Friday 18th May 2007. New York State of Mind...

Proud of my soldier ashamed of my President.
Support our troops not our President...It is refreshing to see that there are alternative political opinions in this country. Irrespective of whether you agree with such views or not it is good to see that the broader worlds' opinion of America the right wing extremist is not necessarily a reflection of the truth.

This morning I am off to the National Museum of the American Indian housed in the former US Custom House which stands on the ground where Fort Amsterdam was erected by the Dutch in 1626 to secure control of trade in the harbour. Indeed, nearby Wall Street is so named for a wall that was erected on that site by the Dutch in 1653 to keep out northern Indians.

George Gustav Heye founded the museum in 1916 and remained its director until 1956. He began his collections in 1896 with the purchase of an Apache Deerskin shirt and went on to accumulate the largest private collection of native American objects in the world.

Native American history and the relationship between people and a sense of place, historically and metaphysically, has been researched extensively both by the literary and the visual arts.

We often site the relationship between native peoples and "the land" as the root of tribal identities. Like the Aboriginal and Maori peoples encountered in this project, the Native American draws their origin stories and their understanding of the world around them from the geographical features of their landscape. Tribal identities are inextricably linked to the natural environment of their homelands.

The natural world is an identifier both literally and conceptually of tribal identity and the struggle between Native and non-Indian settlers over the use of land epitomises the central role that "the land" plays in native cultures. These disputes range from the use of land to farm commercially to the exploitation of natural resources and the Off The Map exhibition reflects the landscape as a place not just of history, but of expectation and ultimately of loss.

I particularly enjoyed the work of the self-taught James Lavadour who equates walking over the hills and mountains of his home community on the Umatilla Indian Reservation with the movement of his hand across the surface of his paintings. His Blanket (2005) and Wall {'Skiing to Hell' as Alice named it} (2006) were stunning.

What has interested me in visiting Aboriginal, Maori and Native American museums is the debate that rages over the souvenir...

Whilst many people argue that souvenirs made by native peoples are inauthentic, I argue that there are many issues we need to consider. Art needs to adapt to the changing social and physical circumstances in which we live. It has to adapt to new ideals and new materials. Traditions are vital to this ability to adapt to change because they allow us to maintain our values. Adaptability after all allows for survival physically, emotionally and culturally and we need to remember that for many peoples the making of souvenirs is a viable option for survival.

Souvenirs are art and the purist must recognise that the market is simply different, there are still buyers and sellers and people still exchange.

This building is a work of art in itself. 100 years old this year, the building is home to stunning rotunda murals that are the work of Reginald Marsh.

In 1937 under the WPA (Work Progress Administration) programme, Marsh was commissioned to decorate the panels of the Custom House rotunda in what is one of the finest examples of beaux arts architecture in the city. Beaux Arts with its monumentality, accurate symmetry and elaborate ornamentation unites both the classical Greek and Roman schools.

From here we head to Alice's Teacup at 64th and Lexington for afternoon tea, before we head into Central Park to see the statue of Alice in Wonderland and to watch the turtles messing about in the Turtle Pond.

On a day of art I must mention Cleopatra's Needle...I know all the world's major cities seem to have one but this obelisk dating from 1600bc made its way here courtesy of Vanderbilt money and that links us back to The Getty and the fortunes like Mr Deering's that whilst removing art works actually helped preserve them.

On our way home we stopped for coffee at Dean and Deluca.

Tonight we are off to see a show like no other I have ever seen in New York City. Shannon and Charlie are taking us to the HIRO Ballroom in Chelsea to see Meow Meow, a drag artist who performs as a poor copy that mixes elements of Patsy and Edina…unfortunately Meow Meow is not absolutely fabulous.

The venue is filled to bursting with the ultra-cool. This is the place to see and be seen tonight if you are a trendy New Yorker. Here the upwardly mobile of the metropolis are feeling very intelligent and superior, and dare I say it, a little risky. They are applauding loudly at behaviour you would scold a child for and laughing whimsically at humour that would fail to impress in an undergraduate theatre studies class.

What cannot be denied is that this is an excellent piece of marketing. Taking these so establishment customers and letting them taste the risk that is involved in the cross-dressing fanciful world of others…but all for a price.

Anyway I round the night off with that New York staple, Pizza…and boy was it good.