Wandering through the busy corridors of the Affordable Art Fair, it's hard to imagine the earliest versions of an art market were held nearly six hundred years ago in Antwerp. Fast forward through the salons of Paris and London to Cologne in 1967 when gallerists Hein Stünke and Rudolf Zwirner launched Kunstmarkt Köln 67, the first modern art fair. With 16 participating galleries, the pair forever opened the art world to a wider buying public. These days there are hundreds of art shows held internationally.

For dealers, many of whom also have bricks and mortar galleries, an art fair brings a large number of customers who might not find them in their usual homes. For artists, especially emerging ones, the opportunity to be introduced to a whole world of customers is very important. Tom Cox has taken me to the Affordable Art Fair (Battersea) twice. Each visit has been hugely successful in terms of sales, but also in finding art lovers who want to follow the work. These connections in the multi-connected world are an important part of being a practicing artist, whether or not they become owners of the work.

I was lucky enough to meet a buyer of my work, and who later was kind enough to send me a photo of it in situ. It was a rare opportunity to be around to give extra information and to receive feedback. It's this to and fro throughout the event that makes it such a buzzy and illuminating event. I'm not a natural networker so having Tom and his team there to make these connections on my behalf are important to me. Art fairs were created to be a bazaar where creators and customers can come together and they continue to do so today.

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