A new chapter of British Beauty

Permissible Beauty is a multi-layered research and portraiture project that responds to the absence of Black Queer visibility in our national story and heritage, exploring and celebrating what is unique about British Black and Queer identity.

The project, led by the Research Centre for Museums and Galleries at the University of Leicester and based on an original idea by performer, songwriter and art historian David McAlmont is three years in the making and brings McAlmont together with photographer Robert Taylor (National Portrait Gallery and Victoria & Albert collections) film director Mark Thomas of Soup Collective and researcher and writer Professor Richard Sandell to realise this project as a film and an immersive installation at Hampton Court Palace.

Researching and visiting some of this country’s finest historic art collections, specifically the renowned Windsor Beauties, Hampton Court Beauties, Petworth Beauties and the Suffolk Collection at Kenwood, the group have explored how fresh ways of celebrating beauty might be unlocked and how more expansive expressions might be brought into view. The opportunity to work with the curatorial teams at Historic Royal Palaces, English Heritage and the National Trust has enriched their thinking.

Permissible Beauty is led by the Research Centre for Museums and Galleries at the University of Leicester and generously supported by Arts Council England through a National Lottery Project Grant. The installation has received additional financial support from the University of Leicester’s Economic and Social Research Council funded Impact Acceleration Account.