Joy Adamson – Artist

Joy Adamson (1910–1980) is best known for her conservation work and Born Free, but she was also a prolific artist and photographer. Trained as an artist, she brought a keen visual sensibility and remarkable powers of observation to her encounters with the natural world. Her detailed botanical paintings recorded hundreds of East African plants, while her portraits documented people from many of Kenya’s communities.

Photography became another important part of Joy’s practice. She made hundreds of photographs of lions and other African wildlife, recording animals at unusually close quarters and often over extended periods of time. Her images of Elsa the lioness and her cubs are particularly significant, combining intimate observation with a sustained record of animal behaviour. Seen alongside her paintings, Joy’s photographs reveal a lifelong practice of communicating the natural world through images.