Tuesday saw the preview of BBC One’s Extraordinary Portraits exhibition, hosted by actor and comedian Bill Bailey, at Bradford’s new arts venue, the Loading Bay. Now on its fourth series, Extraordinary Portraits celebrates unsung heroes across the country through a series of specially commissioned portraits and artworks.
Bailey said: “I thought it was really simple but a novel idea that you take stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary things and you make their picture.”
He added: “It’s surprisingly moving – I think there’s something about seeing yourself as others see you which this programme captures, and I think that’s something that doesn’t happen often in our normal lives.”
Credit: Steve Lake (BBC)
The event took place in Marks & Spencer’s former storage building, the Loading Bay, which opened this month in light of Bradford being named City of Culture of the year.
In the show the artists get the chance to meet their subject and become acquainted with one another. Within this process the artists are able to immerse themselves into their sitters’ lives and meet their loved ones to help capture an accurate and nuanced final product Each artist was matched with a subject who suited their work. Many of the pairings found themselves to form an emotional connection and friendship within the process.
Credit: Steve Lake (BBC)
The goalie and the ‘lost lioness’
Among the artists is ex-footballer, David James, who first started painting in 2005 when he took part in a documentary prior to the 2006 World Cup. He was paired with Gill Sayell, a former ‘lost lioness’. Sayell played in the unofficial Women’s World Cup of 1971, Copa 71. However, the England team returned home to be shamed, forgotten and banned from football altogether.
James said: “I didn’t know Gill beforehand, I knew nothing of Copa 71 and I just thought it was going to be an easy conversation.”
He added: “There’s a lot of darkness in Gill’s story but it leads to what I believe is a very light place.”
As well as playing in Copa 71, Sayell is also one of the founding members of the Arsenal women’s team today. James said: “For Arsenal to be one of the most dominant women’s teams in football is because of essentially Gill and the commitment and sacrifices these ladies had to make.”
Credit: Steve Lake (BBC)
Extraordinary Portraits: honouring everyday people with extraordinary stories
When talking about the history of portraiture, Bailey said: “It’s the great and the good, you know, aristocracy, the well-connected, royalty – usually blokes. Let’s be honest it’s usually supercilious blokes on a horse.”
He added: “This show democratises the art of portraiture and shows that actually it’s about ordinary people doing amazing things and why shouldn’t these people be celebrated in art?”
Bailey expressed his hopes for other local artists to be inspired by the exhibition.
He said: “I love this because I can really take a back seat. It’s not about me, it’s about the artists, it’s about the people.”
Among those having their portraits done is a lost lioness whose achievements were erased from history for over half a century, a couple who have fostered over 200 children and a young woman with incurable cancer who set up a charity to support others diagnosed at a young age.
All episodes of Extraordinary Portraits are now available on BBC iPlayer. The exhibition at the Loading Bay opens to the public on 13 March. Admission is free.
Filipa Justino and Freya Ingram interview artists at the launch of BBC One’s Extraordinary Portraits:
