My London: Yinka Shonibare

Home is…

My house in Mile End, where I live with my partner, Rachel Sorrill. We’ve lived here for 23 years — I love it because it’s next to Victoria Park.

Where was your first flat?

I lived with my parents in Battersea, but when they wanted to sell I moved out and bought a house in Tooting. That was in 1995, and I still remember how much it cost. It was a two-bed with a garden and everything, but it was £45,000.

What was your first job in London?

After I graduated from Goldsmiths college I worked for a charity called Shape in Battersea Arts Centre. They send artists out into the community to do projects, both in prisons and in day centres, and I was the co-ordinator of those projects.

What’s the best meal you’ve had?

If you go to Victoria Park on a Sunday, there’s a Nigerian food stall called Jollof Mama. I get the plantain and jollof rice.

Where would you most like to be buried in London?

I don’t really care what happens to me! They can do what they like — once you’re dead, you’re dead!

If you could buy any building and live there, which would it be?

William Hogarth’s House in Chiswick. But I want them to remove the motorway and get rid of all the modern things, so I can have it all fancy, like being in the 18th century.

What makes someone a Londoner?

When you start missing London when you’re not there.

Have you ever had a run-in with a police officer?

It’s kind of sad. It’s the story of a Black man driving an expensive car. I used to drive a stylish Saab convertible and I was stopped about three times and asked if it was mine.

What’s the best thing a cabbie has ever said to you?

A couple of months ago, one said that my ‘Ship in a Bottle’ on the fourth plinth of Trafalgar Square [unveiled in 2010] was the best one ever. Cab drivers still talk about it, and they even show me pictures they’ve taken of it sometimes.

What’s your biggest extravagance?

Tickets. To the Barbican, to Southbank, to contemporary dance and live music events.

What’s your London secret?

There are some really quiet canals in the East End, like around Fish Island. If I want to pretend I live in a quiet city, I go to them.

What are you up to right now for work?

It’s Frieze, so I’ve got five projects in London. A sculpture in Regent’s Park, two lounges at Frieze in partnership with Deutsche Bank. And then another show that’s just opened at Cristea Roberts Gallery in Pall Mall.