The National Portrait Gallery is currently featuring a stunning portrait of Blackheath High School alumna, journalist and newsreader, Charlene White, in its ‘Black is the New Black’ exhibit. The work, created by Simon Frederick, brings together exceptional figures from the world of politics, business, culture, religion and science and celebrates black British achievement today.

The display, on show in Room 33 until 27 January 2019, is not the only place that recent Blackheath alumnae feature in the iconic gallery. The Rebel Women Trail initiative challenges the traditionally white and male focus on portraiture by inviting notable contemporary women to nominate trailblazing women from history to feature front and centre throughout the gallery.

Among the ten thought-leaders selected to curate the selection is Liv Little, Blackheath High School alumna and founder / editor of gal-dem (online & print magazine where all of the content is produced by women and non-binary people of colour), and newly appointed Executive Producer at the BBC Factual Editing Team, who selected Olive Morris – a feminist activist instrumental in the black feminist movement of Seventies Britain – to be removed from the archives and celebrated in Room 32 of the gallery.

Blackheath High School alumnae are in good company at the gallery, with portraits of their contemporaries, iconic fashion designer Mary Quant and renowned artist Jeane Cooke, also on display.