Norman Bailey is an artist with extensive experience in theatre, TV, radio and film.  The focus of his creative practice is storytelling for positive social change. He combines traditional Caribbean storytelling techniques with digital media to create immersive storytelling experiences. In addition to his creative practice, he works in education devising and facilitating empowering education and training courses. 

Pathfinders: Sunday Best

Current Projects

An exhibition exploring identity, style, and the enduring power of being seen.

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

An exhibition exploring identity, style, and the enduring power of being seen. Sunday best. The phrase begins in church — your finest clothes, worn on the day of rest. But for Caribbean communities in Britain, it became something far richer: a cultural language, a declaration of dignity..

Pathfinders: Sunday Best explores how dress, colour, and self-presentation have been used by Caribbean communities to express pride, identity, and belonging. Through portraits, personal objects, archival photographs, and first-hand stories, the exhibition invites visitors to see Sunday best not as vanity, but as an act of authorship — the right to define how you are seen.

The exhibition builds on the legacy of the neighbourhood photo studios that documented the Windrush generation, reimagining the studio as a contemporary space of celebration. Visitors are invited not just to look, but to contribute their own stories and objects to the growing Pathfinders archive.

4 - 15 August 2026

Royal Birmingham Society of Artists

Gallery 1

4 Brook Street,  St. Paul’s Square,  Birmingham B3 1SA

Pathfinders

A COMMUNITY ARCHAEOLOGY PROJECT

Pathfinders is a community archaeology project, which commemorates and celebrates important  British Caribbean history. The Pathfinder Project is an opportunity to uncover and share important stories, which deepen the public conversation about the past, present and future of modern multicultural Britain.

Thanks to National Lottery Players 

Pathfinder: A Hero's Welcome
By
Norman Bailey

Pathfinder - A Hero’s Welcome is a Windrush generation story. The story, based on real events, is peppered with verbatim testimony from archival material associated with Caribbean British heritage. The story uncovers hidden layers of London’s cultural, historical, and geographical landscape. 

A Hero’s Welcome tells the story of a Jamaican-born RAF war hero’s post-WWII adventures.  Answering the call for British Commonwealth citizens to help with Britain’s post-war regeneration, Barnsley Peterson boards the Empire Windrush for a new life in England.  However, the hero’s welcome he expects is harder to come by than he anticipates.  

Current Portfolio Practice

Artistic Director - Seven Winds CIC
Creativity with a Purpose

Seven Winds brings together a diverse network of creative thinkers, filmmakers, teachers, and community leaders. Seven Winds creative programmes are focal points for change in aspirations and skills, which equip people with the tools they need to live happy, fulfilling lives and enable them to make a positive contribution to their community.

seven-windscic.com

Guest Lecturer - Central School of Speech and Drama

As a lecturer at I share knowledge on Applied theatre, immersive theatre, and Caribbean participatory storytelling.   My teaching is designed to inspire the next generation of great storytellers about how to use storytelling to create socially and historically relevant drama that affects positive societal change.

 

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Norman Bailey 



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Norman Bailey