Five uplifting things to do this February
Well, we’ve made it through January. Spring is edging ever closer and the evenings are starting to get just that little bit lighter. If February’s Latin meaning – from the verb ‘to cleanse’ – is anything to go by, this is a month for nourishing the soul. And we suggest you do just that. From a new soil-centric, farm-to-table restaurant in Cornwall to a joyful exhibition that’s a treat for the eyes and ears in Margate, here’s our pick of the best ways to spend the next 28 days.
Edit, the new radical vegan restaurant in Hackney
London’s plant-based restaurant scene is thriving – and, as of 1 February, Edit is the latest opening to champion all things green in every sense of the word. Helmed by architect-turned-restaurateur Elly Ward and chefs Fabrice Jacquet and Beth Olivier, this fine-dining vegan spot in Hackney, east London, aims to be as sustainable as possible, championing seasonal, locally sourced produce. Its low-intervention spirit runs right through the interiors too, which are all bare-brick walls, cast-iron columns and reclaimed furniture. Meanwhile the tables are crafted from recycled wood waste.
Offering a neatly curated selection of sharing plates and larger dishes, Edit is committed to playing its part in reducing food waste (“root to fruit” is the philosophy) and supporting small-scale regenerative farms. But the food is as delicious as it is worthy: the ever-changing menu includes delightful dishes such as crispy kalettes with purple-potato mash, and salt-baked turnip with lentil ragù. For those with heartier appetites, there’s also a six-course tasting menu paired with minimal-intervention wines and ciders. Just the sort of sustenance that February calls for.
Sonia Boyce: Feeling Her Way at Turner Contemporary in Margate
Margate’s acclaimed gallery, Turner Contemporary, will be playing host to an installation that scooped the Golden Lion for Best National Participation at Venice Biennale last year: Sonia Boyce: Feeling Her Way. The British Afro-Caribbean artist and educator, celebrated for her contribution to the Black British art movement in the 1980s, is perhaps best known for her performative and collaborative practice, which comes to the fore at this particularly exciting roving exhibition – on display from 4 February to 8 May.
Comprising video, collage, music and sculpture, Feeling Her Way sees Boyce bringing together five Black intergenerational female musicians – singers Jacqui Dankworth, Poppy Ajudah, Sofia Jernberg and Tanita Tikaram and composer Errollyn Wallen – to improvise and play with their voices to create an intriguing soundscape. Recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London and Atlantis Studios in Stockholm, the vocal experiment has been paired with colour-tinted videos and 3D geometric sculptures created by Boyce. Prepare to have your spirits lifted.
Pictured: Sonia Boyce, Feeling Her Way featuring four performers, Errollyn Wallen, Tanita Tikaram, Poppy Ajudha, Jacqui Dankworth, 2022
Crocadon, a soil-centric farm in Cornwall with food at its heart
Clearly, this is a month of epicurean delights. Over in east Cornwall, chef Dan Cox (formerly of L’Enclume and Fera) is opening a project that’s been five years in the making: Crocadon, a 120-acre regenerative farm, hyper-seasonal restaurant and groceries shop in St Mellion. The whole set-up is pretty idyllic: the restaurant, for instance, is surrounded by rolling hills and housed within a stone barn that Dan and his team spent 12 months restoring. There’s also an onsite ceramics studio within a Grade II-listed barn, where Dan, a self-taught potter, produced all the restaurant’s crockery. Meanwhile, guests can also explore a microbrewery, grounds and productive polytunnels at their leisure.
There are both long and short tasting menus available for diners from Thursday to Saturday, as well as a three-course lunch on Sunday, with plates including brown crab and lemongrass, nuka golden turnips, and beans with cured pork loin. Soil health underpins the entire enterprise, with dishes created from what has been harvested from the farm each week, which includes everything from heritage grains and vegetables to apples, plums and pears from the farm’s two orchards. Crocadon opens 3 February.
Abstract, Gesture, Paint 1940-70: Women Artists and Global Abstraction at Whitechapel Gallery
This new exhibition at Whitechapel Gallery in east London shines a light on the unsung heroes of abstract expressionism: women. While the movement, characterised by gestural brushstrokes and mark-making, is often associated with white male American artists, such as Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko, Action, Gesture, Paint 1940-70: Women Artists and Global Abstraction demonstrates how women across the world played just as important a role.
The exhibition showcases 150 paintings created between 1940 and 1970 by more than 80 female artists. Not only does Action, Gesture, Paint feature work by celebrated names, such as Lee Krasner and Helen Frankenthaler, but it also highlights those who have received less recognition over the years, including the Mozambican-Italian artist Bertina Lopes and Wook-Kyung Choi of South Korea. This also marks the first time that more than half of the paintings have been on public display in the UK. Runs from 9 February to 7 May 2023.
Pictured: Helen Frankenthaler, April Mood, 1974. (Below) Behjat Sadr, Untitled, 1956, courtesy of Behjat Sadr Estate, © ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2022
The Morgan Stanley Exhibition: Peter Doig at The Courtauld
A visit to The Courtauld is always lovely, housed as it is within the majestic neoclassical splendour of Somerset House. But it’s even more appealing this month thanks to the opening of a major exhibition on figurative painter Peter Doig. From 10 February, The Morgan Stanley Exhibition: Peter Doig will showcase new works that the artist has created over the past two years since moving back to London from Trinidad.
Pore over pieces that Doig started in Trinidad and New York, before others that take London as their subject and mark an exciting new chapter for the Scottish-born artist. While you’re there, pop into the Gilbert and Ildiko Butler Drawings Gallery (The Courtauld’s first space dedicated to works on paper), which will be showcasing a selection of Doig’s recent sketches and prints. After all, printmaking is considered key to his artistic practice. Alongside the paintings on show they provide a fascinating deep dive into the world of one of the UK’s most treasured living figurative painters. Until 29 May 2023.
Pictured: Peter Doig, Night Studio, 2015
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