Tapestry Celebrating Key Workers by Leading Artist, Michael Armitage, to be Displayed in New History Makers Space when the NPG Reopens in June

Today, the National Portrait Gallery announces its acquisition of John Barry, O Kelly, Sonny and Richard Moore (2022), a tapestry by leading artist, Michael Armitage, that depicts four refuse collectors at work during the UK’s first national lockdown in 2020. The tapestry was made after Armitage’s painting of the same name, created as part of a public commission in 2020 by the Southbank Centre to recognise the efforts of key workers during the Covid-19 pandemic. Acquired by the National Portrait Gallery, the work will be displayed in its tapestry form for the first time when its building reopens on 22 June 2023, hanging in the newly created The National Lottery Heritage Fund Gallery.

Situated on the ground floor of the refurbished building, The National Lottery Heritage Fund Gallery is a new space that will showcase some of the National Portrait Gallery’s most recent acquisitions and commissions. A flexible gallery, the new space will display some of the country’s most important ‘History Makers,’ bringing visitors face-to-face with people who are influential today. John Barry, O Kelly, Sonny and Richard Moore will be exhibited alongside portraits of grime artist, Stormzy; Olympian and Wimbledon Champion, Andy Murray; campaigner, Baroness Doreen Lawrence; and England footballer and Lioness, Lucy Bronze; as well as 130 inspirational women included in an eight metre-long mural, co-created by artists Jann Haworth and Liberty Blake with groups from colleges and communities across the UK.

Michael Armitage : “I have been coming to the National Portrait Gallery for many years. The exhibitions and paintings in its Collection have been created by artists I look up to and have been influenced by. This tapestry is about community and the workers in the community that go largely unseen. It is a privilege to have this work be part of the National Portrait Gallery Collection and gives me great pleasure to know that these workers will be recognised in a public space in the heart of London.”