I studied English literature at Queen Mary College, University of London from about 1998-2001. Retrospectively it would have made a lot of sense to study art, I was always very artistic minded but I had originally gone to quite an academic school, so I didn’t do art, which meant I couldn’t go to art college.
During her time at college, she gravitated towards the part of London then colonised by artists: Shoreditch.
There was one bar where everyone would hang out and that’s where I worked throughout my degree — the Shoreditch Electricity Showrooms. It is technically still there, and it is still called that, but it is a totally different incarnation now. University was really irrelevant to me, I didn’t engage with it, I used to go to the classes and hand my work in. But my life revolved around the bar — the people who worked there and the people who drank there. When I graduated they made me manager and I continued working there for a couple more years, until about 2003 I think. I didn’t realise at the time, but it was a really interesting time and place to be and I met so many people.
Within the walls of the Shoreditch Electricity Showroom, Polly Morgan socialised with designers, photographers and artists who would have a huge influence on her.
People like Tim Noble and Sue Webster became good friends. I met Dinos Chapman during that time – I still am friends with him, he lives in America now. I got to know Tracy Emin, and a little bit later, Mat Collishaw, who is my boyfriend and we’ve been together about 12 years. Anyone you can think of in the art world was there. Because I didn’t go to art college I wasn’t over-awed by any of those people. I was interested in art and I’d been to ‘Sensation’ Saatchi show [Sensation: Young British Artists From The Saatchi Gallery, The Royal Academy, London 1997] and I was aware of what was going on, but I got to know them and their work in quite an organic way. Being with that kind of crowd emboldened me to make my own work. I think if I hadn’t been in that kind of environment I probably wouldn’t have ended up doing what I’m doing.
