By Lara Merrett

The song I play the most in my studio has to be this one by Max Richter. His music creates an overwhelming desire to connect and create. It's repetitive, which I like, as it seems endless. That’s how I like to feel when I’m making work–like I could just keep going.

This is the song I listen to when I feel exhausted. Making work gives me energy, but sometimes I’m not in the zone, especially after a hectic morning getting out of the house with three kids and only thinking about everyone else. By the afternoon, I’m ready to collapse but need to give the work one more push. M.I.A. is my favourite artists for that, and Paper Planes is intoxicating with its rhythm and raw energy. I love that M.I.A. was a visual artist before she went into the music industry.

In 1991, when I was 19, I moved to Spain for a couple of years. I had just seen a French-Polish film, The Double Life of Veronique, and it had a profound impact on me. The powerful, dramatic soundtrack still makes me nostalgic for that time when I was figuring out who I was, and how I was going to live my life as an artist. The film is about a young woman who questions every decision she makes as it takes her down different paths of life. I felt the weight of those same decisions when I moved to Madrid, not knowing who I’d meet or who I’d become. I’m a true romantic and indulged in all that freedom.

It’s hard to pick a song by a favourite musical artist, but it’s not so hard to think of one of my favourite visual artists – Yoko Ono. I loved this song before I knew anything about Yoko Ono’s work, prior to becoming obsessed with her and her practice. Hearing John Lennon sing this love ballad always makes me so happy.

I recently came across this dream-pop hit and love it. I appreciate the way that this song from the 80s still holds its place in the present. It makes me reflect on how so much art made in the past also holds such relevance, even though our present reality is so different. I immediately think of Swedish artist, Hilma Af Klint, who transcends time, and still stops viewers in their tracks.