Tag: creativity

One Love – Experiencing Bob Marley

On Sunday 20th March, I visited the Bob Marley One Love Experience at the Saatchi Gallery in Sloane Square, London. The interactive exhibition was produced by Terrapin Station Entertainment and the Marley family and is running until 18th April 2022.

The experience can be enjoyed by all generations and we look forward to continuing to spread Daddy’s music and message to the globe

Cedella Marley, CEO of Bob Marley group of companies

As someone with a tattoo of one of Bob Marley’s quotes; “Live the life you love, love the life you live”, I was excited to learn more about this prolific figure through a unique immersive experience and unseen photography and memorabilia.

The man

Bob Marley aka Robert Nesta Marley was a Jamaican singer, musician and songwriter and considered one of the pioneers of the music genre, reggae.

He is best known for songs such as One Love, I Shot the Sheriff and No Woman, No Cry, with popularity amongst all ages, races and cultures.

In 1976, he survived an assassination attempt which lead him to move permanently to London where he recorded the album Exodus (1977).

At the young age of 36, Marley died after battling a type of melanoma. He was given a state funeral in Jamaica, with the Jamaican Prime Minister at the time describing him as having “… a voice [that] was an omnipresent cry in our electronic world.”

For his iconic work in the music industry, he achieved a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and induction into the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame.

The experience

The first thing I noticed was how beautiful the Saatchi Gallery grounds are! It looked very grand and I would love to visit again in the Summer and taking a stroll around the area.

When we entered the gallery, we were greeted by the iconic red, green and gold colours often associated with the reggae genre, Rastafarianism and the artist himself. I loved the quotes on the walls which displayed Bob Marley’s wisdom through his beautifully iconic lyrics from his songs, with one of my favourite’s being…

In the first room, we saw an assortment of vinyls of Marley’s music across the walls. I knew he was a prolific artist, but seeing his work in this way highlighted just how much he had achieved in his short life. As a plaque in this room stated, he was a singer, songwriter and musician, pioneer of Reggae, Ska and Rocksteady, global figure in popular culture and so, so much more!

One of the cabinets in the room contained an original sheet of paper on which Marley had written the lyrics of Turn Your Lights Down Low on. It was humbling to imagine him sitting and writing one of his most famous songs! The artefacts really made me think of the man behind the artist and how he would feel having such an exhibition about him.

Next, we moved into the One Love room. It’s green, smokey and full of plants – you can guess what the theme is! With bean bags on the floor and a swing to sit in, it was all about chilling out and ‘feeling alright’ – a great photo opportunity too!

As we continued through this section, we were given headphones and became fully immersed in the visuals projected on the wall. We imagined ourselves at a live concert with Bob Marley and The Wailers on a warm Jamaican night.

It was great to see footage of him performing live and even hear him speak – his singing voice is so iconic, but I’d never heard him talk before.

After this, we went into a room that displayed his love for football. I had no idea that he was such a football fan, so seeing his actual trainers and photos of him playing the game with his friends accompanied by his music playing from the jukebox at the back of the room, made this famous icon become a bit more ‘ordinary’.

My favourite area, was the One Love Tree. We were encouraged to write what ‘One Love’ meant to us on a piece of card and hang it from the tree. We wrote: One Love means… Love your fellow man and forget inferiority.

Overall, I loved the experience and definitely learnt more about this music legend. I don’t want to give too much away, so I definitely recommend visiting for yourself and celebrate Bob Marley in such an interesting way!

Art or Design – What’s the difference?

Growing up, I loved fine art (still life, acrylic painting and portraiture). I then fell in love with design after completing a Foundation Diploma in graphic design at the University of Arts, London. Some believe that the two disciplines are the same but there are actually distinct differences, which made my transition to design quite a learning curve!

In this blog, I have teamed up with mosaic artist, Dionne – founder of Qemamu Mosaics, a company that produces beautiful mosaic art – to discuss the differences between art and design and our experiences surrounding the two.

“I am a mother of two teenagers, mosaic artist, voiceover artist, ex gymnast and ex athlete and lover of life! As well as immersing myself into my mosaic practice, I love to take walks in nature, listen to a wide variety of music, from Classical to Old Skool hip hop, Soca, Neo Soul and R&B. I enjoy yoga and self-motivation material and my friends would probably describe me as a sweet and gentle soul, who loves a laugh and can be a bit random and crazy on occasion!” Dionne

Art

My experience with art was very fulfilling and explorative; I loved getting my hands messy with paints, inks and printing materials. It was a very experimental and rewarding part of my life and as students we were encouraged to express ourselves subjectively. There was no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ as long as we could explain our reasoning and concepts behind our work articulately.

Art is a thing of beauty and it can and should be interpreted differently by different people. We bring our own thoughts and experiences to art and the same piece can evoke different feelings for each viewer. For example, have you ever viewed a famous, award-winning piece of art, worth millions and not ‘understood’ it, whilst others were praising it greatly and were able to deduce hidden meanings behind it? Well, that’s a powerful piece of art – its beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder!

“Art to me means total freedom of expression. Art is not confined to one discipline and has the ability to touch people’s soul in ways only felt by the viewer.” Dionne

Art allows you to use your imagination and be as abstract as you like. It can be appreciated at face value for its beauty or analysed and critiqued but there are not rules to be adhered to so get stuck in and enjoy!

Design

Design, on the other hand, does have its rules and restrictions because, generally, design has a function or purpose. For example, posters need to tell the viewers when and where certain events are happening and logos need to communicate whether a brand’s target audience is young children or pensioners. This means it is very important to follow certain design concepts that are universally understood in order to put across the right message to the right people.

As designers, we study universal perceptions of colour, fonts, imagery, hierarchy, sizing and more. For example, it is generally agreed that the colour light blue is calming and gentle, so we could use this colour for a massage therapy flyer. If we used a bright, fiery red with text in capital letters, it would give off the wrong impression to the majority of people, so we need to take this into consideration when designing.

If we break any ‘rules’, we risk the intended message of the design being lost. Have you ever seen a flyer and had no idea what the event was about or struggled to find important information like dates and time? This is probably because of poor design choices and a lot to rule breaking!

Take a look at the designs below. They have the same information on them but the font choices, colours and positioning/size of text has been changed. One follows good design practices making it clear and visually coherent, whilst the other breaks many of the best practice rules and the information is lost or is very confusing for the viewer.

Poor design
Good design

Conclusion…

Both art and design have elements of creativity. Just because there are rules in design it doesn’t mean you can’t place things on a page creatively and use innovative ways to display information clearly – as they say… “Know the rules so you know how to break them properly!” I find design extremely rewarding; I love the challenge of taking information and presenting it in a way that is engaging, persuasive and visually attractive.

Need a designer?

Get in touch with me and I can help you create well-designed documents, flyers, posters, business cards, logos and more!

Need an artist?

If you are interested in buying Dionne’s beautiful work or would like to take part in her mosaic workshops, please visit her website.