ANDY HALL: NOTTING HILL CARNIVAL

© Andy Hall photographer

Exhibition at the Tabernacle Centre W11 2AY

Photographer Andy Hall dives into the fray with his camera, showing us scenes, moments and happenings on the streets of west London during Europe’s largest and most diverse annual urban open-air party known as the Notting Hill Carnival.  

I’ve been going to Notting Hill Carnival Carnival ever since I moved to London in the early 1980’s. It’s one of the things about being a Londoner that I am most proud of. Back then it was very much a carnival of two halves. Daytime floats, costumes and pageantry gave way to sound systems. Amid the night-time revelry, you would lose all your friends and make a whole new set – as the music pulsated through All Saints, Portobello, the WestWay and beyond. Back in the eighties when I first went, the media establishment only gave the Carnival any publicity when trouble occurred. The publicity came usually against the backdrop of police attitudes to the Caribbean community, particularly the black British youth, and how negatively they and the rest of London’s immigrant community were portrayed.  I remember how after dark the mood would turn edgy as the costumes gave way to the sound systems that would shake buildings until after dawn – that feeling where you think it’s going ‘to kick off’, but not in a good way.

With the gentrification of this area in the 1990’s (originally home to a large Caribbean community that sought and fought to establish its identity in London), came new laws and restrictions, but the raw energy and the hedonism of the Notting Hill Carnival is still very much there.

Over time things have changed with changing establishment attitudes and more and more communities around the world make London their home. People of every class, colour, culture, gender and age love an outdoor street party. The Notting Hill Carnival is the biggest street party in the world outside of the Rio Carnival.

Notting Hill Carnival is mainstream now, but every year the carnival is under more pressure from the authorities trying to over-regulate. At one point they seriously agitated for it to be held in Hyde Park. Presumably the authorities wanted the floats going around in circles. It was a laughable concept – no doubt built around the perceived  “need” for residents in the now rich Notting Hill area to have their peace and quiet.

Every year the Carnival organisers have to push back and re-emphasise the essential and vital qualities that an event like this brings to the streets of London – the money, the cultural Kudos, as well as the fact that it is the biggest manifestation of 21st century multi-racial mixing that a world city can have.

As carnival’s floats circle around the larger roads, people in the smaller streets party and dance around the sound systems, which attract big crowds, whilst the mouth-watering smells from the numerous food stalls permeate the air. The old stalwarts, dandies, and characters who have been carnival regulars for decades, mix and mingle with families, tourists, the latest fashionistas and youth coming for a good time.

In 2017 there was Grenfell tower fire that killed nearly 100 working-class and immigrant residents living in this area of west London . The fire was blamed on government neglect of safety standards for low-income housing while West London gentrified. The People were angry, but defiant and determined to have a good time in the aftermath of the tragedy.

Over the past few years, Europe’s biggest multi-cultural urban gathering has become a huge open-air-party-cum-daytime nightclub, as people in this increasingly diverse world city are more determined than ever, to exude positivity and togetherness.  This is something I hope my street photography conveys.

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Andy Hall is an editorial photographer based in London specialising in reportage, with over 35 years experience; travelling all over the world on commission for numerous publications and Organisations including the Guardian and the Observer and UNHCR. His work has featured in many exhibitions and he has collaborated on a number of book projects.  His work on the Sahel region of Africa was screened at the Visa Pour’Image Festival in 2012 and his street photography has earned him accolades, including Finalist in the Brussels Street Photography Festival in 2019 and 2024, and Finalist in the Lensculture street awards 2021.

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All the photos here have been reproduced by kind permission of © Andy Hall photographer. Copies of any of these prints are available on order.