Vanessa Austin Locke: Overheard On Helicon

Julie Milton is a photographer and poet living and working in the city of Brighton. Like most artists she has her muse, but this muse isn’t a beautiful young waif or a muscular David. Her muse is something much more diverse than that. It’s a city. Our city.

Imagine if cities were people, with personalities, and souls, and eyes. But, you might say, they do have personalities; Brighton is a warm-hearted, relaxed earth-mother type with a bit of a naughty youth she’s not afraid to remember. And yes, she has a soul, for sure … her people, past and present, the rich mix of open-minded individuals who have collectively sought a place where they can live free(er) of prejudice than in many other parts of the country and world. And eyes … well, that’s a bit more difficult to imagine.

Because a city isn’t a person. It doesn’t have a body, does it? But of course it does. What do you call its streets if not a skeleton? What are its people if not its life’s blood? What is its mind if not its libraries and museums? And what are its bowels if not West Street on a Friday night?

So what are the eyes of a city? Its police force perhaps, or its highest vantage point? Surely a city’s eyes are its artists, especially the ones who choose such a vast and complex muse and are able to see so much in the smallest things. Like a lover caressing the bits of us that usually go forgotten, Milton uses her camera and often her words to draw our attention to the parts of our city that are often overlooked, or are seen, and then so quickly disappear from the mind’s eye.

Beach Hut Doors … we’ve all seen them, but have you really stopped to see them through the salt-encrusted windows of our elegant green promenade shelters? Their vivid colours bringing ice cream and red and white striped bathing suits instantly to mind. The sea cure we all learnt about at school. Julie’s charming collections of photographs and poetry bring the micro-aspects of Brighton into soft focus reminding us that these charming vignettes are ours for the taking every time we walk the skeleton of this city.

Breakfast in Brighton

It was grey outside
But the cafe was warm and welcoming
And as we sat over cappuccinos and condiments
The waitress served our fried eggs on toast
And asked if I had everything I needed
And do you know what?
At that precise moment in time
I did

Breakfast in Brighton and Other Poems
is available to buy at Amazon, Barnes
and Noble and from www.juliemiltonphotography.com
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