Terry Smith (circa 1956) made in London, lives in Folkestone. Recipient of the Paul Hamlyn Award (2008). He is known for cutting into walls, from museums to derelict buildings, sometimes with permission. Etc etc etc.

Well that’s how the bio normally starts. This has been written, rewritten and I am completely bored with writing it and reading it. One of the absurdities of being an artist is that you need to produce something about yourself as if you were someone else

The photograph opposite was taken in Paris in 1975 while I was a student at Goldsmiths. With two friends Gary Stevens and John Wallett we went to the Paris Biennale because our tutor, Michael Craig-Martin, was exhibiting. We met David Hockney. Gordon Matta-Clark gave us a meat sandwich. Later that evening we descended what felt like an endless staircase on the Boulevard de Clichy, believing we were entering a nightclub. We were not. The drinks menu was presented under torchlight. It was a brothel. We left hurriedly, students ascending a staircase.

The following day I saw a dog on a windowsill and asked to be photographed beneath it. Only when the film was developed did I notice the old woman watching the dog. She improves the picture considerably.

At nineteen, in 1976, I exhibited at the Royal Academy in the Stowell’s Trophy Exhibition, nominated by Michael Craig-Martin in my second year. In 1977 I took a year out to earn the money required to complete my degree and co-wrote an article with John Wallett  for Artscribe magazine titled “BA Means Goodbye.”

In 1978, still a student and before graduating, I was invited to give guest lectures at other art schools about the article we published. I thought this is good life, I have published in an art magazine, exhibited at the Royal Academy and given lectures at art school and I have not even graduated yet. I had a confidence that may have exceeded my experience. I had left school at sixteen with no qualifications and graduated from Goldsmiths in 1978 with a First Class BA (Hons). I have been working my way down ever since.

In 1994 I broke into a series of derelict houses in Leytonstone and made my first wall cuts. The following year a solo show at The Adam Reynolds Gallery, followed by a project at the British Museum. I was not invited but made a secret intervention. I worked for a month before I was discovered by which time I had completed the large Ionic Capital. The work was open to the public for one day. In 1996, this time invited, I held the keys to the Turbine Hall during its conversion into Tate Modern and was permitted to cut into its walls. Only staff and a handful of invitees saw the works in situ. Images were later shown at the South London Gallery in Inside Bankside.

My first major retrospective, Parallax, was held at the John Hansard Gallery (2011–12). Other works include The Foundling, commissioned for the Foundling Museum. I have exhibited extensively in the UK and South America. One of my audio works appears on Thurston Moore’s album Root, which included Blur and David Bowie.

Since 2008 I have been working with live performance, with singers and composers, and since 2012 with dancers. I have continued to work across all kinds of media on a kind of whim. I have no interest in originality, style or signature work. I have continued my practice largely outside the commercial sector and my foray into educational institutions have been through residences. I have never held a formal teaching post.

There have been exhibitions, publications and awards since. I remain interested in absence, removal, and what’s left. Dust.