Chantal Joffe and Olivia Laing in conversation with Luke Syson

Join Chantal Joffe and Olivia Laing in conversation with Luke Syson, Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum, to celebrate their new book (MACK Books), a luminous record of ten years of collaboration. Together they’ll discuss creativity, friendship and the strange alchemy between painting and writing, as well as Joffe's new exhibition, , on view at Victoria Miro.

6:30pm: Doors open

7–8pm: Talk followed by a book signing

This event is free; booking is essential.

Painting Writing Texting chronicles the friendship between painter Chantal Joffe and writer Olivia Laing, which began in 2016 when Joffe approached Laing to ask if they would sit for a portrait. From this unexpected encounter, the two embarked on an expansive and ranging collaboration, fuelled by high-speed conversations about art, books, and their shared attempts to understand the world.

Chantal Joffe: I Remember

I Remember takes its title from Joe Brainard’s iconic memoir and is inspired by the late American writer’s poetic prompts that evoke the atmosphere and time of memories. Joffe’s paintings attempt to capture the fleeting yet enduring nature of memory and how it shapes our sense of self.

About Chantal Joffe

Chantal Joffe RA is a renowned British painter who has exhibited nationally and internationally most recently at The Exchange, Penzance, UK (2025); The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK (2023–24); and The Modern, Fort Worth, Texas, USA (2022). Her work is in numerous institutional collections, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA; National Portrait Gallery, London, UK; and The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK. Joffe has created a major public work for the Elizabeth line in London titled A Sunday Afternoon in Whitechapel, on view at Whitechapel Elizabeth line station.

About Olivia Laing

Olivia Laing is an internationally acclaimed writer and critic. They’re the author of eight books, including The Lonely City, Everybody and the Sunday Times number one bestseller, The Garden Against Time. Laing’s first novel, Crudo, won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. Laing is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Arts, and in 2018 was awarded the Windham-Campbell Prize for non-fiction. Their critically acclaimed new novel The Silver Book is a thriller set in the Italian film world in the 1970s, leading up to the M**der of Pasolini.

About Luke Syson

Luke Syson is Director and Marlay Curator of the Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge, UK. He was previously the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Chairman of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA; Curator of Italian Painting and Head of Research at the National Gallery, London, UK; Curator of Medals at the British Museum, London; and Senior Curator for the Medieval and Renaissance Galleries at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

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