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In December, as we mark UK Disability History Month, we introduce Bobby Baker, the internationally acclaimed artist who is set to curate Haringey’s Liberty Festival 2027 - London’s festival of incredible work by D/deaf, disabled and neurodiverse artists which will take place as part of our London Borough of Culture programme.

Bobby's acclaimed intersectional feminist practice includes performance, drawing, and installation, and persistently exposes the undervalued and stigmatised aspects of women’s daily lives, exemplified by pioneering works such as Drawing on a Mother’s Experience (1988) and Kitchen Show (1991), which was recently acquired by the Arts Council Collection.

Since the late 1990s, following her own lived experience of physical and mental ill health, recovery and survival, her work has actively confronted the misogyny, racism and failings of the mental health system.

How long have you resided/worked in Haringey, and in which part of the borough do you live/work?

I moved to the ‘Scotch Estate’ in Wood Green 9 years ago. I love London. I grew up in Sidcup and South London, and after that in Stepney.  Then we lived in Holloway for 40 years. Moving to Haringey seemed almost disloyal, but it turns out to be the best of all London. Apart from anything else it’s so GREEN!

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As a creative/activist, how has Haringey influenced you?

I work with a brilliant network of creative practitioners at Daily Life Ltd., the company I set up in 1995 to produce my work. We were based in East London for years but when I moved to Wood Green we were lucky to find a studio with Collage Arts. There is a road sign near Collage Arts saying its Wood Green’s Cultural Quarter with an arrow pointing vaguely towards multiple arts and recording studios, the Karamel Club, the library, two schools, The Shopping Mall, two cinemas, The Green Rooms, a recycling centre, Kidz Zone Adventure Play centre and much much, more… I am very influenced by all of the above.

What is your definition of a rebel?

The definition of ‘rebel’ I most relate to in the dictionary is to ‘resist authority, control, or convention’.  In 1997 I had a major mental health breakdown and got caught by the power of the mental health system for 11 years. I kept a diary of weekly drawings to help make sense of it all. My drawings were rude, sad, funny, shocking, powerful and most of all truthful – I could tell my own story, rebelling against conventional narratives of mental illness and recovery. With my daughter Dora Whittuck (fellow Haringey resident and clinical psychologist) we wanted to use my drawings to tell a story about how cracking up is part of the human condition, resisting current psychiatric labelling of individuals as ‘disordered’, rather than focusing on difficult personal and societal circumstances that underlie distress. In 2009 we curated an exhibition called Diary Drawings: Mental Illness and Me 1997-2008 at the Wellcome Collection in Euston Road. It created a big sensation and toured extensively in the UK and abroad as well as becoming MIND Book of the Year in 2011. It’s the thing I’m most proud of and hopefully the most subtly rebellious thing I’ve done, so far…

What’s the best careers advice you’ve received?

I don’t think I’ve ever had ‘careers’ advice as such, because I just wanted to be an artist, which didn’t count as a viable career when I was young. My mum told me I’d make a ‘nice nurse’ but I decided to be an artist when I was seven. Despite her disappointment she helped me go to art school in 1968, which was unusually open minded of her. I studied Painting at St Martins School of Art (now Central St Martins). I loved being there but knew I wasn’t taken seriously as an artist. In my final year someone told me I was wasting my time as I would only marry a tutor and have 4 children who wore fashionable shoes (caustic form of careers advice?). I was desperate to be an artist and find a way to express all my fleeting ideas. But then I met an artist called Tony Hayward who invited me to take part in a street performance. It was November 14th 1973, Princess Anne’s first wedding day. I’m the same age as her – I danced around on Charing Cross Road squashing meringues under my feet, feeling ecstatic to be me not her. So that’s when I became a performance artist, and free – big thanks to you, Tony.

When and where do you feel at your most powerful?

I feel powerful when I’m dreaming up projects or a drawing works out well - it’s easy to feel powerful when they’re just ideas in my head. But then there’s the grind of finding ways to make them happen and raising the money – but working on them together with a wonderful team is the best power ever.

What would be a dream contribution to Haringey’s year as the London Borough of Culture?
I’m proud and excited to be Artistic Director of Liberty Festival as part of REBEL BOROUGH, which is ‘London’s Festival of incredible work by D/deaf, disabled and neurodiverse artists’. I’m an expert by experience of the mental health system which is ‘en-able-ing’ but I’ve also got arthritis which slows me down.

The current mainstream public narrative about disability is ableist, defeatist and gloomy - about costs, death, scapegoating and victim blaming. It completely ignores how clever, strong and inventive disabled people are. I want to challenge that and curate a radically new joyful, witty, rebellious programme of creative talent and expertise called REBEL JOY. For example, plans include an Ableist Repair Café where people get taught skills and knowledge by disabled experts. My dream is to display the talents and wit of the disabled arts community in the widest sense and cheer us all up with lots of music, poetry, food, circus and treats.

What’s the funniest thing you’ve heard or read about yourself that isn’t true?

I was interviewed by Michael Parkinson on LBC radio about Kitchen Show in 1991, then part of London International Festival of Theatre.  I opened my kitchen to the public every day for 3 weeks to perform one dozen kitchen actions. The show got a lot of press attention, and I went on to open other people’s kitchens around the world, which was quite strange. Michael Parkinson introduced me as being ‘middle aged’. I was indignant as I was only 41 and entering my prime, for heaven’s sake! I knew he wouldn’t say that to a man. So, I’ve got my own back ever since by telling that story when I appear in public, and adding my age and which ‘age category’ I’m in. I’ve just been 75, which means I’m in the superior ‘older’ bunch now.

What is your favourite hidden Haringey gem?

Definitely Chapman’s Green. It’s a small park near me on the corner of Lordship Lane and Perth Road. It had a functioning bowling club when I moved here but the park was run down and scary. I went to a meeting set up by local councillors and lots of residents were sad and worried about the decline of Chapman’s Green. I signed up to join a Friends Group – and thereby met such an extraordinary bunch of people and learnt lots about Haringey history. I can’t believe how much has changed since, for the better. Having a ‘friends’ group helps spur things on – we’ve now got a tiny playground, the tennis courts are repaired, a brilliant recovery organisation called Inspirit uses the bowling club as its base, and they’ve managed to get the building repaired. But my favourite is the bowling green which we’ve turned into a Community Meadow and orchard. Sadly, the bowling club had to close due to dwindling members, but we hope they take heart from the green now having a new lease of life, for wildlife and fruit as the trees grow, and years of enjoyment for local people.

Which other Haringey creative would you spotlight and why?

I’m getting to know people all the time, but it must be Kit Green first.  I’d heard about her performances as Ida Barr for ages – then a mutual friend connected us, and we met during Lockdown and talked for 3 hours straight about our lives in the arts. We’ve got a lot in common, especially critiquing the mental health system. Kit is now on Daily Life Ltd.’s board (a brilliant bunch of people I’m lucky to have supporting my work). Kits biog says she is “an Olivier award-winning artist whose work covers, theatre, music, broadcast and immersive entertainment” but you have to see Kit perform to understand what star talent is.

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