BT Road to 2012: Changing Pace

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A new London 2012 Olympic exhibition will open on Monday 25th July at the National Portrait Gallery. BT Road to 2012: Changing Pace which will feature a range of striking new portraits of athletes with their mentors and the people behind the games. Thanks to generous funding from BT, a premi er partner of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad, BT Road to 2012: Changing Pace will be part of the three-year exhibition cycle creating up to 100 newly commissioned photographic portraits celebrating the people who will collectively make the London 2012 Games happen. Portraits include athletes such as paralympic swimmer Eleanor Simmonds, three-day eventer Pippa Funnell, rowers Andy Triggs-Hogg and Pete Reed, gymnast Louis Smith, Taekwondo world number one Aaron Cook, and behind the scenes GB team kit designer Stella McCartney, Cultural Olympiad Director Ruth MacKenzie, Commissioning Editor for Channel 4 Deborah Poulton, BBC Broadcaster Sue Barker and Director of Paralympic Integration Chris Holmes, amongst others. The portraits have been taken by Finlay MacKay and Emma Hardy, the latest photographers to be commissioned for the BT Road to 2012 Project as part of the Cultural Olympiad. MacKay creates highly crafted scenarios showing top athletes in action with their mentors whilst Hardy strives to show the thinking behind the games as opposed to performance creating an intense connection with her sitters.