Curatorial Reflections: Practice Makes Portsmouth

Join curator Emily Worsdale for a special curators-only tour of Practice Makes Portsmouth, a major new exhibition that uncovers Portsmouth’s rich artistic heritage through works drawn from the city’s own collections.

Part of the wider Your Museum. Your Stories. Your City. exhibition, Practice Makes Portsmouth brings together around 90 works by more than 60 artists who were born, raised, studied, worked, or taught in Portsmouth over the last century, including Sir Christopher Le Brun, Derek Boshier and Rozanne Hawksley. Developed in just nine months, the exhibition explores a significant but largely overlooked area of the museum’s holdings, revealing unexpected connections, new discoveries and the stories behind the works. 

During this tour, Emily will share insights into the research and curatorial process behind the exhibition, from examining every record in the museum’s twentieth- and twenty-first-century art collections to uncovering previously unrecognised links with Portsmouth. She will also reflect on the opportunities and challenges of creating an exhibition that tells the story of a city’s artistic life through the strengths and limitations of its existing public collection.