Today saw the opening of Carnival 60: Ian Watts at Outernet, a new immersive installation celebrating 60 years of Notting Hill Carnival through the remarkable photographic archive of renowned photographer Ian Watts.
Tottenham Court Road came alive with Watt’s vibrant and striking photography celebrating Notting Hill Carnival one of the UK’s most iconic cultural events.
Speaking to ALT A Arts and Culture Editor Joy at the opening, Watts stated he could never have imagined, when he took some of the images on display in 1976, that he would one day see them displayed on the huge screens at Outernet.
Running from 27 August to 2 September, the free exhibition transforms Watts’ extensive Notting Hill Carnival archive into an immersive visual experience across Outernet London’s giant screens.
The exhibition takes visitors on a journey through six decades of Carnival. It begins with vibrant full-colour images from recent years before moving back to Watts’ striking black-and-white photographs from his first visits to Carnival in the 1970s.
Images from the 1980s and 1990s follow, before the exhibition moves through photographs taken between 2000 and 2019, documenting the continued growth of Carnival, from increasingly spectacular costumes to larger sound systems. The final sequence brings visitors back to the Carnival of today.
Watts’ own journey began in 1976 when, as a teenager living in a youth hostel in Harlesden, North West London, he bought a second-hand camera and began photographing the local area. Friends suggested he visit Notting Hill Carnival, and he took his new camera with him. It was the beginning of a photographic journey that has continued for decades. Since then, Watts has attended and documented every Notting Hill Carnival except one.
Watts described the exhibition as the culmination of a long photographic journey, bringing together images taken on analogue cameras in the 1970s and 1980s alongside his more recent digital work.
For him, the exhibition is more than a collection of photographs. It is a record of a community, his community, a culture and a changing London, connected across generations by the people, energy, creativity and spirit of Carnival.
A remarkable feat to have one of the most comprehensive Notting Hill Carnival photo archives on Outernet’s giant screens to mark 60 years of Carnival.
Carnival 60: Ian Watts at Outernet runs until 2 September and is free to visit. More about Ian Watts HERE
The Notting Hill Carnival 2026 takes place over three days from Saturday, August 29 to Monday, August 31, 2026, marking sixty years since the first Carnival in 1966.
