Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Famous for his pots and his frocks, a transvestite potter who won the Turner Prize for his ceramics.
On the island
Eight records
Always pick last for teams. I wore my sister's jeans. You know, I used to be the loser kid. Yeah, and I thought now I'm not. Yeah, it fitted.
Whenever I heard it, I sort of grabbed the nearest model airplane and ran round the room going AAAAAAA you know, to the to the music, because it just sort of summed up for me that kind of sort of yearning to fly and the power...
This is a piece I heard when I was kind of going through psychotherapy and finally admitting that I was an adult... And also, it has a real dark side, this record.
I always listen to The Fall when I reach a creative block because Mark Smith, he's a great example of I'll do it my way, I don't give a damn about anybody else.
Ah, but this reminds me of motorcycling. I've probably spent a lot longer on a motorcycle than in a dress... this record for me sums up what it's like to sit at the traffic lights.
Ah, this is for my wife really, because this is kind of the nearest we have to our song. When she was pregnant with my daughter Flo, we went to an evening in Leytonstone in a pub. Karaoke Evening, and I croaked out my rendition of this song...
I was sort of thinking, God, you know, I've had such a lot of pleasure out of being a Transvestite. I thought I would like to have a record that reminded me of that... it has something of the the the kind of impossible yearning of it.
PropheciesFavourite
This is the soundtrack of a film Kyana Scotsi... me and Philippa, and we rode across the States in a big U shape... I can just remember sort of like traveling through the western deserts with with this music playing and it was just fantastic.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:16Does it bother you that you seem as well known for your transvesticism as you do for your art?
Um, sometimes slightly, but I mean, I knew there was always gonna be good PR value in wearing a frock. And if if I have a label as a transvestite potter, at least I have a label, you know, so I'm I'm not gonna regret it.
Presenter asks
4:58How did you feel in the moment that you won the [Turner Prize]?
Oh god. Odd. Well, um. Yeah, I thought, oh, I'm allowed here now.'Cause I always had this fantasy that uh someone was going to tap on my shoulder and say, No, sorry, love, you're not the kind of person that has exhibitions in museums and and receives prizes. And I think that's a sort of class thing and a and a kind of uh sort of self-worth issue type of thing was a a fantastic validation.
Presenter asks
10:46What were you retreating from [in your childhood fantasy world]?
Reality. Which was. Well, by this point, my stepfather had moved in, and I was terrified of him. And so I lived a lot of my life in fear, really. Because he could be quite scary. He had quite a temper on him, and uh his hobby was wrestling.
The keepsakes
The book
Gothic and Renaissance Altarpieces
I thought I'd better take an art book to look at pictures... one of my favorite art books, probably my favorite art book is this book of Gothic and Renaissance altarpieces. And it's a hero tome of an art book with fantastic quality pictures in it. And I'd just like to be able to look at that.
The luxury
something quite boring really, which is like load of really good pens and paper, because I think it would drive me mad not being able to put out there what is in here.
Presenter asks
15:13What do you think [dressing up in women's clothes] was hitting in you? What was it chiming with in you?
Oh, I think the clothes are for me were symbolic of a kind of emotional range that I'd suppressed. I associated the clothes with a certain sorts of emotions, which would be kind of vulnerability and tenderness and sweetness and very sort of positive things like that. And so maybe they were a way of almost putting those emotions onto myself.
Presenter asks
19:17What happened immediately that [your transvestism] was discovered [by your father's family]?
Oh, they kind of, you know, ooh sent me to the doctor and booked me into the hospital psychologist, which I kind of, oh, I'm over it now.
“I think that we we can be kind of coaxed into looking at the more uncomfortable things in life, and that's what my work my work is kind of it kind of sneaks up on people and seduces them, and that's fine, I like that.”
“It's about turning the kind of uh uncomfortable elements of a person's childhood into an erotic thrill. And I think that's a fantastic you know, what a brilliant survival mechanism that is.”
“I regarded therapy as sort of someone coming into my metaphorical tool shed and clearing it up. Here's your tools, they're all on a nice rack. You've still got them, but you can just find them and you know what ones work.”
“When you meet another tranny with their wonky wig and their slightly kind of two big shoulders, you kind of have to say, ooh, I'm a bit like that. And that's a difficult moment, you know. Suddenly you're confronted with men in dresses. And that's what you are, and that's fine, that's great.”