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The estate I grew up on was on Recreation Way. It’s also where my primary school was, which is where I found out I was creative.
I lived on the estate from year 7 until I went to university. My memories of that time are trying to figure out who I was. I was interested in acting and comedy but nobody from my area was doing anything like that. I started with sketches. I shot one of my first ever sketch ideas in a park on Recreation Way.
It was a place of identity for me. It formed who I was and whether I was going to let what I saw around me impact what I could see in my mind. None of my friends from the area saw themselves doing anything bigger than what had been done by the older lot. Some people had a good job, some people were getting up to illegal activities. But no one had ‘made it’ into entertainment.
That road is where I learned to dream. It gave me a sense of resilience. If I wasn’t in that environment, I might not have thought out of the box. I like to have what I call ‘think drives’ and revisit that road. It brings back so many memories and it helps me to remember how far I’ve come.
Michael Dapaah’s series ‘SWIL’ is available to stream on YouTube.
Read about what Rye Lane in Peckham means to presenter Yinka Bokinni.
Or check out Mambow founder Abby Lee’s favourite spots in Hackney.