You are invited to the opening of Creative Connections Southampton.  Thursday 25 May, 6-8pm

Please join us for the launch of Creative Connections Southampton, an exhibition that will bring 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. 

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.

Please RSVP to: Art.Gallery@southampton.gov.uk

Image credit: Portrait of Aaron Phipps by Jeannie Coombs, National Portrait Gallery, London