creative talent revealed
Teresa Martin, Helmets for War and Peace -
Surrey Sculpture Society summer exhibition at Standen
Taking a stand against the uglification of the world
What is it?
ingénu/e is a quarterly arts & culture magazine covering West and East Sussex and West Kent, following the geography of the South Downs and High Weald areas. It is B5 size, which means it has room for plenty of great content but will still fit comfortably in a handbag or pocket.
What’s in it?
All fields of creativity, eg: painting, photography, illustration, printmaking, sculpture, glass art, ceramics; contemporary crafts; theatre, film, music and dance; poetry and prose; creative lifestyle items such as furniture design; creative courses & workshops; festivals and art events.
How can I get it?
ingénu/e is free to pick up at outlets across the region such as cafés, art centres, libraries, theatres, art galleries, hotels, tourist info and visitor centres, music and book shops, museums and other venues favoured by culturally aware people. Readers can also subscribe, click here.
Why ‘ingénu/e’ ?
In modern parlance the word ingénue tends to have a feminine slant in its usage, referring usually to a young creative girl or woman who is endearingly innocent and wholesome or very new to an artistic genre. The masculine equivalent is ingénu, so for the sake of balance we have coined the name ingénu/e.
The word originates from ‘L’Ingénu’, a novella by the French writer Voltaire, published in 1767. The main character’s literal understanding of society and its values serves as both comic and satirical comment as the story unfolds. The female form of ingénue is first recorded in English in Thackeray’s ‘Vanity Fair’ in 1848. Click here for a guide to its pronounciation.
Uglification? Is that even a word?
We have borrowed, for our mission statement, a phrase from the brilliant 1988 movie The Unbearable Lightness of Being, directed by Philip Kaufman and based on the novel of the same name by Milan Kundera, featuring Daniel Day Lewis, Juliette Binoche and Lena Olin.
The scene – Sabina (Lena Olin) in restaurant with piped music:
“Everywhere music’s turning into noise. Look. These plastic flowers… they even put them in water! And look out there, those buildings – the uglification of the world. The only place we can find beauty is if its persecutors have overlooked it. It’s a planetary process… and I can’t stand it.”
The team.
ingénu/e magazine is the creation of husband and wife team Roger & Gill Kaye, themselves both creative, who run it with the aid of a few wonderful volunteers who help with the occasional article and some of the distribution to our varied outlets.
