If you could live with just one work of art, what would it be?
Living with something is a big commitment and the type of work I am most interested in isn’t made to live with. So I am going to pick something that I really like: Lucian Freud’s Girl with a Kitten (1947). It makes me smile every time I see it—pure joy.
Which cultural experience changed the way you see the world?
Going to art school. I grew up in Sunderland in a family that had little interest in art or culture. My grandfathers worked in the mines and the shipyards so the priority was always to work and make sure you have money: a belief that it all might fall away so you can never rest. I was at Goldsmiths doing fine art at a time when it was free. I had never met other artists or been around people that thought about art, the world and politics; it was a watershed experience. I am not sure that type of place exists now, and if it does it is unaffordable. As a result I am passionate about supporting artists. At Metroland we have free studios for artists with a social practice and I am the co-chair of Open School East, a free alternative art school in Margate.
Which writer do you return to most?
Rasheed Araeen’s Preliminary Notes for a Black Manifesto. I have used it as a guiding star for Metroland and how we build a community. I want to be part of the conversation about building new types of institutions and Araeen’s manifesto, though written in the 1970s, is a call to arms for me today.
What are you listening to?
The building work of the Kilburn regeneration project, which is the backdrop to my days at Metroland and a reminder of where we are geographically and politically. By choice I am listening to the UK Garage Bangers playlist on Spotify: the BPM drowns out the drills.
What is art for?
This is the most urgent question we aren’t answering. As Gaza is burning we are spending way too much time arguing about why we shouldn’t talk about it to avoid difficult conversations. I am interested in artists that hold us to account, question our values, our decisions and our politics. I want art to demand better of us all. B.L.
• Metroland Cultures is an arts charity in the north London borough of Brent
