Howard Gardens to Chelsea School Of Art 1988-1992

Cardiff’s Art Foundation course in 1988 opened my eyes up to painting; tutors Dave Gould and Steve Young were inspirational, helping me find the tools to begin to articulate new possibilities through image making.

Gaining a place at Chelsea School of Art on the BA. Painting Degree course, I moved to London in 1989 to live with my sister. It was pretty jammy, cycling up the King’s Rd to college from our flat in Pimlico, just behind the Tate Gallery.

Frieze exhibition had just happened and rumours that Charles Saatchi was buying art buzzed around the school. Walking up the stairs to the studio past canvases by Peter Doig and Chris Ofili was a weekly occurence, and I learnt more from observing my studio mates painting than from anything that a lecturer could suggest or impose in terms of opinions. That’s the importance of creative conversations.

Starting in the life room, I realised it was too limiting and I wanted to express more than the perception of what was in front of me. Painting helped me form my identity as I struggled to define that as an identical twin. Early paintings explored this territory through starting with role play and photographic sessions with my twin Christabel and then they took on a life of their own. The metamorphosis of the image from one day to the next was more fascinating to me that the finished object itself, leading me to realise that the live element, the capacity of an image to change was something I needed to work with - hence a move to live arts, theatre design and film-making - which I have been working with ever since.