Cathy's Art Diary

Small exhibition at the Barbican complimenting a project over the summer to create a carnival inspired performance. The project brought together three Black-led arts companies, Mahogany Carnival Arts, IRIE! Dance Theatre and Endurance Steel Orchestra to honour the legacy of Nottinghill Carnival to mark its 60th anniversary and to respond to the Pan-Africanism exhibition which I visited shortly after. Evidently, it culminated in a performance on 16 August. The display consisted of sculptural elements from some of the costumes designed for the work and items associated with the idea of Sankofa or the importance of looking to the past to move forward with dignity from around the world. No end date given for the exhibition but as the workshops etc ended on 16 August 2026 I suspect it won’t be there for long

Moving exhibition at MPB Gallery of shortlisted works in this award for press photography. Organised by the World Press Photo Foundation which has been running this competition since 1955, the exhibition showcased a selection of the work with large images and a description of the events shown. Many of the stories were very moving and made you realise how little you knew of world events.   Some images were familiar stories like the war in Gaza or the ICE activities in America, but others mean I'll be doing some Googling. My favourite work was this stunning image by Saher Alghorra of a family in Gaza breaking their Ramadan fast in the remains of their home. It is an image of such dignity and desperation   Most of the images were quite harrowing but in amongst them was this beautiful picture of a Panda in the wild. Closed 30 September 2026

A lovely display at the National Gallery reuniting two works which were painted in1869 just yards from each other. The works are the gallery's own "Bathers at La Grenouillere" by Monet with Renoir's "La Grenouillere" on loan from Nationalmuseum, Stockholm ready for the "Renoir in Love" exhibition starting in October. These two works are often linked in talks and this is a rare chance to see these early Impressionist works together. The pictures not only capture a scene of leisure in 19th century Paris but also a moment when two young, ambitious friends worked together and influenced each other. Closed 21 September 2026

Neat exhibition at St Martin in the Fields to mark the 300th anniversary of the current church. This show was quite small, but it made good use of a few exhibits and told the story clearly beginning with evidence for a church on the site prior to the current one built in 1726. The show looked at how the church had been used by the Royal Family and government while also offering refuge to those experiencing poverty and exclusion. It also looked at how it has embraced new technology from gaslighting to livestreaming and its pioneering musical history. Closed 15 November 2026

Charming exhibition at the British Museum of drawings and prints by John Constable to mark the 250th anniversary of his birth. The works focused on the artists engagement with the countryside and largely consisted of works from a donation to the museum by his daughter, Isabel, in 1888. There were sketches, preparatory works for paintings and drawings made for print production. The show also included ten plates from "English Landscape", a series of mezzotints produced with David Lucas. The relationship was a subject of a recent show at the Victoria and Albert Museum which went into this collaboration in more detail. Closed 4 October 2026

Interesting small exhibition at the British Museum using the Washington Peace Medal to tell stories of the American War of Independence. The medal was made in Boston by Paul Revere presented by the Revolutionaries to members of the Wabanaki Confederacy as part of a treaty of friendship and alliance against the British. Later in the war it was confiscated by the British and given to George III as a war trophy. I have to say I’ve just learnt all that from the website for the show not the show itself whose other objects highlighted diplomatic gifts between indigenous people and British and Revolutionaries to emphasise the interaction of the three nations as part of the story which they’d failed to tell. My fact of the day is that only two ceremonial handwritten parchment copies of the Declaration survive. The copy signed by the delegates to the Continental Congress in 1776 is on display in the National Archives in Washington D.C. The other is in Chichester in the West Sussex Record...