26 May – 30 September
Creative Connections Southampton brings together the collections of the National Portrait Gallery and Southampton City Art Gallery and Museums to explore and celebrate people whose stories are linked to Southampton. Taking inspiration from these collections, art students from Cantell School in Southampton have worked collaboratively with Hampshire-based artist Pete Codling and the Gallery’s Learning and Engagement Team to explore portraiture and discover people associated with the city.
The artist has worked with the students to explore portraiture through drawing; using charcoal to capture and portray each other and Southampton figures they chose to represent their story of the city. These will be displayed in the exhibition alongside the collections, together with a large-scale drawing called the Kinship, by Codling, inspired by the local story of 4,000 child refugees from the Basque country arriving in a steam ship, SS Habana, during the Spanish Civil War in 1937.
Pete Codling has had an established career as a sculptor and designer of public artworks, receiving commissions from Local Government and for Lottery-funded regeneration projects throughout the UK. He has created community projects commissioned to give local populations a sense of place, engagement, empowerment, and ownership.
FREE Creative Connections Programme
Join our free arts and history workshops, talks and tours for all ages that will run alongside this exhibition. Find all our free activities here.
Creative Connections, and its engagement programme of events, is funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, Art Fund with the generous support of the Palley family.
Aaron Phipps by Jeannie Coombs, C-Type Colour Print, National Portrait Gallery
Creative Connections is a National Portrait Gallery project in partnership with Southampton City Art Gallery. Creative Connections is funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund and Art Fund with the generous support of the Palley family.
