When I was home for all of about 12 hours last week, I decided to make the most of my brief visit and go to Somerset House, where there was a graphic design exhibition on: Pick Me Up.
Hundreds of up and coming and already well established graphic designers and illustrators had showcased their work and the results were really inspiring. There were people creating work all over the place, live screen printing, music, lots of cute little studios and just a general all round good atmosphere. It made me so nostalgic for Camberwell and I just wanted to sit down and cut things up and stick things everywhere and screen print and photocopy... not sit in front of a fucking computer all day. I was both hugely inspired and massively disheartened, because I knew the work I was seeing here was what I wanted to achieve one day, but it was just not the kind of work I could create on my course at the moment. There's not much I can do about it now I guess... so I wandered around with my camera...
As I was leaving the exhibition, the sun was shining, I was newly inspired by all the work I'd seen and I caught a glimpse of the London Eye just across the river. I had a sudden realisation that I am actually in love with London. I didn't ever think it was possible to be in love with a place, but in that moment I knew, and it literally broke my heart knowing I had to get on a coach and sit on it in silence for the 5 hours back to Leeds, even though I knew was going to be home for a whole month for easter which was just a week away. I sometimes wish I'd stayed in London for university, but I know deep down that I'm glad I moved away, because I didn't appreciate it while I was still at home and if I hadn't left I would never have known how much I love it here.