What it's all about
From the thoughtful to the optical, the random to the topical, JC's Journal is an online collection of my own independently created articles and photographs.
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Soul, Style and Speed at the Wigan Casino
Jack Curson The Grand Arcade in Wigan’s town centre is to all intents and purposes no different than any of the other run-of-the-mill...
Hell in Paradise: The Lost City Hostages
Jack Curson Looking from the highest terrace of the Lost City out to the surrounding landscape is about as stunning a view as you can...
Graffiti and Politics Collide in Bogotá
Jack Curson Street art is a common fixture in towns and cities across the world, but when arriving in Bogotá you can’t help but be struck...
One Hundred Years of Breaking in: The Wembley Way
Jack Curson The 11th of July 2021 saw the England men’s football team play its first major final for over half a century, in a hugely...
From Proto-communist Experiment to Britain’s Beverley Hills: The Demise of St George’s Hill
Jack Curson At first glance, the private gated community of St George’s Hill would appear to be nothing more than a soulless stomping...
The King of Afrobeat and his 27 Queens
Jack Curson Fela Kuti, the iconic Nigerian musician-cum-political activist, is renowned in his homeland of Nigeria, his beloved-continent...
A Monkey’s History of the Soviet Union
Jack Curson From its birth in the aftermath of the Russian revolution through to its collapse following the Revolutions of 1989, the...
For the Few, Not the Many: The Royal Exemptions Enshrined in British Law
Jack Curson Shockingly, since 1967, the British monarch has benefited from personalised exemptions which have been written into over 160...
The Holy Trinity of Reggae Cinema
Jack Curson Since its origins in the late-1960s, reggae has had a monumental impact on Jamaican culture and that of its far-flung...
Urban Art in La Paz
Jack Curson In 2019, I spent just over a month in La Paz, Bolivia’s soaring capital city. Sitting in a canyon formed by Choqueyapu River...
A Truly Grim German Horror Story: The Kentler Experiment
Jack Curson This article explores the dark story of how the legacy of Nazism, and some of the misguided reactions against it, facilitated...
From Doha to Buenos Aires: A Short History of Alternative World Cup Art
Jack Curson From a footballing perspective, the 2022 FIFA World Cup had everything. Shock victories for underdogs in the group stages; a...
Rastas, Rona and Resistance: Reflections on Jamaica’s Faltering Vaccination Drive
Jack Curson With a war raging in Ukraine and a global cost of living crisis, coronavirus has fallen onto the back burner of global news...













