Very Public People

ebook5 28 very public people interviewed by 16 artists

Norman Jackson / Zack / Tracy

ContributorsCody Lee Barbour / Ania Bas / Tiurlan Sitompul Passmore

I run a chip shop on the high street in West Brom, I have been here for about 8 years. It is a family business, my granddad started it all so now it is me who owns the place and the recipe, the family secret.

The fish comes from the fish-market, it is always fresh. I bring it into the shop daily. It is just the two of us working here. I get up around 6, I get to the shop for 8 o clock. I do the prepping. We serve breakfast till 11am, after that it is fish & chips. We close at

5 o clock. Well, we pretty much work office hours. Just not at the office. You have to have your friendly face on and ensure that people are pleased with the food.

I like it. I am done by 5 and after that it is home time to have a shower. In the evenings it is family time or I’ll go out. Sometimes to the disco. 9 to 5 are good hours, at least you have a life afterwards, and you know what is going on in the world.

Zack

Owner of Chip’n’DeliInterviewed by Tiurlan Sitompul Passmore

Zack

Continued from previous page...“9 to 5 are good hours, at least you have a life

afterwards, and you know what is going on in the world. I do my hours and afterwards

I enjoy my life.”I do my hours and afterwards I enjoy my life. I make enough money to support my family. You have to have a balance, you cannot work 24/7.

I have been travelling quite a lot: Hong Kong, China, Cyprus, United States, Thailand. And I usually try local food, different food. It is all right. I wanted to meet other people, see how people lived in other places. It is not like England!

I intend to keep the shop for the next generation. It depends what happens in life, you have ups and downs. I would not want to force it on my children; it would be up to them. I am only 22, when I get married you know, it might change; but now I am staying here for a while.

I get here about 7 o’clock, set up my van, get my boxes out, set my pitch up. I have to have my van out by 9am, otherwise I get a parking ticket, and then I stay here and shout and sell my goods. I have a chap who is helping me today but it is not very busy at the moment. So I am here, selling and shouting: Fleece is a fiver!!!!

It is not always pleasant. It is cold, some people are not very polite, and some people always

want to pay a lot less then I am asking for. But hey, a fiver isn’t very much anyway.

I have to wait until 5 o clock to get my van! Even if it is dead after 3, otherwise you get another parking ticket.

West Brom is where I come to work, I do not want to hang out here. At 5 I pack and go away!

Tracy

Outdoor Market stall holderInterviewed by Cody Lee Barbour

“So I am here, selling and shouting: Fleece is a fiver!!!!”

This shop was opened by my dad 15 years ago. I saw him enjoying it so I never thought about doing anything else. Being self employed, doing your own thing - I like it. Working for yourself makes you feel very independent, you can feel more comfortable with yourself. It can be a busy life. You eat and serve and do not get breaks when it is busy.

People come here and ask questions, “what are these?”,

they like to know the name of the food and how to cook it. I like explaining to people what it is, how it tastes, what it is good for.

Sometimes I am surprised by my customers, I wonder how white women know more about Caribbean vegetables I am selling here than I know, how come she is buying this, where does she know it from? So I ask her a question: Are you married to a black man? And

Norman Jackson

Owner of the Jackson’s stall at The Indoor Market Interviewed by Ania Bas at the shop

she says, Yeah, and he teaches me about the food - I like that!

Being good with people, this comes from my culture, from socialising. If you have freedom in yourself, happiness in yourself people want to talk to you. You have to show people a pleasant face, happiness, so they are not scared of you! So I do enjoy that role. I like making people feel welcome.

To open your own business, you need to have a plan in mind, know exactly what you want to do. When you are self-employed you do your own thing. When you apply for jobs and do not get them, you can think that people don’t like you. You feel like they do not want you among them, so if you can do something for yourself you can feel more in control!

Norman Jackson

Continued from previous page...

“Sometimes I am surprised by my customers, I wonder how white women know more about Caribbean vegetables

I am selling here than I know.”

DesignAlice Ralph

www.aliceralph.com

Very Public People