Joshua Donkor & Lela Harris: Familial Traces

Familial Traces brings together two emerging portrait artists whose work explores identity, heritage, migration and the stories that shape who we are. Through painting and drawing, Joshua Donkor and Lela Harris reflect on complex family histories and the search for connection across generations. Their work considers what it means to belong, how we understand home, and how personal and cultural memory can shape our sense of self. Joshua Donkor, a British Ghanaian artist, uses portraiture to explore his connections to Ghana, his ancestral homeland, and the relationships, feelings and histories that link him to that place. Inspired by the cultural narratives of his sitters, Donkor creates multi-layered portraits that weave together personal stories, family archives and cultural references. Lela Harris, who grew up in the UK, approaches family history from a different position. Through painting and drawing, she explores absence, memory and history, using portraiture to fill in some of the blanks left by missing or incomplete connections to the past. Together, their work shines a light on people, histories and experiences not always represented in traditional British portraiture. Familial Traces invites visitors to reflect on the many stories that shape Britain today — and on the value of lives, cultures and contributions too often left out of museum spaces. This is a thoughtful and deeply human exhibition about family, identity, belonging and the traces we carry with us.