A new outdoor photography exhibition opens on Brighton seafront this week celebrating one of Sussex’s best-kept secrets: its role as a critical hub for international diplomacy.
The exhibition, entitled ‘The Art of Diplomacy’, brings the work of Wilton Park to the public for the first time in a free, open-air format, showcasing images captured by Sussex photographer Graham Carlow. The exhibition shows the candid moments as activists, academics, and policymakers work together on some of the world’s most urgent challenges.
Wilton Park, an Executive Agency of the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, is based at Wiston House in the South Downs, just miles from Brighton’s seafront. Founded in 1946 by German-born Oxford academic Sir Heinz Koeppler, the organisation began life as an education centre for German prisoners of war, helping to rebuild democracy in post-war Germany. It has since grown into one of the UK’s most discreet but most valued international assets, convening around 80 policy dialogues each year with thousands of participants from more than 100 countries.
This year marks both the organisation’s 80th anniversary and 75 years of its association with Sussex.; a milestone the exhibition is designed to celebrate alongside the local communities that have long supported its mission.
The conversations captured in Carlow’s photographs span some of the defining challenges of our time, including climate change, global health, conflict prevention and democratic resilience. Together they offer a rare and intimate glimpse into the patient and vital work of international diplomacy.
Tom Cargill, Chief Executive of Wilton Park, said: “Wilton Park is proud to have called Sussex home for over 75 years. It has been vital to our success and has supported decades of British foreign policy development. This region is and should be recognised as a critical hub for international diplomacy. We’re proud to mark this milestone not just by looking back at what dialogue has made possible, but by considering what it can still achieve. This seafront has welcomed people from every corner of the world for centuries. In many ways, it is the perfect place to tell this story.”
Photographer Graham Carlow added: “When you spend time at Wilton Park, you quickly realise that the most important moments are the quiet ones, a conversation over coffee, two people leaning in across a table, someone genuinely reconsidering their position. These are not the images you usually associate with global diplomacy, but they are where the real work happens. I hope that when people stop to look at these photographs on their way along the seafront, they see something of themselves in them. Dialogue is not a skill reserved for ministers and ambassadors. It starts with all of us.”
The exhibition reflects a deep connection between Wilton Park and the region it calls home. Brighton and the Sussex coast have for centuries been places of arrival, exchange and reinvention; qualities that, the organisers say, make this part of the country a natural fit for an organisation built on openness and dialogue. Sussex provides the warm welcome and acceptance that underpins Wilton Park’s international policy dialogues.
The outdoor format means the exhibition is free and accessible to all, inviting residents and visitors alike to engage with the question of what honest, respectful dialogue can achieve, not just on the world stage, but closer to home and in their lives too.
The Art of Diplomacy is open now on Brighton seafront and will run until June 16th.
