Creative Joy Gregory on Her New Project: ‘A Lot Collaborators I Collaborated With Have Passed Away’

In the eighties, Joy Gregory studied at the RCA alongside fellow creator, who was putting together a showcase of Black photographic art. Piper invited me to contribute some work,” says the 65-year-old artist.

Although he admired her explorations into colonial themes, racial issues, gender, and aesthetics, the curators turned down her entry claiming it did not seem “sufficiently Black.” One must recognize the atmosphere of that era,” Gregory explains. At the time, I was taking pictures of blossoms. In my view, you have the right to create any work they choose. By shutting down what is acceptable, they start to restrict oneself.”

Understanding the possibilities of photography has always been key to her work. This path began with self-portraits and experimentation. The 1990s piece titled Autoportrait—a set of multiple black-and-white images—remains among her best-known creations.

Her oeuvre spans still-life, portraiture, film, and fabric art, tackling themes like identity, cultural memory, and linguistic traditions. Over 250 pieces will be shown at her retrospective titled Catching Flies With Honey in the Whitechapel Gallery starting this fall.

One particularly meaningful recent work required two decades to complete. “The new commission focuses on research I’ve conducted from 2003 on at-risk dialects,” she says. “I’ve worked with a single group and family for over two decades. A lot of the individuals who participated are no longer with us, and it was important to produce an object to show the community.”

Born in Bicester in the late 1950s to Jamaican parents, she was creative early on. Gregory painted, designed garments, and read constantly. “We resided near a bindery, and when volumes were discarded, I would retrieve them,” she said. Her initial photographic tool became a major gift by her relatives.

Her aspirations have always been simple: The aim was simply to produce meaningful art.” The artist values experimentation and human touch rather than flawless tech. In digital imaging, each image is perfect. But I’m drawn to the concept of manual process—each print as unique and impossible to duplicate.”

Highlighted Pieces from the Show

Memory and Skin, 1998
It constituted the initial significant project I undertook,” says the artist. “It explored the dynamic between the West and the Caribbean. Being raised in a Caribbean family in Europe, you become speaking two languages, navigating two cultures. It was about looking between the two.”

The Fairest, 1999
Gregory got interested in the reasons someone would want to go blond,” the artist comments. She chose individuals from both European-descent and diverse backgrounds to discuss their perspectives.”

The Blonde, 1997–2010
Around 1998, we saw suddenly many non-European people with blonde hair,” she recalls. These individuals were challenging ideas of self-expression and appearance. Some furious reactions in online forums, yet it proved fascinating to witness people experimenting with personal identity.”

The Handbag Project, 1998–present
The handbags are sourced to London from abroad,” notes the artist. “I aimed to create something physical, using alternative photographic methods. Every result was a surprise.”

Language of Flowers, 1992–2004
This use of cyanotype felt fitting because it was a 19th-century method,” Gregory says. The work echoes plant-based history and the human quest for permanence within a fragile world.”

Catching Flies With Honey will be open at the gallery from 8 October to 1 March.