"Naturally, being a young Black girl wanting to find characters and people that I could relate to, I just gravitated to Black stories."
The intersection between art and sport is one of Imani-Lara Lansiquot's greatest loves.
Through creative expression, discipline and cultural narratives, the two forms have enabled athletes and artists throughout history to tell a story.
So, it was no surprise when the sprinter chose the South London Gallery as the second stop in her Team GB Princess of Peckham Black History Month series, in which she is visiting three of the most treasured places in her childhood neighbourhood that represent community to her.
Growing up with an art teacher as a mother, the arts naturally seeped into Imani's life from a young age. And while she might not have been able to draw to the same degree as her mum, the two-time Olympic medallist is painting her own story using the track as her canvas.
"For me, art and sport make so much sense together," she said.
"Everyone has their own process, but it takes that same dogged work, that same blood, sweat, and tears.
"And in the end, you're expressing something from yourself, whether it's your mind, your eyes or your body.
"That's how I see my event, it's 10 seconds to be the truest and purest version of myself."
The South London Gallery sits just a 20-minute walk from her favourite pub, the Prince of Peckham, but it grants a different view into Imani's life.
The Gallery has brought contemporary art to the people of south London since 1891, and over the last 135 years, has exhibited work by some of the world's most celebrated artists.
With free exhibitions, a bookshop and a Communities & Learning programme that offers a free after-school art club for local children and young people, the Gallery has become a bright light of culture and community within Peckham and Camberwell.
Imani has always found herself naturally attracted to and championing Black art, as it captures a moment in time of Black joy, Black resistance or Black emotion. She credits the South London Gallery as the perfect place to do just that.
She said: "Having something like this in the community, that's free, it's accessible, it's down the road from the high street, it's such an easy way to dip into a different side of culture and to learn and interpret things in a different way.
"It's important to have these spaces where you can just be and where there's that freedom to let your mind go wild for a bit.
"Art is one of those things where you can just be open, which I love."
Reading, writing, art and photography have become an important part of self-care away from the track for Imani.
But it is in the world of books that she finds the biggest creative outlet. So, what exactly does an Olympian love to read?
"Black people have always been very relevant in literature," she said.
"My first favourite book when I was a kid was Mallory Blackman's 'Noughts and Crosses'. She is the absolute OG of literature.
"Then I read 'I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings' by Maya Angelou, and that book completely just changed my life."
The 1969 autobiography has become one of the most powerful stories of Black identity and self-love, and it will forever hold a place in Imani's heart.
"The way that she dances with her words, the poetry, the rhythm of it and the honesty was something that I don't think I'd ever really read before," she added.
"It gives you so much respect for her as an artist. To me she is like the epitome of brilliance in a woman, especially as a Black woman, and what she went through.
"I don't think I've ever said this before, but when I read that book, it made me feel that I don't have to have this perfect life to be brilliant.
"She didn't have this perfect blueprint lifestyle, it wasn't a cliché life, it was the opposite of that. I see so much of myself in that."
Imani's love for reading and words inspired her to start her own book club in June 2023, with over 750 people signing up in the first 24 hours.
Initially just a place for her to share her favourite stories with friends and other athletes, it is now a place where she can learn about aspects of life she never would have before.
"Mary Beard said something at the Booker Prize nomination event the other week," she said.
"It's not just about loving reading but being able to read and to escape into stories and to learn about other people's perspectives in this big wide world we're living in is more important than ever.
"It's so easy just to be in your own bubble of what makes sense to you and people that think the same way as you.
"I created my book club because I wanted to mesh those ideas together and connect with people and connect with the things that have made them feel alive and made them feel like they can relate to a character."
Walking around the South London Gallery with her friends in her spare time has only further inspired Imani to lean into her own creative outlet.
The sprinter wrote her first play at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
An extended autobiographical poem, 'Armour of Gaza' delves into her struggle with identity whilst growing up and how Peckham helped define that.
From the people and places that shaped her to the very essence of what it means to be a Black woman growing up in South London, it all comes back to Peckham.
"I guess it was about trying to carve my version of what Blackness meant for me whilst growing up here," she said.
"Being Black means being audacious. It means being authentic no matter how that shows up.
"There isn't one monolith to Blackness. There are so many ways of expressing who you are, and I think it's important that lots of people can see that all the time.
"I do carry that responsibility a little bit. I want my Blackness to not be put into any one box.
"Whoever I am and however I’m coming across, I want to do it in the most audacious way possible.”
Sportsbeat 2026