A portrait of Aimée Payton, who is the Eastern art administrator at the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology

 

  • WHAT I’M CALLED: Aimée – my parents, being artists, thought it looked nicer than the English spelling.
  • MY AGE: 38, although I celebrate my birthday as if I was 29 every year. l
  • WHAT I DO: I work in the Eastern Art Department at the Ashmolean Museum. I am a bellydancer and teach at Oxford Middle Eastern Dance Society.
  • WHERE I LIVE: Near the Cowley Road, best place to live in Oxford.
  • WHO I LOVE: I am lucky to have a wonderful extended family and amazing friends and colleagues. There is a lot of love in my life.
  • HAPPIEST YEAR: Last year. Life just keeps getting better the older I get.
  • DARKEST MOMENT: Um… I was in a power cut once.
  • PROUDEST BOAST: I curated an exhibition last summer on hats and shoes called ‘Head over Heels’. There were some amazing reviews in the press and I was thrilled by the Costume Society’s praise.
  • BIGGEST REGRET: I wish I had discovered how much I love Egyptian music and dance much earlier in my life.
  • WORST WEAKNESS: Not being able to say no to fun things. This makes my life very busy.
  • LESSON LEARNT: You are responsible for your own happiness. If you make the most out of every experience you have then that’s going to make you happy. Being an old whinge bag just makes you miserable.
  • DULLEST JOB: This is really difficult to answer. I’ve found a way to enjoy all of my jobs, even working in Grubbs Burgers in Brighton.
  • GREATEST SHAME: My mum trying to make me wear red flares to school in the 80s. She made them from a book called How to Make Simple Clothes from Around the World.
  • LIFE-LONG HERO: There are so many people that inspire me but I might have to go with Vivienne Westwood because she is such a crazy character. She designs the most amazing clothes using so many influences. And I love how the punk movement transformed music, fashion and culture in so many unexpected ways.
  • OLDEST FRIEND: I remember going to a party when I was very little to welcome my parents’ friends’ new baby. I looked in the cot at the sleeping baby Kate who is still a very special friend to me.
  • WIDEST SMILE: Laughing with my friends and family about ridiculous things. And I always have huge smile on my face when I’m performing.
  • FAVOURITE DREAM: I dream of the day when the whole of Oxford can bellydance.