To celebrate the Gallery’s acquisition of her portrait of community campaigners, Eric and Jessica Elleisse Huntley (née Carroll), artist Sharon Walters will be in conversation with curator Péjú Oshin at the Gallery.
Eric and the late Jessica Huntley transformed the world around them through a shared commitment to publishing, community action and justice. Pioneering Black political and social activists and radical book publishers born in what then was, British Guiana arrived in England in the 1950s and wasted no time before becoming active in political and social issues relating to the British African-Caribbean community’s in and around London. For over 50 years the Huntley’s participated in many significant grassroots campaigns.
Walters and Oshin will discuss the portrait and how it was developed for the National Portrait Gallery’s Citizen UK project, considering how the work thematically links to her wider work, style and influences.
The portrait was commissioned by the Gallery as part of Citizen UK. Citizen UK is a collaborative project working with Tower Hamlets Local History Library & Archives; the Ealing Local History Centre Archives; the Museum of Croydon and Wolverhampton Arts & Culture to explore post Second World War migration and British citizenship in these areas. Citizen Researchers from Ealing looked at archival material and stories from across the borough – two of the people who particularly inspired the group and had a significant impact on Ealing and beyond were Eric and Jessica Huntley. We invited artist Walters to create a portrait of race equality campaigners and radical publishers Eric and Jessica Huntley that represents their relationship, the work they did together and their legacy.
£15 (£12 Members / concessions)
