Essex and Essexuality

Told you my work is art... My book The Joy of Essex is on display in a vitrine (that's a posh word for a cabinet) in Michael Landy's Welcome To Essex exhibition at Colchester's Firstsite gallery. Also my 1991 piece from the Guardian on the Essex argot.

It's a great show about the county's cultural baggage and media stereotypes, including a giant figure of Essex Man as you enter, tabloid headlines printed on tarpaulins and 1990s TVs on wheelie-bins playing clips of Essex luminaries. The Ilford-born Landy sees himself as a mirror to all the images projected on to Essex — and he's clearly had a lot of fun making this exhibition. Proper art. Runs until Sept 5.

Lav at Firstsite

Fifty four per cent of visitors to Colchester's Firstsite art gallery are only using the loos, claims an unofficial survey by Colchester residents. Though the gallery has responded by saying that even visiting the loo is a cultural experience as you have to walk past several works of art, including a Roman mosaic. I certainly enjoyed my visit there, described in The Joy of Essex, and can vouch for  the loos and the coffee as well as the art, which admittedly could be a bit more populist. Still, might not a quick visit to the toilet leave Essex folk flush with a potential for future, more aesthetic visits? With luck Firstsite could become Essex's answer to the Loo-vre.