At the beginning of 2026, award-winning Kendal-based artist Lela Harris had the surprise of her life when The New York Times commissioned her to create a portrait of Martin Luther King Jr., the art now on display at the Abbot Hall Gallery in Kendal, Cumbria.
The original artwork of this portrait is currently on show at Abbot Hall Art Gallery in Kendal, as part of Lela’s joint exhibition, “Familial Traces”, with Joshua Donkor, until 3rd October 2026.
“Familial Traces” brings together two emerging portrait artists whose work explores identity, heritage, migration and the stories that shape who we are.
Through painting and drawing, Joshua Donkor and Lela Harris reflect on complex family histories and the search for connection across generations. Their work considers what it means to belong, how we understand home, and how personal and cultural memory can shape our sense of self.
Joshua Donkor, a British Ghanaian artist, uses portraiture to explore his connections to Ghana, his ancestral homeland, and the relationships, feelings and histories that link him to that place. Inspired by the cultural narratives of his sitters, he creates multi-layered portraits that weave together personal stories, family archives and cultural references.
Lela Harris, who grew up in the UK, approaches family history from a different position. Through painting and drawing, she explores absence, memory and history, using portraiture to fill in some of the blanks left by missing or incomplete connections to the past.
Together, their work shines a light on people, histories and experiences not always represented in traditional British portraiture. Familial Traces invites visitors to reflect on the many stories that shape Britain today — and on the value of lives, cultures and contributions too often left out of museum spaces.
This is a thoughtful and deeply human exhibition about family, identity, belonging and the traces we carry with us.
Lela’s NYT commission, from Art Director of The Opinion, Rebecca Chew, accompanied an article on the world renowned American civil rights activist and the future of voting rights. It was published to commemorate Martin Luther King Day, which is celebrated in the United States on 18th January every year – the result of a 15-year campaign advocating for a national holiday to honour the civil rights leader.
The article, published19th January in the newspaper – “Martin Luther King’s Son to the Supreme Court: Preserve Our Democracy” – is available to read online.
Inspired by archival research, memory and imagination, Lela Harris creates emotive portraits that celebrate and remember people who have often been overlooked by history.
“The essay is a beautifully written piece by Martin Luther King III and Norman J Orstein and I’m beyond honoured to have been commissioned,” says Lela.
Exploring the work of Lela Harris
Creatively curious by nature, Lela’s work is inspired by her imagination, historical research, documentary photography and the possibilities of different mediums, techniques and surfaces; resulting in an eclectic mix of work with a strong focus on portraiture.
Her creative practice is driven by a desire to uncover the stories of those often overlooked and marginalised by history. Adding humanity and a full inner life to the characters she depicts, each subject is an exploration of identity and belonging. Through sensitively observed figurative paintings and drawings her work seeks to explore and expand our understanding of the everyday lives hopes dreams and fears of ordinary people in a bid to close gaps in representation.
Receiving nationwide recognition of her work Harris was awarded the Youdells Art Prize by The Lake Artists Society i. 2024, and was a finalist for the Museums Association Decolonisation Award 2023 for her “Black Lancastrians” Exhibition at the Judges’ Lodgings Museum in Lancaster and awarded Runner Up in the V&A Illustration Awards 2022 Book Cover Category for her work on the first illustrated edition of The Color Purple by Alice Walker, published by the Folio Society.
Her work resides in private collections around the world and has been acquired by several public collections including Abbot Hall Gallery, Kendal; Judges’ Lodgings Museum, Lancaster and Lancaster University.
• Explore more of Lela Harris work and by originals or prints at lelaharris.co.uk
• Joshua Donkor & Lela Harris: Familial Traces: An exploration into memory, culture, and connection runs at Abbot Hall, Kendal, Cumbria, until 3rd October 2026 | Open 10.00am until 4.00pm daily | Admission included with the price of a gallery ticket | Web: lakelandarts.org.uk/abbot-hall
• The Color Purple Illustrated By Lela Harris is available here from The Folio Society
One of the greatest works of modern fiction, Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Color Purple is presented in a beautifully crafted Folio edition, price £55
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
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