Mr Bailey's portrait unveiling at MCC Museum at Lord’s
Oct
30
7:30 AM07:30
Openings

Mr Bailey's portrait unveiling at MCC Museum at Lord’s

Image © John Roe

My painting of Dr Guy Bailey OBE, the civil rights activist, was in the MCC Museum at Lord’s to coincide with Black History Month.

The painting was officially unveiled by former England player Mark Alleyne, the Head Coach of Gloucestershire CCC, and Devon Malcolm, the Black Communities Liaison Officer for the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), who, with Bristol West Indies Cricket Club (BWIPCC) member Joan Fieldthorne both played a crucial role in championing the painting and its importance.

For more information click here

Several notable figures from the cricketing world attended, including former England player Norman Cowans and Anita Neil MBE, the first Black Olympian from the United Kingdom. They were joined by members of the Bristol West Indies Cricket Club (BWIPCC), who came together in solidarity and pride as Bailey's painting was revealed at the prestigious home of cricket.

My painting of Mr Baily is displayed in England’s Black Cricketers Exhibition. This exhibition celebrates the 21 Black players who have represented England through portraits by Tom Shaw.

“The establishment of the cricket club stands as a testament to Guy Bailey’s never-ending resolve to ensure that cricket remained a fixture in the lives of all British people, irrespective of their race or religion. I have made it my mission to paint portraits of individuals who have consistently contributed to their local or global communities and have brought about meaningful change yet have been overlooked. It’s the pinnacle of an artist’s journey, and the place where you put the painting is as important as the painting itself. Seeing the painting here at Lord’s and the reaction of Guy and the crowd was very emotional.’’

Helen Wilson Roe 2024

Anita Neil MBE and the artist Helen Wilson Roe at the unveiling of the portrait of Guy Bailey, Lord’s Cricket Ground 2024
© John Roe

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Henrietta Lacks Garden planting day
Mar
17
10:00 AM10:00

Henrietta Lacks Garden planting day

  • Royal Fort Road Bristol, England United Kingdom (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

I am delighted to be the landscape garden for Henrietta’s Garden.

A landscaped public garden, centred on the life and legacy of Henrietta Lacks, which is built upon and showcased within the names of the plants for their links to Henrietta and the significance of their colour.

Gardening brings joy to everyone. It’s about inclusion and bringing people together from all walks of life; different cultures, ages, abilities, and class.

Henrietta’s Garden is a symbol of hope and reflection. Through this symbol, stories are told using the narrative of plants and their connection with Henrietta’s statue and her everlasting story.

Thank you for the generosity of my friends and family for helping with the planting of the garden and for the amazing Bristol University Landscape, Horticultural team.

Image © Helen Wilson Roe

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HeLa 2020: The Incontestable Impact of Henrietta Lacks
Jul
31
to Aug 2

HeLa 2020: The Incontestable Impact of Henrietta Lacks

Henrietta Lacks, the Mother of Modern Medicine changed the world with the gift of her immortal HeLa cells. From gene mapping, in vitro fertilization, the polio vaccine, and cancer treatments to space travel - Henrietta’s cells are responsible for some of the greatest scientific advancements of our time.

August 1, 2020, will mark the 100th Birthday of this phenomenal woman. You are invited to join the Lacks family in celebrating Henrietta’s contributions at a three-day Symposium commemorating this momentous occasion.

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Apr
30
5:00 PM17:00

19 Black Bristol women who've made a difference

Compiled by the Bristol Museums Black History Steering Group, Helen Wilson-Roe has been named as one of 19 Black Bristol women who have made a difference in 2019-20.

Pioneering, passionate and powerful, these women have helped change our city for the better.

From artists to activists-councillors to mayors, these are women who have made a difference.

For more information click here

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Mar
21
4:15 PM16:15
Talks

Framing the Critical Decade: After the Black Arts Movement

Part of University of Bristol's Framing the Critical Decade: After the Black Arts Movement I'm excited to let you know that I will be a keynote speaker in conversation with Dr. Josie Gill (University of Bristol) on Monday 21st at 4:15-6pm.

This 2 day conference aims to bring together scholars from across the humanities, critics and artists to engage questions around ‘Black British-ness’ and Black British creative production during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Often perceived, and dismissed, as a by-product of the social, critical and political milieu of the 1980s, the Black Arts Movement in Britain has been, until recently, largely packed away as something no longer relevant in a global, multicultural, even post-racial world. Building on and responding to a growing interest in reassessing the role of the Black Arts Movement in the construction of contemporary ideas around race, national identity, gender and aesthetics (see recent exhibitions such as Thin Black Line(s) (Tate, 2012), Staying Power: Photographs of Black British Experience (V&A and Black Cultural Archives, 2015) and Keywords: Art, Culture and Society in 1980s Britain (Tate Liverpool, 2014) and the opening of the Black Cultural Archives in Brixton), the conference asserts the continued and dynamic presence of the ‘Critical Decade’.

 It is the organisers’ aim that by bringing together scholars from a range of disciplines – art, the history of art, visual culture, literature, history, critical theory and sociology, to name a few – the conference will yield new ways of thinking about narratives of creative production in Britain at the turn of the twenty-first century.

In association with the Transnational Modernisms Research Cluster, History of Art Department, University of Bristol

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