"The Notting Hill Carnival" Poster

This is a poster for "The Notting Hill Carnival" in London. The carnival has taken place on every August Bank Holday since 1966 and it is the biggest carnival in Europe. The carnival started out as a local festival in the Notting Hill area, set up by the West Indian community. It has now become a "full-blooded Caribbean carnival", attracting millions of visitors from all over the world.

To create the poster, I used clay, greyboard, feathers, coloured paper and gouache. A while ago, I created the eye as a random piece of art. I quite liked it and wanted it to be part of a "bigger picture" which is when I decided to do a poster for the carnival, which this "panel" could be part of. I set about designing different "panels" which would fit together to make the overall poster. I wanted the poster to have a handmade quality which encompassed the feel of the carnival where the majority of the costumes are handmade 3-4 months before the carnival. It was important that the poster also reflected the fun "party" atmosphere and the vibrancy of the Carribean culture.

I have been working on this piece, on and off for a while now, hence the "panel" with the 2010 date which I created before the 2011 date was proposed. Overall I am quite pleased with this work. I enjoyed making the different "panels" of the poster. If I were to change anything, it would be the typography at the bottom of the poster. I would use the same type that I used for the title and I would keep all the type used in the poster the same. However, I think the various fonts emphasise the poster's eclectic appearance.

(Click on image for larger view)

Thanks for visiting!

Please check back soon for more work.

Alison.