Screening and Talk | Ornette: Made in America

This special evening brings together image, movement, and sound to explore the creative power of improvisation in jazz, in photography, and on the city street.

The talk

The night opens with an illustrated talk by Simon Wheatley, photographer and urban walker, who will present images from his acclaimed Lambeth Walk series. Shot on foot through South London, the work treats walking itself as an art form, a practice of rhythm, attention, and openness to chance. Wheatley unpacks how moving through a city without agenda can become a profound act of seeing.

It's the perfect lens through which to enter what follows.

The film

Ornette: Made in America (Shirley Clarke, 1985)

Shirley Clarke's landmark documentary follows free jazz visionary Ornette Coleman back to his hometown of Fort Worth, Texas, weaving together dazzling live performance, rare archival footage, and bold experimental filmmaking into something that feels as alive and unpredictable as Coleman's music itself.

A vivid portrait of a revolutionary, this is essential viewing for anyone who has ever been moved by jazz, by risk-taking, or by art that refuses to follow the rules.

Why this evening?

Wheatley's wandering eye and Coleman's untethered saxophone have more in common than you might think. Both resist the expected. Both find structure in freedom. Together, they make for a night that will change how you listen, how you look and how you walk home.