Vic Moy, a London-based photographer raised in a belief system where children were seen but not heard, describes her work as a deliberate act of permission—to speak, feel, reflect, heal and grow. She has spoken of a hopeful future, where “it's safe to feel, somewhere frostbite doesn’t exist,” a line that threads through her practice and colours the emotional gravity of her images. Moy’s Notting Hill Carnival project sits at the heart of that intention, offering a quiet, intimate counterpoint to the spectacle around her. The Guardian’s archive of Notting Hill Carnival photography captures the festival’s decades-long energy, colour and pageantry, as well as the evolving dynamics of crowd movement and community under threat from far-reaching social pressures. The juxtaposition helps situate Moy’s work within a broader chronicle of a city’s infrastructural and cultural shifts as it welcomes diverse communities to the streets of West London.

Last year Moy returned to Notting Hill Carnival for a second pass, steering her approach with more time spent in cultural research before raising her camera. She describes the series as “a story of resilience and one of joy,” and explains that her preparation centres on listening to the people around her and tracing the journeys of elders who helped shape the UK’s Black British history. Her intent was to reveal the small, radiant moments—feathers, flag capes and dollar chains—while focusing on inner beauty, identity and the extraordinary spirit of each individual. The project is also framed by a broader discourse around representation and collaboration; Moy has noted the importance of addressing disability representation through advocacy work associated with With Not For, an organisation dedicated to inclusive practice in the creative industries and beyond.

Notting Hill Carnival remains, in this account, a living, evolving symbol of London’s diversity, built on Caribbean migration and the Windrush era. Reuters has described the festival as a space of unity and cultural exchange, underscoring its role in promoting inclusion even as the city contends with racially charged incidents and a complicated public memory of the Windrush generation. The event’s scale and its social significance are echoed by AP News, which documents hundreds of thousands attending over two days—the Children’s Day and the adult parade—while situating the carnival within the broader historical arc of migration, post-war Britain and the ongoing challenges of security and community resilience. Taken together, Moy’s intimate photography and the wider coverage of the carnival sketch a portrait of Notting Hill as a site where art, memory and advocacy intersect, and where inclusive representation remains an active, evolving practice.

📌 Reference Map:

Reference Map:

Source: Noah Wire Services