Duval Timothy: Life in Colour

Inside a converted south London shopfront sits a strange piano.

Stripped of its black lacquer, with legs chiselled down to minimalist, sturdy pillars and its 88 keys raised and exposed to touch, the instrument forms the stark centrepiece of multidisciplinary artist and musician Duval Timothy’s hybrid living space. It’s a frankenstein instrument; a period piece originally built in 1906 and updated into a postmodernist experiment. It is also the perfect symbol for Timothy’s creative practice.

“I’m interested in making by taking away,” 33-year-old Timothy says, while sitting at the kitchen table that flanks the piano. “By blocking out things that aren’t necessary, you get less overstimulated and you don’t become numb to flashes of new sounds and inspiration. So many meaningful experiences in life are made up of less.”

Read the cover story in Crack Magazine.

[This piece was published on 05/01/23]