Legendary photographer Charlie Phillips will be appearing at the Riverside Studios

To mark the end of this Exhibition Charlie Philips (OBE), the Great Caribbean Photographer will be appearing In-Person on Sunday March 8th from 5pm – 8.30pm.

5pm: Come, meet Charlie, In-Person at his Exhibition. FREE

6pm: See Charlie getting The Windrush Award 2026 Patricia Hamzee (OBE), Founder of The Windrush Film Festival. FREE

7pm: Charlie Philips will be In-Conversation with Piers Thompson from Portobello Radio; joining them will be photographers Yves Salmon and Friends: This is a “Free Ticketed Event” – To attend you must Book Tickets

Here is the link to Book Your Tickets

https://riversidestudios.co.uk/whats-on/xk-qa-with-photographer-charlie-phillips-obe-and-friends/

This will be also your final chance to purchase prints from the exhibition.

About Charlie Philips (OBE)

Ronald 'Charlie' Phillips was born in 1944 in Kingston, Jamaica, and grew up with his grandparents in rural St. Mary. He arrived at the age of 11 in the UK to join his parents in 1955, and settled in their cramped bedsit room in London's Notting Hill, a ghetto area at the time. A gift of a Kodak Brownie camera from an African-American serviceman began Phillips' love of photography. Phillips has become one of Britain's most acclaimed 'accidental' photographers, documenting Notting Hill's West Indian community throughout the 1960's, 70's and 80's. His distinctive photographs capture the shifting cultural landscape of Notting Hill, racial integration, the emergence of carnival, harsh socio-economic conditions, music, Black funerals, and political activism. Phillips’ photographic collection offers an intimate and powerful insight into a formative chapter of Black British history.

His work has been exhibited at galleries across the world, including The Muse Gallery on Portobello Road, Tate Britain, The National Portrait Gallery, The Museum of London, The Museum - City of New York and at The Centre for British Photography. His photos have been featured in Harper’s Bazaar, Stern, Life Magazine and Vogue.

In 1968, Phillips took his camera to Paris to shoot the student uprising. He then hitchhiked to Italy, where he spent time on the sets of Spaghetti Westerns and photographed the stars, among them Omar Sharif, Gina Lollobrigida, Muhammad Ali and Jimi Hendrix. When he returned to the UK in the 70s, the white British cultural elite refused to believe that a Black man could have achieved so much success. So, for many decades Phillips’ was locked out of the art world and his vibrant and vital work went largely unnoticed. One art gallery even had a photograph of Muhammad Ali, taken by Phillips, on its wall, but refused to believe that Phillips was the photographer. Time Out described him as 'the greatest London photographer you've never heard of'. In 2021 The Guardian asked "Charlie Phillips: why did it take so long for one of Britain's greatest photographers to get his due?"

However now Charlie is finally getting the recognition he truly deserves. A collection of his photographs are held at the V&A. In 2014 Photofusion presented his exhibition, How Great Thou Art, which culminated in a publication documenting the rituals around death and funerals of London's African Caribbean communities. A grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund made it possible for a collection of Charlie’s photographs to be restored and in 2022 Charlie was Awarded an OBE for services to Photography and the Arts and Charlie is soon to receive a doctorate from The University of Sussex.

This vibrant and rich exhibition, ‘Charlie Phillips – Somewhere, Somehow,’ celebrates the work and illustrious career of Charlie, who is without doubt one of the greatest photographers in the World