Cornelia Parker

Art historical reference is like learning to drive a car - you always know how to drive even though you're not analysing how. ”

Design impacts me in everything I do. Because, as I say, everything I own is designed. So the building I live in, the objects I choose to boil water in for example, even drinking vessels. ”

I was very physical as a child - we lived on a smallholding, and I was always outside making mud pies or building structures up trees. ”

Artists and scientists both think outside the box. They've got to come with genius experiments or ideas to expose the most interesting phenomena. ”

I'm not very party-political, really; I am more strategic than that. ”

I didn't make any money out of my art until I was in my 40s, but it preserved my sanity and my freedom. ”

I had two great art teachers at school, but even they tried to tell me it was too hard a world. But that made being an artist even more attractive. ”

I think I was a late developer because I'd been stuck in the country and was a little bit shy and withdrawn. ”

After leaving college, I was in a show called Sculpture by Women where I was asked to talk about my history of victimisation in art, and I genuinely didn't think I had been victimised. Although I obviously believe in a lot of the feminist aspirations, I was wary about being dragged down by the politics of it. ”

I am interested in the press and what they do. ”