The Carpet Seller, Cotton House, Clapham Park Estate

• Dimensions: 90cmx90cm
• Media: Acrylic paint in canvas
• Year: c1999
• Sold: Yes

Late ’90s on the Clapham Park Estate. We lived in Cotton House while I was teaching in Peckham, with quite a few of us coming over the years – and a few going – in a small two bed flat. I slept in the living room which doubled up as my studio.

There was always a lot of life on the estate . This carpet seller caught my eye one day, unrolling his wares in the car park for residents in the flats above with a swift kick of his boot.

This painting was an early sale – a canvas unrolled before a willing buyer, each sale weaving together to become an invisible magic capet to an adventure waiting just around the corner, although I couldn’t see it at the time.