NWR Connect Spring 2025

NWR Connect Quarterly bulletin for the National Women's Register adsadsadasQGQQood SPRING 2025

Letter from the Trustees Gill Wignall, Chair of Trustees, offers her quarterly appraisal of all the latest changes - and new beginnings - at NWR

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ello and welcome to the Spring edition of NWR Connect.

As I write this, the sun is shining, the days are getting longer and Easter is almost upon us. We’ve just celebrated International Women’s Day, the theme of which this year was Accelerate Action for Gender Equality and indeed, gender equality is something that can’t come soon enough for any of us. Maybe in the next edition of NWR Connect, there will be some photographs of events and discussions that some of you have held to celebrate this day. Of course, this edition is bursting with your fabulous contributions of meetings and adventures over the last three months. Lots of great connections and friendships.

Spring is also the time for new beginnings and here at NWR, our dedicated staff team continue to find new events to tempt us. There will be more short courses, and the programme of interesting talks will continue.

Also working hard are the ladies in Telford, who are putting together a wonderful programme of speakers and workshops for the National Conference in Telford on 4th and 5th of July. The beautiful countryside and the industrial heritage, make this such an interesting part of the country, and well worth a longer stay if possible.

Many thanks to all of you who completed the recent member survey. The information we collect from it will be carefully collated and used to further improve the benefits you get from your membership of NWR. Happy reading!

Save the date!

2025 Annual General Meeting This year’s AGM will be held on Tuesday, 10 June at 2:00 pm via Zoom Ticket information will be released next month

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Behind the scenes at the NWR office

NWR TEAM

Claire Kendrick, Head of Operations & Development at NWR, talks us through what goes into the daily running of the organisation

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L-R: Sharon Gibson, Sam Bushell, Claire Kendrick, Cath Heslop

embers are often curious as to how we spend our days, so we thought you might be interested in what running NWR in 2025 involves.

To keep our running costs as low as possible, the staff team manage most things in-house. We are what is called ‘a lean operation’ and although we’re most definitely Jacks (or Jills) of all trades, we’d like to think we’re masters of a lot of them!

Our core team of three have very broad multi-functional remits. One minute we may be creating Facebook ads and running finance reports, the next responding to member enquiries, creating member communications, paying suppliers and sourcing expert speakers. We are supported by two additional team members who each work 10 hours/week with specific remits of setting up new groups and calling enquirers.

Amongst the plethora of digital platforms that we use to perform integral daily tasks are Wordpress, Sheep CRM, Mailchimp, Facebook, Instagram, Meta advertising, Google ads, Google Forms, Ticket Tailor, SurveyMonkey, Canva, Xero, Stripe, Square, Access Paysuite. Three of us manage all these platforms between us, so you will frequently see the steam coming from our ears! Software updates are our nemesis, as they often disrupt the digital status quo.

As you would expect, we spend a lot of our time thinking/trying/ testing things to improve member experience. We will use the responses from the member survey to enhance membership value. We’re also continually looking for ways to improve our efficiency (without compromising the service we offer to our members) hence we have developed the FAQs on the website (https://nwr.org.uk/member-faqs/). If you can think of anything that would be useful to add, please do let us know. Equally, if the answer for your question isn’t there please DO contact us – we are really happy to help.

The money raised in donations last year has been invested in supporting our growth strategy to ensure we are future proofing NWR. In 2024 we introduced a new enquiry process. We are pleased to report that this process is working and has stabilised the organisation. Progress is slow, but fittingly for Spring, we can see green shoots and we are hoping to achieve growth this year.

Digital advertising – our primary channel is Meta advertising (Facebook and Instagram) which we run ourselves.

This requires ongoing monitoring and frequent refreshing. We are currently generating an average of 11 enquiries per day and 67% of new NWR members that joined in January found us via our Facebook ads.

We also run Google Advertising which helps support our SEO (Search Engine Optimisation AKA getting found on the internet). As a charity, we secured a free Google Advertising account last year. As such there are limits to the amount we can spend on bids and restrictions to our keywords, but we still get a few referrals this way and it works well as a support channel. This also requires regular monitoring and maintenance.

We discovered last year that our historical attempts to automate our enquiry process had led to a decrease in referrals. So since May last year we have been trying to call all enquirers. As a result >70% of enquirers are now referred on to LOs or online options. When we were relying solely on email, we were only getting a 2% referral rate. In hindsight, it makes sense given that NWR is all about personal connection. We have increased our resources in this area to support the increased enquiries generated by digital advertising.

PR – we write and distribute press releases ourselves, predominantly to promote new group launches and key organisational milestones and events. Media coverage is invaluable for us and tends to have a really positive impact on enquiry levels.

Continued overleaf

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Behind the Scenes - continued

NWR TEAM

Setting up new groups – thanks so much to all of you who have helped us with setting up new groups in your local areas. This is a key part of our growth strategy. Some of you have gone above and beyond in terms of your effort here (THANK YOU), creating fully-formed groups in the blink of an eye, but we have also successfully evidenced our ability to launch new groups with the bulk of the legwork being done by National Office. Since the start of 2025 we have undertaken a comprehensive overhaul of our finance function to update legacy systems and connect all software platforms. This process is still ongoing, but when completed will ensure our systems and processes are modern and robust.

NWR member numbers have been declining since 2008. We are hoping that 2025 will be the first year of growth in 17 years.

Thanks to all of you for your support. Onwards and upwards. Long live NWR!

Dance your cares away Dancing isn’t just for Strictly celebs - NWR members are strutting their funky stuff, thanks to Dance for Life instructor Janice Fraser and her Zoom classes! And as she explains, fun though it is, it’s just as important that NWR members are reaping the health benefits

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m really enjoying teaching the Dance for Life class for NWR on Thursday mornings—it’s fantastic to see so many new faces!

Our monthly coffee session (after the first class of the month) was truly enlightening, and I think we could have chatted on for much longer. If there’s a topic you’d like to discuss with fellow members, please let me or the NWR office know by emailing office@nwr.org.uk.

We’ve been focusing on hip mobility and strength for a while now, and I appreciate those who have shared their personal improvements with me—it’s great to hear about your progress!

Some people are surprised by my emphasis on foot health, but I believe it’s essential. Our feet are the foundation of our bodies and need to be strong. After working on this for some time, I was sent a link to an interesting Guardian Health article that helps to explain why his focus is so important. Here is the link if you would like to read it.

I always welcome new ideas—whether it’s music, moves, or anything else we can incorporate into our class. And of course, I’m happy to answer any questions as quickly as I can.

By the time you read this, spring will be upon us, bringing new goals and, of course, spring cleaning! We’ll talk more about seasonal moves and goals when the time comes.

Stay safe, and remember—warm up before tackling anything!

If you’d like to join the fun, visit www.nwr.org.uk/events If you have a question for Janice, email office@nwr.org.uk

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The Secret Life of Sunflowers

BIG READ

Wantage group share their review of Marta Molnar’s fascinating retelling of the life of Vincent van Gogh’s sister-in-law Johanna Bonger, a Big Read 2024 selection

“This book is dedicated to all the women who keep on fighting.”

[Marta Molnar, 2022] “This is the book that broke me.” [Author’s Note]

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n these words, Marta Molnar indicates both her inspiration for this book and her consequent dilemma in publishing it! The Secret Life of Sunflowers represents a change of direction for her, in both the use of facts and a different pen name.

As Dana Marton, she is a bestselling American author of romance, fantasy and suspense. However, having approached twenty publishers, unsuccessfully, she imagined she heard her protagonist, Jo, whisper, “You can do it. Just do it yourself.”

Marta Molnar has made readers aware of Johanna van Gogh-Bonger by telling her impressive story: how she became responsible for public recognition of the paintings by her brother-in-law, Vincent van Gogh. In 1889, Jo married Theo, an art dealer and Willem Vincent was born in 1890. He was named after the artist - who had mixed feelings about this, having himself been named after a brother who had died. Vincent visited the family, having spent a year in an Asylum, voluntarily, after he cut off his ear. He had shared The Yellow House in Arles with Gauguin, but the relationship had broken down.

However, the move south to Provence had brought light and colour into his work, and, while recovering, he had produced many paintings - one being ‘Pink and white blossoms against a blue sky’, which he brought as a gift to his nephew.

Two months later, Vincent shot himself in a cornfield. He had been prone to relapses of an illness, now thought to have been bipolar disorder. Significantly, his work was not supporting him, and he was financially dependent upon his brother. Six months later, Theo died; his terrible grief is thought to have contributed to his harrowing illness, now believed to have been syphilis. Consequently devastated, and in possession of Vincent’s work, Jo courageously devoted her life to accomplish what her husband could not, despite little income, and strong, male opposition to both the paintings and to herself, a female agent at a time when women had little public authority. Jo persevered; Vincent would be exhibited in his own country: “One day Amsterdam would have his museum!”

We at Wantage loved Jo’s story, and our general view was that a second story was unnecessary.

We were familiar with and moved by Van Gogh’s work and his life. The 1991 film, ‘Van Gogh’, starring Jacques Dutronc was enthusiastically recommended. Several of us had visited galleries to see his paintings. One of us shared: “Having visited the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and seen many of the paintings described in the book made the descriptions particularly vivid. The almond blossom which was a gift on the birth of Jo and Theo’s son was delightful.” She had also recently visited the London Van Gogh exhibition; and two of our group had visited the Asylum at Saint-Remy-deProvence and learned a lot about the artist.

The author, however, had decided that Jo’s story needed “a lighter counterbalance in the form of a modern day heroine.” Enter Emsley, a young American auctioneer of Ludingtons, an auction house associated with political fundraising involving Hollywood celebrities. Emsley experiences upheavals in both her personal life, and her career, which is threatened by the determination of the largest shareholder, her former lover, to close the company, which she must fight to retain.

Continued overleaf

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Image: Rehan Shaik for Unsplash

The Secret Life of Sunflowers (continued)

BIG READ

Following the death of her adored grandmother, she opens a blue box, from Violet, to find a green diary, letters written in Dutch, and a small painting of a “badly painted mystery baby.” While clearing Violet’s New York house, she is helpfully gripped by what at first appears to be Jo Bonger’s diary, although corrections suggest a biography. In time, Jo’s correspondence with her niece, Clara, is translated, and, interestingly, we learn that Jo visited New York with her. The small painting needs to be cleaned and examined. Thus, we learn about Jo against the background of Emsley’s changing life their stories annoyingly interweave in alternating chapters!

Might Marta Molnar approve the fighting spirit expressed by members of our Wantage group? “You could skip the modern story”,“The writer would have been better off focussing on Johanna’s true story. Emsley’s banal and cliched story only interrupted and distracted me from Jo’s more compelling one… I could not see the point of the tacked-on romance in the present day, it was full of cliches, and I found little of interest in the travails of rich young people and their startup businesses.”

An “odd book, a mash up of a fictionalised biography … and a silly romance.”

The prose was considered “overly simplistic and underwhelming”, written in a “trite, chick lit style.”

“The problems were too easily solved. For example, if your rent is overdue, just walk around with your brother who will happen to be carrying around enough cash to instantly pay off all arrears in full.” The language in Jo’s story was not always true to the times, as in “reaching out”, “stalking”, “gifting” and “terrible timing”.

The book was too long; and for both women, the end of each of their quests was predictable, and too sudden. The cover combines a serious portrait of Jo which does not reflect her energy, with a dark and poorly reproduced section of Van Gogh’s famous ‘Sunflowers’ which does not capture the vibrancy of the brightly coloured original.

However, the author weaves the uplifting power of sunflowers into her book. Jo tells her friend Anna that if people could read Vincent’s letters, they would understand the thoughts and emotions which went into his works. “How his sunflowers are gratitude and his wheat fields are loneliness.”

Emsley receives sunflower earrings from Violet, who tells her, “Sunflowers are adaptable … You plant them somewhere and they’ll figure out how to grow. … The worse the soil, the bigger they flower.”

Violet herself “didn’t let obstacles stop her.” She had been “a shining light in a chain of exceptional, admirable women.”

The Secret Life of Sunflowers can certainly be read as a story of strong women, who are strengthened, along with loving relationships, by supportive attachments. Jo greatly appreciates Anna, together with a group of friends, saying: “If life was a rolling river, friendship was the life raft.”

Emsley is strengthened by Jo’s story, and greatly supported by good friends of her grandmother.

These include Violet’s attorney, with whose grandson, Bram, Emsley develops a romantic attachment.

We learn of Marta Molnar’s own story in writing and publishing The Secret Life of Sunflowers; that her research was hindered as Jo’s descendants withheld her diaries, and that, ironically, shortly after the author finished the book, Jo’s diaries were released online to the public. Also, following rejections of her manuscript, the author remembered both Jo’s courage - “she never quit” - and her own purpose: “To learn about this indomitable woman and introduce her to others”.

She approached her readers on Facebook and received much appreciated support; several agreed to read The Secret Life of Sunflowers and encouraged her to publish. However controversial this book is, it is thanks to these “angels” that we and many others are moved by Jo’s story.

Did you know that Van Gogh painted several versions of “Sunflowers” during his time at Arles? The version in the National Gallery, entitled “Vase with 15 Sunflowers” or simply “Sunflowers”, is valued at around £72.5 million.

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“NWR you are amazing!”

MEMBERS’ CORNER

Moira Coates of Gloucester group has a message for the organisation...

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024 was my "annus horribilis.” Right at the beginning of the year, I received a diagnosis of bowel cancer and by February I'd had major surgery to remove the tumour. My life turned upside down, and I knew I had a long and challenging recovery ahead. I felt I had to step down as Area Supporter, a role I loved, because for quite a while I couldn't drive and had little energy.

My family and close friends are wonderful, but NWR both locally and much wider also provided the support and stimulus I needed. My local group kept me updated on meetings as I wasn't able to attend; they called in, they messaged, they phoned and sent cards with words of encouragement, not just initially, but throughout the whole of 2024. I had emails and messages from office staff and from members, some of whom I'd only met once or twice, but the bond of NWR allows me to consider them as friends. I had what I hope will be my final surgery in January of this year, and after a slow start, I'm now doing well.

I know others of you have, and are still, navigating the treacherous path that cancer carves out, and I hope your members respond as mine did, not just initially but with ongoing support. This is not a plea for well wishes or sympathy, this is a thank you to an organisation that has been in my life since 1988 and has never been more important to me than during this last year.

Unfortunately I can't make the Telford conference this year as the date changed. But there will be others, and meanwhile the Facebook groups, monitored by the dedicated team of voluntary moderators keep me in touch. NWR you are amazing!

Six go to the island Members of the adventurous Leighton Buzzard 1 group took a trip to the Isle of Wight

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ack in April 2024, after an enjoyable, but muddy, walking break in the Cotswolds, our group of intrepid explorers, made up from Leighton Buzzard 1 members, booked a three night break with HF to the Isle of Wight. At the time we envisaged possible snow and/or freezing sea breezes, but we went ahead all the same.

Fortunately our weather related nightmare scenarios were wholly unfounded. We had managed to pick the mildest two days of the year so far.

HF offer a variety of walking holiday options and we had chosen the Guided Walking option. Participants have a choice of three levels of walking – none of us chose the hardest, and two of us chose not to be guided at all. At the beginnings and end of each day everyone comes together for splendid meals, and there is a very generous packed lunch too. Enough of the advert for HF – other walking holiday companies are available!

We were based in Freshwater Bay, on the western side of the Island. This is Tennyson country, with his Monument and Down dominating the landscape. Also notable in the bay is the Dimbola Museum, home of a splendid tea room and gift shop, sampled by us all, and a museum featuring the work of Julia Cameron, renowned and pioneering Victorian photographer, sadly only accessed by the two of us not engaged in guided walks. Dimbola House, with its rather unusual turreted tower, was a focal point for local artists. Alfred Lord Tennyson apparently had tunnel access from his home built in order that he could escape from his groupies.

The guided walks went west on the first day and east on the second. We were spoilt with spectacular seascapes, long barrow burial sites, coloured sands, historical churches, dinosaur footprints with great guiding and company. While the length of walks was from 5-10 miles, the going was not too difficult and there was only one really challenging hill! The two of us who did not fancy such a long walk, chose to be independent.

Day one was a visit to Osborne House, favourite of Queen Victoria’s; day two was spend on self-guided walk, devised by Penny, a former HF leader and a fellow member of LB1 NWR. As well as walking and eating we all chose to participate in the evening fun sessions. Curling was particularly enjoyable, though sadly none of us was crowned champion. Our only remaining task is to contemplate where we will go for our adventure next spring.

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Going for growth

MEMBERS’ CORNER

When Heather de Lacey of Leighton Buzzard group had a flash of inspiration about NWR’s future, Jan Kelly was there to help make it happen...

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ast Autumn, we were on a HF Holidays walking with sightseeing weekend in the Yorkshire Dales. At some point, I said, “I’ve had an idea – what do you think?” Jan knows my ideas only too well and we began talking whilst walking and a plan started to form. The idea? Our group is getting so large that we’re in danger of losing our identity and with the town expanding, there’s bound to be a need – how about we start a second one?

Thankfully, Jan was in total agreement, was on board with the idea immediately and willing to work together – all we needed to do now, was start.It was clear to us that two things were paramount: - Talk to the office to get their approval, backing and support.

- Talk to our group to explain our thinking, to get them on side with the idea and to make it clear that noone would be expected to move into the new group, unless they wanted to.

Having succeeded with both missions, Sam at HO set us up with our own webpage, Leighton Buzzard 2, vital for all the enquiries we were going to receive, and we set up a new email address incorporating the words “NWR” and “Leighton Buzzard” to make it look official and to keep it separate from our own.

Next - a venue. All the advice from HO is that new groups should at least start off meeting in a public venue, not in each other’s homes, and it needs to be free. This entailed lots of legwork in mid-winter visiting every café, pub and space in the town so that it would be accessible for everyone, whether they would be driving, walking or coming by bus, and ground floor with easy access to loos. Mission accomplished with a very accommodating pub landlord.

Next, we put together a proposed programme with dates and subjects for discussion, making sure they were easy topics so that everyone could join in and help us get to know each other.

Now what? Enquiries, interest and members. That’s proved the most time-consuming, but by joining lots of Leighton Buzzard community Facebook groups where we can advertise for free as often as we wish, we have generated a lot of interest. We’ve also managed to get articles in the Leighton Buzzard Observer Online and we had a great spread in the weekly paper. We were also contacted by Three Counties Radio (Herts, Beds & Bucks) to do a live five-minute chat one afternoon which thankfully one of our members was happy to do for us.

Our launch meeting on 23 January attracted twelve women; this included two members who had joined before the meeting, three more joined after that meeting and, at the time of sending this to press, following an incredibly successful noisy and lively coffee meet-up, we already have 12 members with lots more live enquiries. We’re making really good progress and now we are working hard at creating a cohesive friendship group, rather than a group of disparate members; we need to encourage them to take ownership by getting involved so that we can step back. That will take time, but we’re confident we’ll succeed. Also, we need to continue promoting LB2 to get more members to make sure the group is viable in the long term.

We think it may be harder to start up a second group in an existing location, rather than a new group in a new location as people will inevitably just want to join the original group. You need to be prepared to put a lot of time and effort in, there will be knockbacks but it is worth it, not only for your own satisfaction, but also knowing that you are providing a valuable service for women in your area, raising the profile of NWR and also doing your bit to help ensure NWR survives into the future so that many more women can enjoy the friendship and benefits of NWR that we have all enjoyed and valued for so long.

NWR Office says: ‘Heather and Jan have done an AMAZING job with LB2 and have worked tirelessly to deliver a gold standard of new group setup, taking on all aspects of new group set up themselves. For those of you who are happy to help out, but don’t want such a big commitment, the office team can do most of the legwork - we just need help from someone on the ground to identify a suitable venue and host the first few meetings.”

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The 60th International Art Exhibition, Venice 2024 Ruth Badley of Long Melford & District group shares her Italian adventures

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e have been coming to Venice regularly since the early 2000s when our eldest son was a fine art student and could enthusiastically talk us through the merits of some of the more obscure submissions on show at the biennial international contemporary art exhibition. We were instantly hooked and have returned many times to repeat the experience but latterly without our knowledgeable guide in tow.

The two main venues for the show are terrific – one a fabulous garden, (Giardini) with 30 national pavilions, the second, a complex of historical shipyards and armouries (Arsenale), formerly the powerhouse of Venetian naval power and now transformed into a multitude of gallery spaces.

In addition, there are usually a substantial number of free art shows dotted around the city in churches, palaces, workshop spaces down unlikely narrow alleys and one year, famously above a supermarket. For a perfect experience all you need is good weather, a ticket that permits entry to the two main venues over consecutive days and an inclination to mooch. The art and how it speaks to you ultimately determines the pace.

I always look forward to discovering my personal wows but accept there will be much that leaves me cold. Don’t like what’s on show at this pavilion? Move on. Hopefully, the sun is shining and you’re in Venice is my attitude and it’s best not to take it all too seriously. There are always laughs to be had, even if the artist doesn’t intend them. One year I recall watching a two-hour video in which the artist, Mark Wallinger roams the lobby of a gallery at night dressed in a bear suit. It was riveting and ludicrous. Once upon a time these antics would have been regarded as avant-garde. Now, a bit old hat.

Potent Global Theme The exhibition always has an overarching theme and in past years has been so open to interpretation as to be virtually meaningless. The Milk of Dreams, May You Live in Interesting Times and Think with your Senses, Feel with your Mind are recent examples. I only learned this year that the artists are not obliged to adhere to the given theme, but this year’s provocative choice of Foreigners Everywhere (Stranieri Ovunque), not only resonated with me as a visitor to the exhibition, but also in the city and seaport of Trieste and even on our route towards the Slovenian capital, Ljubljana.

Who are the foreigners? For a living, breathing, but fragile, visitor attraction like Venice, that’s just about everyone, most of the time. Born and bred Venetians are an increasingly rare breed with Chinese property investment plus tourism creating a two-headed beast. The tax revenue to the city might be welcome but the impact vast visitor numbers inevitably have on the lagoon environment remains a concern. Hence the move to ban the cruise ships and their populations of day trippers from Venice. Now, they dock and discharge their human cargo in Trieste which is probably better suited to such an onslaught.

Artistic statements alluding to the movement of people, borders, integration, invasion, occupation, alienation, prejudice, war, colonialism, nationalism, and identity are always well represented with the emphasis reflecting the zeitgeist. This time, gender fluidity or maybe confusion, is well to the fore and celebrated in sculpture, painting, and a few self-indulgent films and if that’s your thing there is plenty of it.

More pertinent to my mind is the artwork that made me consider how we view migrants and refugees who leave their homeland, for whatever reason, in search of the kind of life they think we live. We never consider what it’s like for them to journey through unknown countries and across many borders when everyone they encounter is a foreigner to them! I am thinking particularly of the groups of listless young men I saw gathered in the park opposite Trieste railway station, some with back packs, others with bin liners of possessions at their feet. Waiting for their lives to begin but invisible to passers-by. Or a similar group, static and silent on the steps of Postojna train station in Slovenia. The town has a notorious detention centre for asylum seekers entering the country from Croatia and Bosnia, via the so-called Balkan route. Do they feel disappointed? Disillusioned? Regretful? Lonely?

Continued overleaf

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Art in Venice - continued The Mapping Journey Project by Moroccan artist Bouchra Khalili captures untold refugee stories in stark visual language. An installation of eight giant screens show maps of different parts of the world and a hand, marking in black pen, endless, illegal journeys across many borders leading to Europe.

Their words chart difficult, convoluted routes and the risks taken to fulfil basic human needs. It’s hard to walk away and the straightforward presentation makes this, for me, far more powerful than the verbose text that accompanies too many of the submissions. If you have to go to great lengths to explain your artistic concept so visitors ‘get it’ then maybe rethink your concept.

A playful, upholstered tunnel forms the centrepiece of Eva Koťátková’s artwork for the Czech pavilion, and is intriguing, yet impressively clear on the wider questions it poses on the culture of plucking animals from their natural habitat to keep them in captivity. The heart of a giraffe in captivity is twelve kilos lighter tells the story of Lenka, a giraffe captured in Kenya for Prague Zoo in 1954, where she died just two years later.

Real World Realities As two years ago and with the invasion of Ukraine still ongoing, the Russian Federation’s pavilion in the Giardini remains firmly closed whilst a collective of Ukrainian artists at both venues are defiantly present. Repeat After Me II, in the Polish pavilion features a video demonstration by Ukrainian refugees imitating the sounds of Russian mortar shelling and aerial bombardment. Visitors are invited to join in, karaoke-style. I wonder if anyone ever does.

In past years Israel has been the standout highlight for me with absorbing shows that succeeded in making artistic statements in novel ways. For example, in 2019, the entire Israeli pavilion was transformed into a field hospital, with visitors cleverly processed through the exhibition, first as patients, and then as listeners to stories of injustice.

Forward to 2024 and Italian armed guards keep a watchful eye for protesters as visitors read a notice announcing Israel’s exhibition will remain closed until a ceasefire and hostage release agreement is reached in Gaza. Whilst the sentiment is noble I can’t help feeling that presenting a closed door to a global audience is a wasted opportunity.

Lasting Impressions The Japanese pavilion can usually be relied on for quirkiness and this year’s presentation didn’t disappoint.

Sculptor Yuko Mohr unusually built her array of Heath Robinson-style ‘machines’ onsite, with materials and objects sourced from the local area. The awkward movement of water through the various bits of piping and other discarded items is the catalyst for tinkling chimes. Hardly unique. More peculiar was the pervading smell from displays of decomposing fruit. These wrinkled items are stabbed with electrodes to convert the moisture they contain into electric signals, creating an intermittent sound and flickering light. It was certainly a full-on sensory experience. The Korean pavilion took this idea even further with an exploration of how scents, smells and odours are linked to memories, culminating in an arresting bronze baby, discharging a sickly milky smell from its nostrils every two minutes. Make it stop was my honest response.

Beaded sculpture by Jeffrey Gibson

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For sheer impact through colour, texture and size, Jeffrey Gibson’s paintings and sculpture on show outside the American pavilion are a magnetic draw. Inside, the vibrant patterns and gorgeous beaded figures call to mind the artist’s first nation ancestry. No doubt the artist has more lofty thoughts on his own work but sometimes, aesthetics are all that matters.

Safet Zec’s astounding figurative paintings in the Venice pavilion are breathtaking. Perfectly aligned with the theme, his moving images reflect exodus and heartbreak based on his own experience. He says, “I would like to recall that I was a refugee, a man who had to leave the country he loved, the country where he was born, lived, educated, and studied... a country torn apart by war and nationalism. In the former Yugoslavia I was established and had acquired a prestigious position in the world of painting, which I now also enjoy in Venice, my beloved adopted city.”

Bravo Safet Zec. For me, the star of the show. Thought-provoking contemporary art needs a new movement. Let it start with beauty.

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Hungry for More what we ate in Venice Ruth Badley shares culinary delights from her trip

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t’s an unfortunate truth but in a city literally overflowing with water, tourists, and restaurants it can be difficult to find that genuinely authentic Venetian eating experience. The places you hear about, where the gondoliers allegedly eat, are the stuff of legend. I’ve been to Venice about 20 times and I’ve yet to stumble upon tables of lads in striped tops, chewing the fat over their lunch. Truth be told they don’t want to be found. The last thing they need is a pair of Brits interrupting their downtime with awkward questions about whether the risotto features squid ink. Venice likes to keep tourists where they think they really belong and that’s why the pizza and pasta restaurants, especially those with a romantic canal side setting, are always busy.

It's a familiar scenario. You’re hungry and on your way somewhere else when you walk past tables of diners enjoying delicious looking plates of familiar fare. There’s a free table in a great spot and you’ve already forgotten about going anywhere else because the smell of the pizza oven is irresistible. It’s great pizza. Terrific pasta but somehow, not completely satisfying because you can eat it anywhere. Venice doesn’t give up its more interesting dining secrets easily and the adventurous eater needs some determination to unearth them.

This endeavour has become a little easier since several TV chefs have made a career out of highlighting some of the previously little known authentic Venetian restaurants. One restaurant in particular, Antiche Carampane, attracts so many visitors through this kind of publicity it actually has a notice in the window warning hapless tourists, ‘No Pizza, No Lasagne, No Tourist Menu.’ It was pointed out to me quite aggressively when I first made a booking.

I spent many years studying Italian at evening classes, principally so I could eat my way round Italy with some knowledge of the language and culture. Venice is the only city where all my efforts have proved useless. For very understandable reasons, I’ve come to believe the Venetians cannot bear to hear anyone mangling their beautiful language. Whenever I dare to open my mouth, the reply is usually in perfect English which is a real knock to the budding linguist’s confidence and dispels any illusions I might have that my glaringly obvious tourist status is invisible. Not a hope.

So, the idea that I could ever walk into a bar full of locals and order my cicchetti of choice, like they do, just seemed too intimidating to even contemplate. However, through prior research on YouTube and some assistance from Venetian nobility I made a breakthrough on this trip.

Cicchetti, pronounced (chi-ket-tee) are the tastiest of Venetian snacks, eaten at any time of the day and usually enjoyed with a glass of wine or the ubiquitous Aperol spritz. Some liken them to tapas, but this is inaccurate. Not all tapas is finger food. The important thing about cicchetti is that they can be picked up and eaten – the most common are small rounds of toasted bread, generously loaded with a meat, seafood, vegetable, or cheese-based topping. Seasoned and oiled, fragrant with herbs, the best of these appear so simple but leave you wondering how they pack so much flavour into every morsel. Deep fried meat or rice balls, even little open topped savoury pies can also be offered, depending on the speciality and imagination of the particular bar.

That I know this is entirely down to the TV presenter and historian Francesco da Mosto. Count da Mosto’s programmes on Venice are often filmed in and around the family’s Renaissance palazzo, where centuries before, his distinguished ancestors made their mark as merchants and explorers. Interestingly, the fearless British chef Rick Stein relied on Francesco’s superior knowledge for his own programme on Venetian delicacies and it was an extract from this on YouTube that proved so informative on cicchetti.

In the programme Francesco takes Rick to his local bar, All’Arco, one of the most famous in Venice. On a previous trip I recall being taken there for a pre-dinner snack by a knowledgeable friend but either I wasn’t paying enough attention, or she helpfully chose for us, so I didn’t see the options. Needless to say, when we went back this time, we unwittingly turned up on a day All’Arco was closed and the next day the queue to get in was too long. Undeterred we scouted out the nearby competition and the eating experience at IL Sigillo was so good we went back twice, although at 11am it was tea we wanted with our snacks rather than wine. The proprietor was exactly as you would expect. Round, jolly, heavily moustached and overseeing a window full of mouth-watering, freshly made cicchetti. He had the radio up at full volume and was also singing along so any attempt at language was rendered pointless. Sign language sufficed. Our sharing plate was warmed under the grill and carefully portioned so we both had a taste of spicy salami, creamy mozzarella, juicy aubergine, salty prosciutto, and peppery olive oil. A very satisfying late breakfast.

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Hungry for more - continued The Venetian lagoon and the famous Rialto fish market ensure super fresh seafood is a staple of the local cuisine, but two specialities famously feature preserved fish, a hangover from ancient times when sailors on long expeditions relied on the ability to treat fish with salt or vinegar to keep it wholesome. Baccalà mantecato, widely available where cicchetti are served, is salted poached cod, whipped with olive oil to a creamy spread and piled onto grilled bread or toasted polenta. Utterly delicious. Another Venetian signature dish is Sarde in Saor a sweet/sour combination of sardine fillets, onions, pine nuts, raisins, and vinegar.

We tried both of these at the high end Pensione Wildner, close to the San Zaccaria vaporetto stop, where they serve their sardines with sauerkraut and the prices reflect the heritage and location. It was well worth it for this and the traditional Spaghetti alle Vongole e Bottarga (spaghetti with clams and seasoned with mullet roe).

My guidebooks on Venice are stuffed full of business cards and receipts from previous visits to places we might want to return to. It’s fun to see if they are as good as we remember or even if we can find them again, so I usually bring them with me. The first time we went to Trattoria da Fiore we sat at high stools at the open window, watching the daytime crowds walk by. It was hot. We would have had a glass of wine, but I don’t recall what we ate. Perhaps we didn’t eat at all, but I kept the card all the same and this time around we fancy dinner. There is a table for two at the back of the restaurant next to a young Italian couple. As soon as I see the menu I relax, secure in my choice. They will know how to make this for sure.

Fegato alla Veneziana. It’s one of the finest dishes in the Venetian repertoire. The best calves liver, trimmed and cut into small slices, combined with buttery sweet, caramelised onions and served in a rich wine and vinegar sauce. This version is sweeter still as it includes green figs in the sauce. They must have known I was coming. This dish is often served with polenta. I don’t care for polenta and would have left it on the plate but luckily this comes with mashed potato to soak up all the velvety sauce. It’s heavenly. I glance across and see the young Italian couple have ordered the same as me. They look pretty happy too.

Bacarando is one of those places that it would be hard to stumble upon. You have to know it is at the end of a very unpromising alley. We only know where it is because several years ago we rented an apartment that almost backs onto it and probably a folder of information on this and other local restaurants was provided by the owner. Back then we ate al fresco in a little courtyard, unaware that inside, at the bar, the most amazing selection of cicchetti is rightly the main attraction. Deep filled open pies are the speciality of the house and the display is exceptional. We didn’t want to spoil our appetite for dinner, so we chose one to share between us with prawns and a pea puree. How we chose I don’t know. They all looked amazing. It was pouring down outside, and our little pie was packed in a takeaway bag. We found some shelter and tucked in. Oh my. Underneath the abundant topping were thin layers of seasoned, buttery potato, all held in place within a crisp pastry case. The prawns, the peas and the potato were just the best versions of themselves you can imagine, and it wasn’t measly. It was small but abundant! It was one of the best food experiences I have ever had – dripping wet and eaten in shared bites from a paper bag! We should have had one each we concluded. To misquote The Talented Mr Ripley, see Venice and pie. Next time.

Ruth Badley is the author of Bite-sized World a memoir of travel, food and live entertainment and Where are the grown-ups? a memoir based on her own family history.

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