The making of 'Carmen' - a new film by Dame Sonia Boyce about Carmen Munroe

Wandsworth resident, Dame Sonia Boyce came to prominence in the early 1980s as a key figure in the burgeoning Black-British art scene of that time. Her large pastel drawings depicting domestic scenes of Afro Caribbean life in the UK explored questions of identity, race and cultural difference, themes that continue to inform her career. 

Although Sonia’s work has moved away from drawing to embrace a practice that includes photography, video and installation, her approach still reflects on the differences and more-often, similarities, of cultures. 

In 1999, Sonia began an on-going project titled Devotional, an archive of music, memorabilia and names of black female musicians and actors whose voices have played a crucial part in the soundtrack of Britain. To this day, the archive grows and these names, that have been shared with her by members of the public, have led to several artworks focussing on icons of stage and screen. 

In 2022, His Majesty, King Charles, commissioned Sonia, (alongside nine other artists,) to create portraits for the Royal Collection, later titled, Windrush: Portraits of a Pioneering Generation.  This group of portraits celebrates the invaluable contributions made by people from the Caribbean who arrived in Britain between 1948 – 1960. For this commission, Sonia was paired with British actress and fellow Wandsworth Borough resident, Carmen Munroe, born in British Guiana, (now Guyana,) in 1932. Carmen is best known for her television roles in The Persuaders, Doctor Who and the award-winning, long running Channel 4 sitcom, Desmond’s, as well as her leading roles in London’s West End theatre and co-founding Talawa, the UK's leading black theatre company.

Sonia was thrilled to be working with Carmen, describing her as “a true legend” and commenting, “Since her early days as an actress in the 1960s, she has become the face of modern Britain. And has come to represent a beautiful and vivacious mother-figure for my own second-generation Afro-Caribbeans in the UK.” 

Sonia has been working with film and video for years and it was clear from the start that a camera would be the perfect way to capture Carmen Munroe. 

Although no formal archive is available there is a rich visual collection of Carmen’s work available if you hunt around online and Sonia created a 20-minute showreel of Munroe’s greatest hits with scenes from television and theatre and clips of interviews about Carmen with fellow theatre directors and actors. 

Included was a performance of the poem ‘I’ll Walk with You’ by Giles Terera written by the actor for his Walk in the Light series at the National Theatre, a programme of events celebrating the contribution of Black artists to British Theatre.  The poem reflects on the importance performers such as Carmen made on the Black community and British society as a whole when he was growing up in the 70s and 80s.

Working with Sonia’s regular film crew we arranged an intimate film shoot in the cinema at The Exhibit in Balham where we could project the showreel on the big screen. We invited Carmen to take a seat and contemplate her vast body of work while our film crew and photographer quietly captured her as she watched. 

The commissioned portrait, now in the Royal Collection, is a still image of Carmen with the warm glow of the cinema screen reflecting in her face. Purple and blue flowers from her dress have taken life and blossom around her. Turquoise glitter highlights the tips of the buds making the portrait sparkle as the viewer moves position. 

This session with Carmen only lasted a couple of hours but her energy, charisma and life experience captivated us. She made Sonia and me howl with laughter at subsequent catch ups over tea and cake and after Sonia had delivered her commission to the Royal Collection, we knew we weren’t finished with the remarkable Carmen Munroe. 

The bid team for Wandsworth Borough of Culture reached out to Sonia in 2024 asking if there might be a project we could develop should Wandsworth win. Sonia felt there couldn’t be a better way to celebrate the Borough than by developing a film that celebrates Carmen. 

We were delighted when the bid was won and called up our colleague, director and film editor Michelle Tofi and set to work. We also employed a researcher, Kimberly Johnson to start building an archive on Carmen’s life and work which as well as informing the film could also act as a legacy for the project. 

The result of this commission is two pronged. Firstly, the beginnings of what we hope will develop into a more formal archive of Carmen and secondly, completed at the end of 2025, the two-channel film, Carmen. 

Part portrait, part historical document; one screen lingers on Munroe as she watches the montage of her own performances, while the other displays significant dates and milestones in her career. The two screens interweave fact, history and personal anecdote, illuminating Munroe’s ambition, tenacity and prowess in her craft, while emphasizing her own voice and perspective. This mesmerising video artwork traces Munroe’s impact as an artist and activist and highlights her importance within British culture 

Our hope is that the film and this burgeoning archive can be developed into a more formal legacy to acknowledge the trailblazing work of Dame Carmen Munroe and celebrate the immeasurable impact she has had on generations. 

The film will be premiered in Wandsworth at World Heart Beat on 3rd March2026.

From the end of April the work can be viewed for free at Battersea Arts Centre. 

Niamh Sullivan, Head of Production and Studio at Sonia Boyce Studio