On Day 10 of the residency my schedule was to
- Check in with Furhaad at Revoluton
- Go to Niralla cafe in Bury Park, meet owner Shazia Mehmood, and try the food
- Go and see The Strange Case of Jekyll & Hyde in the Theatre at the top floor of Luton Central Library
Day 10 was Wednesday and I'm just catching up now... on Sunday. I make notes when I'm out and about, but it's all a little distant now. So I'm backtracking and holding onto things that have stuck in my mind. I'm hoping it will come together. Today there is no portrait of what outfit I wore for the day ahead.
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It was a pleasure to go to Niralla cafe and meet owner Shazia. Shazia is a bit of a polymath - she started the cafe whilst working full time in a senior position in a local school, she has created some beautiful pencil drawings on the wall of the cafe, when I first met her she was carrying a 25kg bag of sugar on her shoulder, and her food is some of the best I've tasted.
I sat down with Shazia and chatted over a cup of tea and samosas. I immediately got sidetracked into asking her about her previous work as the Deputy Head of a local school (which she worked her way up to from being a TA). I currently teach art and design to foundation students and have worked a lot in education and workshops are integral to my practice as an artist. I ask Shazia for her top tip. She said when you want someone to do something - perhaps they are getting distracted or not participating, you should say what you want them to do, followed by thank you, rather than saying 'please can you...' For example.
'Harry, sit down, thank you'.
NOT
'Please Harry can you sit down'
No please. Adding please gives the illusion of choice. Shazia said for her this really changed and helped her teaching practice.
It made me think about how language is so connected to action and also reflected how default the UK love of the word please is. I thought back to my MA university days, working with the artist Dr Mel Jordan who is interested in language's relationship to action. I always remember her talking with me about how a statement and a question inspire very different responses in relation to taking a position on something. A statement demands a response where people have to take a position in relation to what is said, whereas a question does not demand people to take a position in the same way, as it keeps things open. I think she would say conversations where different positions are exchanged is essential to democracy, and a well functioning public sphere. She told me about J.J. Austin 'How to Do Things with Words' and it really influenced my work at the time.
I know I was here to talk about the cafe and I'm writing a blog about Luton, but Shazia is a person of stories and conversation that takes interesting and varied turns. In our conversation we talked about food, the cafe, and her background in education, but we also talked about the power of dreams when you are sleeping, and how messages might be communicated across dreams. She knows everyone coming to the cafe. The cafe is inextricable from community, stories, and conversation.
I leave the cafe with two delicious curries that Shazia gives me and I promise to return. It wasn't enough time to know more about the cafe and what it means to the local community, and I really want to eat paratha and pickles for breakfast. There are questions I want to ask - Who are the regulars? Do you see the same groups of friends or people come in often? What skills crossover working in a school and in the cafe? and importantly how do you make paratha?
- Check in with Furhaad at Revoluton
- Go to Niralla cafe in Bury Park, meet owner Shazia Mehmood, and try the food
- Go and see The Strange Case of Jekyll & Hyde in the Theatre at the top floor of Luton Central Library
Day 10 was Wednesday and I'm just catching up now... on Sunday. I make notes when I'm out and about, but it's all a little distant now. So I'm backtracking and holding onto things that have stuck in my mind. I'm hoping it will come together. Today there is no portrait of what outfit I wore for the day ahead.
---
It was a pleasure to go to Niralla cafe and meet owner Shazia. Shazia is a bit of a polymath - she started the cafe whilst working full time in a senior position in a local school, she has created some beautiful pencil drawings on the wall of the cafe, when I first met her she was carrying a 25kg bag of sugar on her shoulder, and her food is some of the best I've tasted.
I sat down with Shazia and chatted over a cup of tea and samosas. I immediately got sidetracked into asking her about her previous work as the Deputy Head of a local school (which she worked her way up to from being a TA). I currently teach art and design to foundation students and have worked a lot in education and workshops are integral to my practice as an artist. I ask Shazia for her top tip. She said when you want someone to do something - perhaps they are getting distracted or not participating, you should say what you want them to do, followed by thank you, rather than saying 'please can you...' For example.
'Harry, sit down, thank you'.
NOT
'Please Harry can you sit down'
No please. Adding please gives the illusion of choice. Shazia said for her this really changed and helped her teaching practice.
It made me think about how language is so connected to action and also reflected how default the UK love of the word please is. I thought back to my MA university days, working with the artist Dr Mel Jordan who is interested in language's relationship to action. I always remember her talking with me about how a statement and a question inspire very different responses in relation to taking a position on something. A statement demands a response where people have to take a position in relation to what is said, whereas a question does not demand people to take a position in the same way, as it keeps things open. I think she would say conversations where different positions are exchanged is essential to democracy, and a well functioning public sphere. She told me about J.J. Austin 'How to Do Things with Words' and it really influenced my work at the time.
I know I was here to talk about the cafe and I'm writing a blog about Luton, but Shazia is a person of stories and conversation that takes interesting and varied turns. In our conversation we talked about food, the cafe, and her background in education, but we also talked about the power of dreams when you are sleeping, and how messages might be communicated across dreams. She knows everyone coming to the cafe. The cafe is inextricable from community, stories, and conversation.
I leave the cafe with two delicious curries that Shazia gives me and I promise to return. It wasn't enough time to know more about the cafe and what it means to the local community, and I really want to eat paratha and pickles for breakfast. There are questions I want to ask - Who are the regulars? Do you see the same groups of friends or people come in often? What skills crossover working in a school and in the cafe? and importantly how do you make paratha?
