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Restyles of the Dead and Famous
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August is fast approaching, and that means it’s time for the Edinburgh International Festival, one of the world’s foremost celebrations of art, dance, and music. And with the Festival comes the Fringe, an alternative festival launched in 1947, the same year as the Edinburgh Festival, with the mission of allowing access to all performers. Now the Fringe rivals the Festival itself, and is THE place to see the quirky, the innovative, and the laugh-out-loud funny.
This year my London-based photographer friend, Steve Ullathorne, is exhibiting a new series of photographs at The Gilded Balloon, one of the Fringe’s foremost venues. Restyles of the Dead and Famous are twisted tweaks of the Blue Plaque bearing London homes of the dead and gone - from Jane Austen to Oscar Wilde via Thomas Crapper and George Orwell. The Scotsman’s Claire Smith calls Steve “the Annie Leibowitz of comedy,” and these irreverent images are the proof of the pudding.
But if you can’t get to Edinburgh, and you find yourself in London on a Saturday, have a wander down Portobello Road. At Tavistock Road, just before the Westway, on most Saturdays you’ll find Steve selling his London prints from his market stall. From the whimsical (London Policeman), to the sublime (my favorite photo of the Albert Bridge), the photos are fabulous. And you’ll be following in fictional footsteps.