Colour transparency; Notting Hill Carnival dancer, by Hugh Robertson, 1994

This dancer is one of many in the procession at Notting Hill Carnival wearing spectacular orange costumes with golden headdresses. The cultural and musical traditions that make up carnival were brought to Britain by West Indian immigrants, many of whom came over in the 1950s. In 1959, Claudia Jones started the first carnival in St Pancras Town Hall. She was an outstanding civil rights activist and editor of the West Indian Gazette. The carnival was a response to fierce race riots that had erupted in Notting Hill the previous year. Jones's motto for the Carnival was 'A people's art is the genesis of their freedom.' However today everyone is invited to the party, which reflects the multicultural nature of the capital.