Homing In with Lakwena Maciver

Host: Matt Gibberd (The Modern House)
Guest: Lakwena Maciver (Artist)
Date: September 18, 2025
Location: Lakwena’s home, East London

Episode Overview

In this intimate episode, Matt Gibberd speaks with renowned artist Lakwena Maciver about the interplay between home, belonging, creativity, identity, and the tough inner critic that propels her work. Recorded in her recently refurbished East London house, their conversation explores Lakwena's peripatetic childhood between London and Ethiopia, the enduring search for a sense of home, the deep influence of family and faith, and how her vibrant, optimistic art masks and manages her own pessimistic outlook.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Childhood, Belonging, and Peripatetic Roots

[02:50 – 09:49]

• Origins & Moving:

  • Born in Enfield, raised in South London (Bromley), with significant years in Ethiopia and now 13 years in Hackney.
  • Moving often (due to her father’s work) gave her a fractured sense of belonging.
  • Return to London after Ethiopia was marked by "culture shock," missing the belonging and sunshine of Africa for a colder, more alienating Bromley.

• Sense of Home:

  • Ethiopia remained the emotional point of reference for home long after physically leaving.
  • Lakwena notes, “I think the lasting impact is that it has taken me just a long time to feel like I belong here” [05:22].
  • Over time and with maturity, she’s realized the pervasive, near-universal feeling of outsiderness: “The older I get, the more I realize lots of people feel that sense of outsiderness, you know...” [06:54]

• Attachment & Parenting:

  • Values the stability she can now offer her kids (eldest in the same school since nursery) and wants them to feel more rooted than she did.

Sanctuary, Safety, and Childhood Personality

[10:17 – 14:33]

• Home as Refuge:

  • Home in Bromley provided crucial safety amid being a visible minority facing racial abuse outside.
    “My home was the one place where I felt very safe.” [10:39]
  • Now, it’s more challenging to create sanctuary with young children, but having a peaceful “one room” to herself is a cherished luxury.

• Childhood Disposition:

  • Always “liked my own space,” introverted among extroverted siblings, and used drawing to process her experiences.

• Alienation at School:

  • Felt out of place in an elitist, mostly white, wealthy school—not bullied but marked by difference (race and class).
  • Response to alienation was withdrawal: “I withdrew from people... I decided that I didn’t need people... but then I ended up realising we all need people as humans.” [13:27]

Art, Faith, and the Inner Life

[14:33 – 18:04]

• Art as Survival and Empowerment:

  • Used art as a means of empowerment and a way to process darkness (“just instinctively, that’s what I did”).

• Faith’s Role:

  • Deepened Christian faith provided solace and shifted outlook:
    “Ultimately, I think Jesus changed my heart and healed me and helped me to love, knowing that he loved me helped me to love other people, even though I didn’t feel they loved me.” [15:38]

• Longing for Paradise:

  • In both art and life, explores “a longing for paradise,” a place of belonging and connection, echoing the human search for “home within yourself” [17:02].

Family Story & Navigating Hardship

[18:04 – 21:09]

• Family Dynamics:
  • Mother lives nearby, siblings are mostly local; her parents separated in practice while maintaining marriage.
  • Father struggled with mental health, making the home life difficult at times—a background that fed into Lakwena’s tendency to withdraw.

Path to Artistic Career

[21:09 – 26:17]

• Initial Reluctance & Shift from Security:

  • Originally aimed to be an accountant for financial security (her father: “you couldn’t earn a lot of money” in art).
  • Realization in Brazil, after college, that painting and drawing was her true calling.

• Graphic Design to Fine Art:

  • Studied conceptual graphic design, drawn to its focus on expressing ideas over commercial design.
  • Got a “break” with a massive mural project in Miami—helped by the rise of Instagram and the visual culture that cherishes bold, colorful graphics.

• Notable Quote:

  • “It was definitely non-stop saying yes to everything… [the Miami mural] was a turning point.” [23:31]

High-Profile Projects and the Barbershop Series

[24:41 – 28:01]

• Brent Cross Substation:

  • Collaborative landmark project wrapping a power substation on the A406 with colorful slats—making an ugly, hostile space into a signifier of belonging.
  • “Trying to create a landmark... something that people could kind of latch onto to feel like it was home.” [25:06]

• Barbershop Series:

  • Inspired by her husband’s work as a barber and their shared history.
  • Explores masculinity, the meaning of sanctuary outside the home for men, and barbershops as communal safe spaces.
  • Fun fact: Barbershop poles originate from when barbers performed surgery—the red symbolizes blood, blue the vein, and white the bandage.

Life at Home: Design, Compromise, and Practicality

[28:16 – 37:05]

• Home Description:

  • 1960s terraced house in East London, “modern cottage” vibes with a garden and roof extension.
  • Colorful pocket doors (“bright yellow, green, pink, brown” [30:00]), open plan but designed for practical separations—compromising between her artistic preferences and her husband’s practicality.

• Art in the Home:

  • Features a rug from her Christie's project (hand motif), vibrant custom slipcovers on an IKEA sofa—embracing changeability to suit her shifting moods.

• Carpet Debate:

  • Compromise with husband for comfort: thick, colorful carpets instead of the wood or jute she’d have preferred:
    "He wanted carpet... I said 'Well, at least let's get some different colors.' So that was the compromise." [34:36]

• Kid-Focused Choices:

  • Priority is freedom and safety for her three energetic children (“they can relax in their home... do you know what I mean? Have that sense of freedom.” [35:53])
  • Not much is precious; everything is practical and replaceable to stand up to family life.

Creativity, Criticism, and the Artist’s Mind

[38:46 – 44:29]

• The Power of Words:

  • Words are central to her art—often painted as hopeful affirmations or “painted prayers,” directed both at herself and others.
  • “Words are so powerful... often I was talking to myself, trying to build myself up…” [38:46]
  • Matt observes, “Sort of positive affirmation?”
    Lakwena: “Yeah…I like to think of them as prayers.” [40:06]

• Inner Critic & Pessimism:

  • Open about her critical internal monologue, tracing it to upbringing (her dad’s “99%, what happened to the 1%?” attitude).
  • “I can always see the room to do better. And that's annoying, but it does mean that you end up with some good stuff... Sometimes it's like I wish I could be a bit more satisfied and content.” [41:15]

• Art as Motivation:

  • Her bold, uplifting art emerges as a form of self-encouragement, countering her default pessimism.
  • “[Making] art is almost survival. It's like having to lift myself.” [49:23]

Daily Life, Routine, & Words at Home

[37:13 – 46:28]

• Family Ritual:
  • Mornings revolve around efficient routines—porridge at breakfast (with strict rules for simplicity).
  • Lively, noisy home: “A lot of noise. The kids are really into football songs right now…my toddler girl, she does it too…” [45:07]
  • Not a “gentle parent,” accepts shouting as part of raising children.

Reflections on Art, Community & Trends

[46:28 – 48:55]

• New London Fabulous:
  • On being grouped with Yinka Ilori, Morag Myerscough, and a citywide movement:
    “I think the way I've come about this has been quite a—I didn't plan it out... but I definitely understand what you mean in terms of parallels.” [47:48]
  • Sees Instagram as instrumental in favoring visually striking, optimistic, graphic art.

Future Longings: Escapism, Nature & Paradise

[49:32 – 55:02]

• Alternate Lives:

  • If not an artist, would have liked to be a dancer or a farmer:
    “The farmer, I think, is like a retreat from this world... the idea of doing something that felt really modest and humble...” [49:39]

• Dream Homes:

  • Longs for a life split between London, the English countryside (“treehouse in the woods”), and a hut in her father’s Ugandan village.
  • Attraction to living off-grid, growing food, and disconnecting from technology—though she admits this vision is romanticized.

• Reconciling Identity & Home:

  • Matt notes Lakwena’s dream future is “reconnecting with those different geographies,” addressing early fractures in belonging.
  • Lakwena: “I definitely feel almost a longing for that [simple rural life]...” [52:20]

Notable Quotes & Moments

• On belonging:
  • “For a long time, I felt like this was not my home, London, and Ethiopia felt like home. That’s where I felt I belonged.” [04:25]
• On alienation:
  • “I withdrew from people…. I needed to realize we all need people as humans, so it wasn’t good for me but, you know, that's what I did.” [13:27]
• On the role of her art:
  • “Often it is kind of me speaking almost to myself or speaking over my family, whatever I’m painting.” [39:13]
• On being an artist:
  • “It was definitely non-stop saying yes to everything…[the Miami mural] was a turning point.” [23:31]
• On family compromise:
  • "I wanted wood, he wanted carpet…so I said well, at least let's get some different colors. So that was the compromise." [34:36]
• On longing for paradise:
  • “A lot of the work that I make is this longing for paradise…this idea of a place of belonging…” [17:08]
• On her inner critic:
  • “I can always see the room to do better…sometimes it's like I wish I could be a bit more satisfied and content…that's something I really long for.” [41:15]

Timestamps of Key Segments

• Belonging, Childhood, and Moving: 02:50 – 09:49
• Home as Refuge & Alienation: 10:17 – 14:33
• Faith and Artistic Healing: 14:33 – 18:04
• Family Backstory: 18:04 – 21:09
• Becoming an Artist: 21:09 – 26:17
• Projects & The Barbershop: 24:41 – 28:01
• Life at Home, Design, and Compromise: 28:16 – 37:05
• Art, Words, and the Inner Critic: 38:46 – 44:29
• Parenting and House Life: 45:00 – 46:28
• Art Trends & Community: 46:28 – 48:55
• Future Dreams & Longings: 49:32 – 55:02

Tone & Atmosphere

The episode is quietly candid, warm, and reflective. Both Matt and Lakwena move easily between laughter and depth, with Matt’s gentle curiosity inviting honest self-examination. The conversation gently deconstructs myths of artistic confidence, showing how creativity can be a tool for survival and affirmation in a world often colored by doubt.

Summary Takeaway

Lakwena Maciver’s radiant, hopeful art is an act of personal affirmation—a technicolor reply to self-doubt and a longing for paradise, belonging, and connection. Her story movingly illustrates art’s power to turn even the hardest-wired pessimism into collective uplift, and her home, full of compromise and color, is both a sanctuary for her family and a testament to a life spent seeking connection, rootedness, and joy.