My photographic book ‘India – Textiles, Crafts, Culture and Life’ has arrived and I’m over the moon, it really looks wonderful. 280 pages covering Mumbai, Delhi, Jaipur, Agra, Lucknow and Varanasi, it offers a taste of the cultural history of India, based of my hosted tours with Aahilya Holidays.

Priced £35, plus postage and packaging, please contact us at moderneccentrics@gmail.com to order your copy or for more information. You can see more information and images from the previous trips here.

In March I am visiting Kerala, and in October I am hosting a Cultural and Craft Tour to Nepal. You can find out more information about the tour and book your place here.

In 2025 we delivered two courses at South Kensington – ‘A Heritage of Colour’ a comprehensive 5 day experience and ‘In Search of Red’ a weekend masterclass, both of which, rather gratifyingly, sold out months ahead of time.

The ‘In Search of Red’ weekend allowed dyers with experience to explore traditional and historic reds, some which are rarely used today. It was a wonderful mix of people, with some returning from our summer courses, some we knew from teaching at Ditchling and some wonderful new faces. It was also a great mix of backgrounds – professors, conservators, farmers, chemists and weavers, and folk who had come from Berlin, the US and even Glasgow!

The course consisted of practical dyeing, demonstrations, presentations and Gallery walks to see historical examples of the dyes on display in the collection. These ranged from Medieval Copes dyed with Kermes and celebrations of the Montgolfier manned Balloon flights with Madder, through to a newly commissioned piece ‘She’s Bestowed Love’, by Lin Fanglu, using Cochineal and Safflower. In class we explored various dyes, some of which have been used since the iron age, to produce reds – Kermes, Lac, Safflower, Madder, Cochineal, Buckthorn Bark and Sappanwood (Brasilwood).

2025 was the third year we have delivered ‘A Heritage of Colour’. The course followed the same basic structure as previously, giving the students a grounding in Natural Dyeing best practice, and a knowledge base which will enable them to head back home to continue to dye and experiment successfully.

This year we included a truly fascinating guided visit to the fashion and textile conservation labs to see their work. It was really interesting to see the parallels in the their chemical dye bases practice with the natural dyeing that the students were learning – there were so many similarities when you are trying to create colour, and in their case, match natural colours from centuries ago.

We are also planning to run our comprehensive course again next year so if you missed this opportunity, contact the V&A Academy to register your interest and we have plans for other masterclasses next year too, so do keep an eye out!

The current zeitgeist, both political and social, has fed Ross’ work over the past few years and the work he he has produced is very much a commentary on the world we live in today. Displayed together at the PRISM Exhibition ‘Any Other Business’, each one is a protest piece in response to the chaos and injustice we are living through, a sign of the times…

‘Invasion’ looks at the small boats crisis, first addressed by Ross in Still Life. With so much poisonous rhetoric in the political discourse, with the othering of the people fleeing intolerable circumstances caused by war, famine, persecution and political upheaval. The Nationality and Borders Act, has made asylum claims inadmissible from those who travel to the UK on small boats, preventing them from ever claiming asylum in the UK’ and granting new powers to detain refugees without effective judicial oversight. The piece was chosen to be exhibited as part of the Food Lovers Festival, in the beautiful North Yorkshire village of Malton. Known as Yorkshire’s food capital, the town is filled with art pieces during the food festival, which then moves to Dalby Forest at the heart of the North York Moors National Park. ‘Invasion’, with its tall steel and wool inhabitants couldn’t fit its surroundings any better, with the verticals of the piece echoed by the surrounding trees. The forest frames the sculpture, as it seemingly precariously clings to the slope. The outdoor settling is weathering the work beautifully.

‘This Is A Protest’ is a new installation, created in the shape of a homeless persons tent. With headline grabbing soundbites of “invasion”, “serious disruption” and “hate marches”, crafting common culture and motivating action, legislation was sanctioned to prevent and arrest, obstructions which caused “more than minor hindrance to day-to-day activities”. We must Protect our Right to Peaceful Protest.

The Criminal Justice / Policing Bill, with its hidden agenda has vague, far reaching police powers, criminalising; begging and rough sleeping, portraying it as a “lifestyle choice”, various forms of peaceful protest, expanded stop-and-search powers, the creation of protest banning orders and serious disruption prevention orders, including pre-emptive protester arrests. The police can impose conditions on protests, backed by prison sentences, in order to prevent “serious disruption”, defined as an obstruction causing “more than minor hindrance to day-to-day activities”

‘Weight of the World’ asks the question ‘Is religion inherently conflictual or the source of peace?’ As fundamentalists use religion to expand the acceptability of violence, escalating global atrocities with the abuse of civil liberties, particularly women’s rights. Religion’s ingrained code of silence exacerbates the erosion of human rights in modern society.

We are witnessing global atrocities and the erosion of civil liberties, pertaining to gender, the role of women in society and lifestyle choices. The inherent code of silence adopted by religion does little to promote interfaith dialogue or education, which would facilitate the understanding and respect for other faiths, ensuing the tolerance and acceptability of civil liberties in the modern world.

Text and images @moderneccentrics

My first tour for Aahilya holidays was last November was a huge success! The group were all wonderful, a fabulous mix of ‘India’ virgins and veterans. We travelled across India, starting in Mumbai, then visiting Jaipur, Agra, Lucknow and Varanasi. As an artist, photographer and natural dyer, there was so much to see and share with the group, and so many stunning opportunities to learn more about traditional Indian textile crafts and practices. Next years tour are to Kerala in South West India in March and Nepal in October so click on the links to find out more.

“Jonny was an amazing tour host on our Northern India tour. He was always cheerful and sensitive to our needs as “Indian novices”. He responded generously to our requests for iPhone photography lessons in the evenings. He is very knowledgeable about textiles and he took some fabulous photographs. On our return he wrote up each day of our trip on his website and shared his photos with us. So we all have a great record of an amazing and informative trip. “.  Sue

You can see a more in depth document of the tour on our blog or clicking on the lists for the different posts listed below:

Please get in touch to order our titles ‘Still Life‘, documenting our show at the Leicester Contemporary, and ‘Artefact‘, looking at Ross’ ongoing Artefact series. Each title is available at £18 including uk postage and packaging, moderneccentrics@gmail.com