like they got to the point of falling apart, we walked downhill to explore the torture chambers where around twenty-two prisoners were tortured to death. This, oddly, was the area that my group and I were most excited about. It was very small, and I never really understood how one could come up with the concept of a torture rack, but I guess everyone has their own creative passions.

After stopping at the gift shop and continuing our ardent but quiet critiques of the new King, we walked away from the tower and towards the view of new-age skyscrapers and the London Eye. It was great to see such a historical monument, one so old that it didn’t even feel real. Being from a country that is less than three hundred years old, seeing a building that is more than triple that age feels fake, almost like its own Disney Park made of foam bricks and robotic ravens. My feet aching from one thousand-year-old cobblestone is something I’ll complain about, but I am immensely grateful for experiencing it, nonetheless.