Turner’s House had the honour to welcome Dr Debbie Weekes-Bernard, Deputy
Mayor of London for Communities and Social Justice, and Fiona Sacks,
Sanctuary Champion, on Wednesday 12 August 2026 as part of a visit to local organisations supported by the Sanctuary Fund.
The visit offered an opportunity to celebrate Tales & Travels, a creative programme
made possible with support from the Fund. This year’s theme, ‘What we carried and
what we left behind’, brought together women from different countries, including
Ukraine, Russia and Turkey, who are building new lives in the UK.
Across eight sessions, participants experimented with a range of artistic media and
techniques, while sharing experiences, meeting others and enjoying the process of
making art together. The programme was led by artists and facilitators Sasa Marinkov,
Diana Gotlieb, Riecha Kapoor and Sara Avila Abud.
To mark the visit, artworks created by participants were displayed throughout
Sandycombe Lodge. The exhibition offered the Deputy Mayor and representatives from
other Sanctuary Fund-supported organisations a chance to discover the participants’
creative outcomes and see first-hand what the funding had made possible at
Turner’s House.
Tales & Travels reflects how art and heritage can create spaces for people to meet,
share, create and build a sense of welcome and belonging.
Turner’s House was delighted to welcome visitors as part of this year’s Open House Festival on Saturday 12 September 2026, opening the doors free of charge to J.M.W. Turner’s former Georgian retreat.
What can J.M.W. Turner’s paintings tell us about the changing environment? Many a story. In July 2024, Turner’s House welcomed broadcaster and environmental campaigner Chris Packham CBE, who opened A World of Care: Turner and the Environment, an exhibition exploring Turner’s response to a world undergoing rapid change.
In 1819, at the age of 44, J.M.W. Turner finally made the journey to Italy that he had long dreamed of – a country he would later call the ‘land of all bliss’. Seeing the Light, held at Turner’s House from Friday 7 July until Sunday 29 October 2023, explored this pivotal journey through a selection of watercolours and works tracing Turner’s first impressions of the country that would profoundly shape his art.
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