The Predecessors

While you wait for the portraits to be created, take a look at the portraits that led to this project. Wanting to celebrate the people in her village, artist Melissa Speed asked the chair of her community group to sit for a portrait at a village event. This prompted a neighbour to suggest she create a portrait of the oldest, most longstanding resident of the village. She then began to think about the people who have contributed to the county's creative input, which led to a set of portraits of singer-songwriter John Tams, who sat for her in the spring of 2023. From then it was a year of planning, researching, and organising to get to the official launch of We Are All Derbyshire in the summer of 2024.