Portrait of Black Britain exhibition is the latest project by photographer and cultural campaigner Cephas Williams exploring what it means to be Black and living in the UK.

An activist who is passionate about highlighting the Black British experience throughout his projects, Cephas Williams’ latest campaign is a large-scale photographic archive of everyday Black people in 2026.

Portrait of Black Britain is a free portrait exhibition that features both Black British men and women from different cultural and career paths. The project aims to enhance visibility for the everyday Black person and combat the stereotypes often spotlighted in mainstream media.

You may already be familiar with Cephas Williams’ work. His “56 Black Men” campaign in 2018 was widely covered in the media. The project featured photographs of 56 Black British men from various career paths wearing hoodies, with the aim of challenging the negative tropes often platformed in the media around Black males wearing hoodies.

In his latest campaign, Portrait of Britain, Williams photographed a wide range of people, from lawyers to project managers. Portrait of Britain is commissioned by Factory International and was first exhibited in 2021 following the death of George Floyd. This year’s exhibition is held at The Social, Aviva Studios in Manchester, with a few additional portraits on top of the ones from the original 2021 exhibition.

Williams spoke with us about the inspiration and significance behind this year’s exhibition and the diverse Black British experience in 2026.

Portrait of Black Britain has a particularly special purpose as it was inspired by the birth of Williams’ son, Zion. Explaining further, Cephas says: “The day before I was expecting my son to be born, George Floyd was murdered. In that period, I got a lot of messages from all different communities, people across the UK and globally. It was an overwhelming experience to some degree, especially with all of those things alongside the birth of my son. At the time, I wasn’t going to do anything in response, and then further conversations made me feel like I wanted to write my son a letter that he’d be able to read when he’s older – in the hopes that a lot of the things I wrote in that letter, about the world I want to see, were either true or close to being true. I committed myself to helping make that world happen. One of those efforts is Portrait of Black Britain, and the idea – the power of our collective visibility – standing together at the time, was undeniable.”

Hailing from the London borough of Lewisham and of Nigerian descent, the father speaks about his experience growing up: “Portrait of Black Britain explores what it means to be Black living in the UK. Growing up, I didn’t feel there was a centralised ecosystem for understanding that. Obviously, there’s not one way to be Black or to be someone of African descent, so that is where Portrait of Black Britain was born.”

“It’s always a blessing to see how people respond to what I’ve created.”

Speaking on the response to the 2021 exhibition, Cephas says: “The Manchester exhibition went well. The response was nice. It’s always a blessing to see how people respond to what I’ve created.”

With a background in architecture, Cephas describes his projects as campaigns rather than art: “I talk more about campaigning than art when I talk about this particular piece of rhetoric. I think great campaigns are very clear with what they’re fighting against and who they’re fighting for, and when you’re talking about how Black people are represented over the years, that’s possibly what I’m fighting against, and who I’m fighting for is very evident. It’s the people.”

A quote from lawyer and entrepreneur, Adeola Adelakun photographed in the Portrait of Black Britain campaign, said: “I feel like often in society, as a Black person, people expect us to be strong and extraordinary, and there’s no space to just be who you are, and this exhibition allows us to show up as we really are.”  Speaking on how relevant this view was to creating the exhibition, Cephas said: “It’s a blessing to hear that. That question wasn’t a factor in my overall objective, but that’s the power of imagery and pictures. If imagery and pictures represent real-life people, they carry even deeper context and depth.”

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He continues: “In the exhibition, if you go to visit the tunnel section, I’ve written quite extensively about legacy and my hopes, and that would be a good place to reference for perhaps my expectations of what I would like from doing this.”

Portrait of Black Britain exhibition runs until 1 November 2026.
Venue: The Social, Aviva Studios, Water Street, Manchester, M3 4JQ
Learn more.

Written by Maxine Harrison

The post Cephas Williams: “My son inspired Portrait of Black Britain exhibition” first appeared on Melan Magazine.