‘When I was 16, I started going to the clubs in London and did all the other things that I’m not supposed to say on record. It’s funny, when you think of the transformation of cities in one decade… Like the area behind Tottenham Court Road Station in 1997 had some incredible drug houses in it. There were entire townhouses where they would sell different drugs in the stairwells, with whited-out windows and these little drawers. You’d walk up and then someone would say, ‘What do you want?’ On this floor, you’d get this and on the other floor that. And there were rooms with just mattresses on the floor, where people would chill out. Soho felt so much seedier than it does now and I’m sure that these houses are now mega luxury apartments. The same with New York – some parts of the Lower East Side in 2002 were still considered a little hairy at night… and now there are fucking dog salons, you know?’
— Fatima Al Qadiri in our new issue mono.kultur #43
