Nestled sweetly in the never ending catacomb-like streets of Covent Garden, lying adjacent to the kind of shops that stock all the clothes you’d like to own but can’t afford, Gallery 7 at Supersuperficial played host to Ctrl.Alt.Shift’s Dear Diary exhibition; a collection of scribbles and scrawls looking at the complexity and diversity of keeping a diary. 

With offerings ranging from the musings of tortured genius and Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain, to the hauntingly harrowing but beautiful extracts of Kenyan teenagers writing about their lives (living in a country ravaged by corruption), the Dear Diary exhibition offers up an eclectic mix of thoughts and a unique insight into the mindsets of a whole variety of subjects.

Also on display are audio diaries from young people all over the world from South Africa to the United States, talking about their struggles growing up with issues ranging from HIV, immigration and gender discrimination. Another audio session provides the very, very funny Richard Herring, talking about his struggles as a podgy schoolboy… 

And not forgetting various pages from the journals of Dan Eldon; killed on the front line at the tender age of 22, he has left behind quite a remarkable legacy in the form of his breathtaking visual diaries, published posthumously by his mother.

Ctrl.Alt.Shift founder Katrin Owusu spoke about the project and said, “Perhaps one of the most insidious effects of conflict and poverty is how it alienates those who suffer their effects. With the ‘Dear Diary’ exhibition, we at Ctrl.Alt.Shift are interrogating this response by delving into that most private of spaces, the diary, to show that we all share a common experience – our humanity.” 

The whole exhibition is a playground of creativity; it’s in a studio made almost entirely out of pine which makes it smell like IKEA, and the type of décor that would make a set dresser at Urban Outfitters blush. The exhibition itself offers a kitsch and intimate atmosphere where punters are invited to sit in the rather plush sofas at the corner of the room and take their pick from the library of diaries on offer - and there’s even a space to write their own intimate thoughts and feelings down. 

Hopefully none of them will do the schoolboy thing and draw a cock...

The exhibition is open for two weeks at Gallery 7, until May 23. To find out more, check out www.ctrlaltshiftdeardiary.wordpress.com.

Words: James Prosho

Photos: Matthew Gonzalez-Noda

The 'Dear Diary Exhibition' is part of Ctrl.Alt.Shift's Dear Diary project in collaboration with Cringe - click here to check out the amazing event we will be holding in Hoxton on Thursday May 13!