As he celebrates 50 years of photographing Notting Hill Carnival with a free exhibition at London’s Outernet, BAFTA-winning photographer Ian Watts shares the stories behind 10 of his most treasured shots.
The first time Ian Watts photographed Notting Hill Carnival was 1976. He was a teenager at the time, living in a youth hostel in Harlesden. Having just bought his first camera – a basic East German Praktica SLR – that August Bank Holiday found him travelling to Ladbroke Grove to capture the unparalleled energy of this most vital and vibrant of long weekends in the London calendar.
A celebration of pan-Caribbean culture and an extension of anti-colonial resistance, Notting Hill Carnival is the world’s second-largest street festival. Having started as a comparatively low-key community gathering in 1966, today it attracts a global audience of an estimated two million people, and generates around £400m a year for the UK economy each year.
When Watts first attended in 1976, Carnival was still in the relatively early stages of its evolution, with around 150,000 people attending.
Amongst the steel bands, mas dancers and sound systems blaring reggae, Lovers Rock and soul, Watts also found himself documenting much more than just a celebration of the UK capital’s Caribbean community.
This was the same year that young Black people fought back against racist police harassment and brutality. Tensions that had stemmed from a dramatically increased presence of law enforcement, and its relentless police targeting of Black men, were ultimately met with resistance from onlookers in the crowd.
One minute, he was capturing the freedom and joy of this gathering; the next, he was running amongst the chaos, capturing the scenes that erupted around him.
Watts was there to see it all, and he’s been back almost every year it has taken place since, defying the discriminatory media narratives that followed for decades to come and to instead depict Carnival’s real energy – the colourful, celebratory, resilient and familial vibe that makes it what it is, even at is has changed in scale and shape over time.
When we meet Watts in his South London home ahead of Carnival 60, a free exhibition of his Notting Hill photography taking place at Outernet from 27th August to 2nd September, the walls hint at the incredible journey he’s been on with his camera ever since that fateful Monday afternoon in 1976.
He’s shot portraits of stars like Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Miles Davis, Gil Scott-Heron, Fela Kuti, Grace Jones and Bob Marley; he’s travelled to more than 50 countries and worked for National Geographic and the BBC; he’s won a BAFTA and a Grierson Award; some of his photos were recently featured in V&A East’s landmark Music is Black exhibition.
Accompanied by a soundtrack by Greentea Peng collaborator Blackmale Beats, Carnival 60 celebrates this decades-long journey by going back to where it all began, and to where he’s returned so often in the decades since.
We sat down with Watts, who selected 10 photographs from this vast Carnival archive and shared the stories behind the shots. Dive in below.
Jama is a Carnival legend who was voted one of Britain’s best dressed men. He’s a permanent fixture at Carnival and always dresses immaculately in bright colours.
On this occasion, he’s wearing an orange hat, jacket, trousers, tie, shirt, shoes, specs and cane. He’s one of the most stylish people you’ll ever see at Carnival, and a really nice guy too, which made it important to have him in this selection.
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