Coming this Autumn: People Watching at The Lightbox, Woking

The Vulnerable Disposition (2019) by Emma Prempeh. Oil and acrylic on canvas. Image courtesy of The Ingram Collection © Emma Prempeh.

This November, an exhibition exploring over a hundred years of British portraiture will open at the Lightbox Gallery, Woking. Exploring the concept of image and portraiture in British art, People Watching will feature sculpture, paintings, drawings and photography from 1915 to the present day, drawn from The Ingram Collection and The Lightbox collections.

The exhibition considers how artists have continued to develop portraiture into the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, and how ideas about what a portrait can be have evolved. It examines self-portraits, depictions of people at work or leisure, representations of family members, and the ways artists have used portraiture in fantastical and imaginative creations. Whether quiet and reflective or playful and provocative, each portrait invites us to consider what it truly means to look — and to be looked at.

Featuring works by artists including Elisabeth Frink, Barbara Hepworth, Emma Prempeh, Kofi Perry, David Remfry and Bridget Riley, People Watching will be on display until 31 January 2027.