In February 2022, members of the British public were asked to delve into their family albums to share the pictures that held a strong place in their hearts.
The callout, which came from family history site Ancestry, resulted in more than 2,200 submissions, all celebrating the richness and diversity of family stories across the UK through the years.
Now a selection of these historic and contemporary family snaps have been brought together for an exhibtion at the National Portrait Gallery.
Called the Nation’s Family Album, the exhibit is open to the public for free in the Spotlight Space until the 10th of September 2023, while others are on digital display.
‘The National Portrait Gallery is home to some of the world’s most famous faces, but nothing feels more rewarding than being able to display and explore the history of Britain’s everyday people,’ Dr Alison Smith, Chief Curator at National Portrait Gallery and member of the judging panel tells Metro.co.uk.
Simon Pearce, Family History Expert at Ancestry and member of the judging panel adds: “Photographs are a valuable source for family history as they provide a snapshot into the everyday lives and events of our families and ancestors.
‘When a caption or backstory accompanies a photo, it can be incredibly revealing and invaluable for future generations.
‘This is why we are thrilled to have partnered with the National Portrait Gallery for this initiative. Viewing these images, and understanding the unique stories behind them, is a truly moving experience.’
Here are just some of the glorious portraits on display.
One participant was happy to provide images of Great Aunt Joy, a trans woman who had gender reassignment surgery in Switzerland. They wrote: ‘She was born Roy O’Williams and died Rosemary Joy Erskine in 1996, when I was three. She must have been incredibly brave and after all my searching within the archives – these photos felt like an amazing connection to her.’ (Picture: The Nation’s Family Album)
Contributor Ian George McLean says: ‘This is my mum, Nola McLean née Stephens. She came to Britain by plane in 1958 to train to be a nurse at the Western Fever Hospital in Fulham. Her plans were derailed but she went on to become a nursery nurse and foster parent. In later life, she worked at a refuge for abused young women.’ This image was given the Judge’s Choice award. (Picture: The Nation’s Family Album)
This image was the product of an art lover visiting the National Portrait Gallery’s 2016 BP Portrait Awards. The contributor says: ‘That year I was especially struck by the winning portrait which was by Andrew Tift. It set me thinking about how to go about commissioning a portrait of my aged and wonderful father, Ronald. Remarkably, I was able to contact Andrew Tift who agreed to take the commission. My father, who was living with mild dementia, could not understand why I wanted to commission a portrait of him.’ Ronald died two weeks after the sitting and never saw the portrait. (Picture: The Nation’s Family Album/SONY DSC)
This photo captures the Abbott family at the rear of 3, Picardy Road, Belverdere Kent celebrating the home leave of George Stanley Abbott from the Salonica Front line late in 1917. It was George’s first and last leave since Christmas 1914 and he died of Malaria two days before the end of the war. This image was given the Judge’s Choice award. (Picture: The Nation’s Family Album)
Rotimi Odukoya, whose submission was one of the four winners, shows her partner lovingly holding their lockdown baby. She says: ‘I was excited to be having a baby as I’ve always wanted to have a family. We had a strange sense of peace during the chaos of the pandemic. The world was so still, the streets of London were so quiet, I didn’t have to think about anything; just me and the baby, surrounded by family and with no real reason to leave the house.’ (Picture: The Nation’s Family Album)
A wedding photograph taken on 23 September 1914. The contributor, who coloured the image using newspaper accounts which described the colours of the dresses and bouquets, says: ‘One of the most significant things about this is that the First World War had been declared just over a month previously and yet everyone in the photograph seems oblivious that their lives were about to be changed forever, whether by the loss of family and friends, or by huge social change. Fortunately my grandfather survived or I wouldn’t be here today.’ (Picture: The Nation’s Family Album)
12 members of one family recreate one of the best-known Renaissance paintings, The Last Supper. One family member explains: ‘Every Christmas Eve, for many years, my family would come together for dinner at my oldest sister’s house. In 2017, for some reason (probably to do with having had a fair amount of wine…) we tried to recreate Da Vinci’s Last Supper as a family portrait. This was the result.’ (Picture: The Nation’s Family Album)
This is the Mistry family photographed in Nairobi, Kenya, in 1968. The two eldest children had already emigrated to the UK and in 1971 everyone in this portrait left Kenya for good and began a new life in Bradford. Once these children grew up, they wanted to ‘give something back’ to the country that had taken them in, and to help people in Gujarat, India, from where their parents originated. So in 2007 the family formed a fund-raising foundation that has since donated £144,000 to charities in the UK and India. (Picture: The Nation’s Family Album)
An 88-year-old man sits in quiet contemplation at Holocaust Liberation Day service in Amsterdam. He had been incarcerated at Bergen Belsen concentration camp for 18 months, when he was a child and was asked to speak at the event. Afterwards, he visited the Dutch Holocaust Memorial of names to find his brother Manuel’s name, who died in Auschwitz. (Picture: The Nation’s Family Album)
This 2010 painting by Sudhakar Thakur shows adult siblings in an informal setting. He says: ‘We are five siblings, three brothers and two sisters, and all appear in this painting. In 2010 our mother unveiled the painting on her 96th birthday. She passed away in May 2011 and six years ago, sadly my sister-in-law in red saree passed away.’ Sudhakar’s father, who died in 1982, appears in the photo on the wall behind. (Picture: The Nation’s Family Album)
In December 2021, these children lost their grandmother and their grandfather lost his wife of 52 years. Due to the pandemic, the kids had not seen their grandmother in more than two years. The contributor says, adding: ‘Granddad was finally able to come visit and we took the opportunity to make sure that they were photographed together, because these photographs will last forever. Their bond is beautiful and the love grandchildren can give helps mend a broken heart just a little.’ (Picture: The Nation’s Family Album)
The exhibition is available for free public viewing in the Spotlight Space until 10 September. For more information, click here.
Snapshot
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