Arts Council England’s Export Licensing Unit (ELU), the body in charge of approving the export out of the UK of cultural goods above a certain age and monetary value, has closed until further notice due to coronavirus. In a notice sent out on 20 March, ACE instructed exporters of cultural goods not to submit any applications for export licences until the ELU reopens.
I visited Laila Muraywid’s studio in Paris, it is the kind of place that rearranges your inner geography. A Syrian artist working between painting and sculpture, she creates objects that feel at once intimate yet cosmic, like relics from ancient times that pulse with contemporary pain and splendour.