Born on the first day of spring after the Winter of Discontent and raised on Merseyside with the consequences of that venal vernal equinox Karl Kolley escaped the terminal atrophy of Birkenhead’s managed decline making the perilous voyage across the Mersey to Liverpool. Escaping the carousel of disappearing jobs and dole queues of the perpetual neoliberal con Karl subsequently traversed the East Lancs Road after an AHRC Professional Preparation Masters Award enabled study at the Manchester School of Art where he was afforded the time and resources to pursue his artwork unimpeded. During this halcyon period Karl found out what it was like to be an internationally exhibiting artist however since that unequivocal highpoint things have taken a more prosaic trajectory including a return to Toxteth and involvement with the North West’s nascent ‘Social Housing Realism’ movement.