Capturing a moment, with Lynn Barber

“I learned not to trust people; I learned not to believe what they say but to watch what they do; I learned to suspect that anyone and everyone is capable of 'living a lie'. I came to believe that other people - even when you think you know them well - are ultimately unknowable.” Lynn Barber, An Education.

Lynn Barber journalist.jpg

Lynn Barber, by her own admission, has always suffered from a compelling sense of nosiness. An exceptionally inquisitive child she constantly questioned everyone she knew about imitate details of their lives. This talent for nosiness, coupled with her unusual lack of the very English fear of social embarrassment, turned out to be the perfect qualification for a celebrity interviewer. 

Sir Ken Robinson, educationalist

A morning chatting to Sir Ken Robinson about the importance of lifelong curiosity, and how our destinies are guided by imagination – the wellspring of creativity.

Full interview at imaginomics.org.uk

© Alexandra Dao

© Alexandra Dao

“Our lives are a constant process of improvisation – what you find inside yourself and what you create around yourself”
— Sir Ken Robinson
“Everyone’s life is full of these dog-leg curves, and there’s a good reason for it, which is that we create our own lives. The best evidence for imagination and creativity is your own biography”
— Sir Ken Robinson
“Our lives are a constant process of improvisation – what you find inside yourself and what you create around yourself”
— Sir Ken Robinson
“Imagination is what sets us apart”
— Sir Ken Robinson
“We’ve been bought up to think there is a fundamental divide between intellect and emotion, but there really isn’t”
— Sir Ken Robinson
“Imagination is the stuff of human intelligence, and creativity is the executive wing of imagination, it’s putting imagination to work”
— Sir Ken Robinson
“Some people watch apples fall from trees and don’t care, but Newton couldn’t get over it! ”
— Sir Ken Robinson
“Life is its own meaning, and we can construct our own purpose within it”
— Sir Ken Robinson
“This is a package deal – body, soul, mind, spirit, it’s all one. We are not software”
— Sir Ken Robinson
“Inspiration is a cocktail of curiosity. A big part of becoming more creative as you grow up is remaining curious”
— Sir Ken Robinson
“For me, life is simply about being here – we have all these sensibilities and capacities and it’s enough to ask what we can do with our common humanity to make life more congenial and fulfilling”
— Sir Ken Robinson

Gaylene Gould, Cultural Explorer

I spent morning talking to Gaylene Gould, Cultural Explorer and Head of BFI Cinemas and Events about storytelling, about using imagination to explore vulnerability and kindness, and about making space for creativity. See full interview at Imaginomics

 © Alexandra Dao

 © Alexandra Dao

“The thing that most pulls me through life is to understand who I am as a human being”
— Gaylene Gould
“If you are looking at creativity and imagination, you are driven by curiosity rather than goals. Creative endeavours are driven by exploration rather than outcomes”
— Gaylene Gould
“There needs to be an environment where you can feel that it’s ok to be curious and to simply explore”
— Gaylene Gould
“Everything is creativity in childhood, it’s how you navigate the world. And we all still have that.”
— Gaylene Gould
“What the imagination can do is condition us to spend our time watching and reading about really kind, compassionate people, and then believing that the world really is a kind place.”
— Gaylene Gould
“What we need to do is build more space for creativity – going for walks, looking out of the window, taking our minds off the task – and then the ideas start flowing.”
— Gaylene Gould
“Compassion really helps me. There is nothing that can erase the fact that we are human beings who feel pain. Life is hard and our feelings will get hurt – how can we move with some grace through this?”
— Gaylene Gould
“I think creativity is about honouring your own unique voice.”
— Gaylene Gould
“We have to make kinder stories.”
— Gaylene Gould

Robin Stevens, author

My morning at the British Library taking a journey of discovery into the imagination of Robin Stevens, author of best-selling children’s detective series ‘Murder Most Unladylike’. See imaginomics.org.uk for my full interview

©Alexandra Dao

©Alexandra Dao

“For years, I thought that writing was telepathic.”
— Robin Stevens
“Because I was a kid who was on her own a lot, I got to experience many other things and connect with other people through reading”
— Robin Stevens
“As a child, my imaginary friends were simply the stories I was creating, and I became part of the story.”
— Robin Stevens