Vivienne Westwood © Jillian Edelstein
Discover the stories behind the images
Join us at for a fascinating conversation between acclaimed portrait photographer Jillian Edelstein and celebrated fashion historian, writer and curator Judith Watt.
From the worlds of fashion and celebrity to the stories behind the images, this promises to be an entertaining and insightful exploration of photography, creativity and the people who shape our visual culture.
Renowned for her compelling portraits of some of the world’s most recognisable faces, Jillian brings a wealth of experience and stories from behind the lens. Judith, whose expertise spans fashion history and photography, will guide the conversation, uncovering the inspirations and encounters that have shaped Jillian’s remarkable career.
Expect lively discussion, intriguing anecdotes and a rare opportunity to discover the stories behind the photographs in our current exhibition Stardust.
📅 28 November 2026
🕒 11:00
🎟️ Free (but donation suggested)
About
Jillian Edelstein is an internationally acclaimed photographer renowned for her compelling portraits of artists, writers, musicians and public figures. Her photographs are held in major public and private collections, and her work has been widely exhibited and published internationally. Combining technical mastery with remarkable empathy, she creates portraits that reveal both the public presence and private humanity of her subjects. Jillian was born in Cape Town and started her career working as a press photographer. In the eighties she moved to London, where she is currently based, to study photojournalism. Her portraits have been featured in many major international publications, from The New York Times Magazine to Vogue, and her work has been recognised and exhibited worldwide.
Between 1996 and 2002, Jillian produced a very significant project documenting the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa, which culminated in the book Truth and Lies, published in 2002 and won the John Kobal Book Award. It represents a unique visual account of both the victims’ and the offenders’ stories.
Judith Watt is a dress and fashion historian, an educator, curator, broadcaster and writer. Her expertise is reflected in an extensive body of published work that includes her series on photographer Nick Knight’s SHOWstudio.com, ‘Serious Frivolities’, that features her rare archive of La Gazette du Bon Ton magazine that changed the visual art of fashion forever in Paris in 1912. Her books include The Penguin Book of Twentieth Century Fashion Writing; Ossie Clark, 1965-1974, (V&A) VOGUE ON: ELSA SCHIAPARELLI, DOGS in VOGUE; ALEXANDER MCQUEEN, GLAM: The Performance of Style, TATE Liverpool Exhibition catalogue, THE PHAIDON FASHION BOOK, The Encyclopedia of Clothing and Fashion. She is contributing editor at the acclaimed art and culture magazine ACNE PAPER, written for DAZED and CONFUSED magazine and contributed extensively as writer and consultant to Vogue. She is writing a book on a brilliant artisanal fashion designer and decorative artist, a leading creator of ‘modern luxury and zero waste practice, working in the tradition of art-meets-fashion. A bibliophile from an early age, Judith is cataloguing her extensive, rare collection of books, magazines and ephemera that have inspired former students, many of them leading lights in photography, creative direction, journalism and design. These publications and books form her library of Fashion: Histories, Art, Culture, and Knowledge which is aimed not only at professionals but, importantly, at young people struggling to access authentic, tangible collection of books that will fire the imagination and open up possibilities for the future in creative fields.
