Antony Gormley in conversation – watch the full video

On Thursday 3 March 2022 we held a special event at White Cube in Bermondsey to raise vital funds for our work. An audience came together to listen to an intimate conversation between our Patron Tim Marlow OBE, Director of the Design Museum, and internationally-acclaimed artist Sir Antony Gormley.

As well as discussing Gormley’s wide-ranging work and career, they talked about the power of creativity and the importance of losing yourself in the act of making things.

“Creativity is the journey, not the arriving at the destination.”

Antony Gormley

“It took a long time for me to realise that I was an artist”, Gormley said, sharing tales of a particular teacher who inspired him, as well as an opportunity he was given to paint a wall at school, aged 13. “So I did. With a mate. It was very, very bad but it doesn’t matter … it was a cow and a mill and a tree. But that was amazing, wasn’t it? At that age, to be offered the opportunity to graffiti on this wall that everybody was going to see. That changed that little bit of the world, and that was important.”

On the changes he has seen in the art world during his career, Gormley said: “We have to value creativity in the making. It’s the journey, not the arriving at the destination. That has been skewed somewhat by the very success [of art], the transformation that has happened in the last 50 years. On the one hand, a lot more people are looking at art, but I wonder whether in fact the proliferation of galleries and the professionalisation of being an artist has somewhat diminished people thinking ‘I can do that too’.”

He talked about how, for him, being creative isn’t about achievement, but rather “a way of thinking, being and breathing”.

Gormley and Marlow were speaking after a fascinating conversation between our CEO, Nicky Goulder, and one of our participants, Abi – a young carer who was appointed our first Youth Ambassador in 2020. Abi spoke openly about the challenges she faces, and how being creative gives her space to escape reality and dream.

“There are infinite possibilities to what you can create,” Abi said. “There’s no right or wrong. No one can tell you that that what you’ve created isn’t right and isn’t good. For me it has always been a way to express how I feel or express something I want to say when I don’t have the words to do so.”

The event raised more than £25,600 to support our work delivering inspiring projects with isolated and disadvantaged children and adults across the UK.

“For me creativity has always been a way to express how I feel.”

Abi, Create Youth Ambassador

You can watch the full films of the two interviews below, and scroll through a gallery of images from the night. To stay in touch with us and find out about any future events, please sign up to our newsletter today. If you would like to donate, please click here.

Above: Nicky Goulder, Create Founding CEO, in conversation with Abi, Create Youth Ambassador

Above: Create Patron, Tim Marlow OBE, in conversation with Sir Antony Gormley