Ive been checking my facebook memories to see what I was up to and its been really nice to be reminded of some of my achievements and projects. Due to my pain and fatigue I just dont spend much time making art, it really gets me down as it also means I cant distract myself and keep my mind busy. I am so solitary and dont move, I dont do much except the odd exhibition (this year Im trying for at least once a month, but the past few years Id spend months without doing any kind of fun activity outside my house). It feels so much like Im at a stand still, but I try to create joy and comfort despite that. Its fun to be reminded of one of the first embroideries I made my Mum, maybe for a birthday or Mothers Day, where I used a mixture of paint and thread. Looking back theres loads I would improve on, but this was made in 2012, the year I learnt to sew, and started Hanecdote, so Im really proud of my natural talent (and lots of practice). In turn that makes me sad and makes me miss embroidery so much and the days where I could spend hours getting lost in the process. The next image is of something I made in 2013 while studying my second year of an Art and Design BTEC, where I was experimenting with materials as you can see from the metal sheet Ive sewn an anatomical heart into. This was the time in my life where I learn that thread is a way of mark making just like paint, pencils, pens, crayons etc. If you puncture or drill holes into any material, soft or hard, you can use thread to sew into it. That was transformative to me as a 17-19 year old finding my identity and space in the world after three years of mental health struggles and not wanting to live. No matter how old I get I will look back on those years so fondly because it deepened my natural love for art, taught me about all different kinds of mediums and art movements, and was where I found my love for textiles/embroidery. 

To me it makes no sense to still have the monarchy as they really dont bring in that much money via tourism (you cant even enter Buckingham Palace even though no royals live there), open it up as a museum!  The royals are massive wealth hoarders, i dont believe Charles paid any inheritance tax when his mum died, the man is worth £2 billion and owns over 6.6 million acres of land worldwide!!!! Not only that, he couldnt even spare £100 million of his own vast wealth to pay for his own parades and parties! In less than a year taxpayers have paid for the queens jubilee, her funeral and this coronation. Meanwhile theres thousands of food banks and new warm banks so people dont freeze to death. No money for nurses or teachers, yet endless for this disgusting pomp and pageantry 🤮🤮 My local borough Enfield, which has some of the highest poverty in London spent £50,000 on coronation celebrations while services have been cut to social care and across the board. Other boroughs spent over £150,000 putting up screens and decorations. The police powers were ramped up as this government continues to violently squash our right to protest. A royalist who attends many different royal events was even arrested and detained all day because she was standing next to Republicans protesting against this extreme show of wealth and against the family and system which represents such inequalities in society. They also arrested community volunteers (who often work alongside the police with homeless people and crises) but because they had rape alarms (in the early hours of the morning way before the coronation had even started) they were arrested for intent to cause a nuisance or some bullshit like that! Its archaic, and I fully believe people are brainwashed into believing these people are by birth better than the rest of us. Ordained by God, Charles is now the head of the Church of England, all because Henry VIII wanted a divorced all those hundreds of years ago. As if one crown isnt enough, Charles wore three different ones throughout the affair, along with travel via a golden horse drawn carriage, its hard to believe this is real life and not some fairytale. There was massive attempts to diversify this coronation, with the flags of Commonwealth countries lining the streets outside Buckingham Palace, people from multiple religions partaking in the ceremony and a Black gospel choir. It was supposedly a coronation for the people, but that feels patronising and condescending! The cheek of these wealth hoarders to clutch at straws to remain relevant in a modern society, I truly in my lifetime hope I see the end of the monarchy. Many people loved queen elizabeth and turned out to her funeral happily, but many dislike charles due to his adultery amongst other things. I fear the british public is too brainwashed and committed to suffering and bootlicking to ever see them as a stain on democracy and equality. Royal history is fascinating to me, for much of history the royal was was the only way and thus art, architecture etc is deeply connected to royals, but they should be a relic of the past, not something the public continue to pay for despite their endless riches.