“This area is very multicultural, it’s very busy, there’s a lot happening, but I like that, you’re never bored,” says Bambookidd, local artist, illustrator and creative. “There’s always something interesting happening, and just being here inspires my art.”
North Kensington’s long history of creative endeavour is alive, kicking and continuing to motivate people locally as well as having an influence outside the area. “Personally, I want to create as much as possible,” he goes on.
“My goal is to become an established artist, whether that's an illustrator or whether that's a street artist, whatever realm that will be. I want to start within the community and let's see how far that can go."
Bambookidd began as an illustrator and street artist, with a well-known device of creating a character looking down a street at another character who again was looking at another. “The aim was to just get a grasp of the kind of area I was working in and it was almost as if it was a maze to follow to just get a sense of the environment.”
Having moved on to canvas and then digital art, the artist will be working deeply in the area of North Kensington once again having received a Westway Trust Artists’ Commission that will see him create art around the theme of ‘Place’.
“I asked myself what makes a place a place, and usually it’s the people in an area,” he says of his approach to the commission, “so I’m going to go around and identify people and see who’s expressing themselves within the community and to highlight that.”
He plans to make installations and street art and place them around the area to celebrate this local talent, and also has words of advice for budding creatives in North Kensington: “Just keep practising. The more you practice the more the opportunities will present themselves.”
In addition, he wants people to know there are more local groups with resources out there for people to approach that will support artistic activity, to complement the creative sparks the area encourages: “There’s a lot of inspiration here just from the food, the music, the culture, there’s so much diversity here you can’t help but be inspired. It’s a good place to be a part of. “