Juano Diaz (15:15 BST)

Juano Diaz’s memoir Slum Boy recalls a world in which his Glaswegian mother, an addict, frequently abandoned him in his cold, damp, windowless bedroom until he was taken into care at the age of four and placed in a children’s home.

In stark contrast, he is now a celebrated visual artist and photographer whose work has featured Madonna, Grace Jones and Pharrell Williams.

The adoption of this young mixed-race boy, renamed John MacDonald in the 1980s by a loving but strict Catholic Romany family, gave him a stable childhood until the conflict arising from his true identity as gay led him to be thrown out of the family home.

Penniless, he sheltered with rent boys in Glasgow but spent his days in Kelvingrove Art Gallery, a haven and inspiration for the budding young artist. Searching for his birth mother, he discovered her life of prostitution, alcohol, and mental illness. It was here at her side that he finally learned his real name, Juano Diaz.

In conversation with Rodge Glass

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