A handpicked history of floral art, kabuki on screen and a poetry competition – what to see, do and create this week

By Anna Walker, Senior Arts + Culture Editor, The Conversation

Caroline Walker is one of my favourite working artists. The observations in her work are so exquisitely rendered that they often feel almost uncanny. Such was the case when I encountered her 2025 painting Kitchen Table.

It shows a young girl, perhaps five or six, drawing with quiet concentration, a pink felt tip gripped firmly in her hand. In the foreground sits a bright yet somehow wild bouquet – a mix of polished pink blooms and smoky lilac thistles. The paper it was wrapped in, along with the scissors used to trim the stems, spills across the table.

The scene struck me…

Read complete article

~	Elections 2026: Experts react to the Reform surge and Labour losses

~	“For us, almost everything is at stake”: How students from the Pacific took the fight against climate change to the world’s top court

~	The ocean is fighting climate change and we’re trying to help it – here’s how

~	How a repurposed medical device is helping us investigate ancient climate tipping points

~	Our Land: who owns the countryside? New documentary explores the access divide in England and Wales

~	Why climate action stalls, despite widespread popular support

~	Why politicians can’t fix potholes permanently

~	English local elections 2026: a story of a new kind of politics

~	Israel’s destructive actions in Lebanon are normalising war without rules

~	What’s next for the ISIS families? This is how ‘de-radicalisation’ programs work in Australia