From music to art, conversation and much more.

On Friday 24 March 2023, Watts Gallery hosted an evening of live music, film and discussion set in the atmospheric Historic Galleries.

Visitors took the time to walk around the Historic Gallery and enjoy Faces of Fame: G F Watts X Simon Frederick. This display (27 September 2022 - 26 March 2023) exhibits a selection of photographs from Simon Frederick’s portrait series Black is the New Black alongside paintings from G F Watts’s Hall of Fame. These portraits have been loaned from the National Portrait Gallery’s Collection as part of its National Skills Sharing Partnership Programme.

Acclaimed contemporary composer and filmmaker, Des Oliver shared a screening of excerpts from his landmark documentary series, Identity and the Anxiety of Influence.

Faces of Fame curator Dr Emily Burns sat down with Des Oliver to discuss themes of influence, heritage, identity and representation.

To conclude the evening, we enjoyed a live performance of Oliver’s celebrated musical composition, The Diasporic Quartets, alongside works by Philip Herbert, Tunde Jegede and Dominque Le Gendre, performed by the leading ensemble The Atchison Quartet.