London is never short of creative goings-on, but the city's photography scene is a burgeoning source of excitement, with dedicated photography festivals, galleries and even a new photography quarter at the heart of London's Soho. Stay up-to-date with our ongoing guide to the best London photography exhibitions.
London photography exhibitions
‘Flowers / Together pt 2’
Have a Butchers Gallery
Until 17 November
'Flowers / Together pt 2'
A subject of constant inspiration, flowers are returned to by the photographic duo Metz and Racine for an exhibition and book, ‘Flowers / Together pt 2’. Open briefs were given to a cohort of London’s creatives (including Wallpaper*’s own photography director Holly Hay) to see flowers as an anchor point for the most dynamic inventions. Altogether the show and accompanying publication are a testament to the importance of being able to shrug off the constraints of commercial expectations in the creative process. Instead, Metz and Racine celebrate the invigorating chaos that comes from collaboration.
‘Human Stories: The Satirists’
NOW Gallery
Until13 November 2022
Bringing together six rising talents across photography and film, ‘Human Stories: The Satirists’ explores the intersection of visual humour, and interconnected and diverse identities across gender, race and class. Presented by NOW Gallery, alternative worldviews are played with through flair and wit, discarding outdated dialogues. This evocative creativity is a way to ‘traverse cultural modalities of a post-pandemic world,’ curator Kaia Charles explains. The emerging artists include Bubi Canal, Leonard Suryajaya, Nyugen Smith, Thandiwe Muriu, Thy Tran and Stephen Tayo.
Jack Davison - Photographic Etchings
Cob Gallery
Until 12 November 2022
Jack Davison, Untitled (JD), 2022, Photopolymer intaglio, Image size 35x29.5cm Paper Size 76x57cm
Now on show at Cob Gallery, Jack Davison’s ‘Photographic Etchings’ achieves a complex feat. Surreal and sensual compositions are clear and crisp at first look with their dramatic contrast, but as the etchings continue to hold the viewer's gaze they dissolve into a melted chiaroscuro, enveloping us into the second wave of surreality. Tumblr and Flickr’s formative photographic influence is present too, as the platforms on which Davison first explored the medium while photographing the Essex countryside. Combining his interest in the works of Saul Leiter, Shoji Udea, August Sander, and Man Ray, Davison Davison creates his own original strange world that blurs seeing and feeling.
Tyler Mitchell: ‘Chrysalis’
Gagosian, Davies Street
Until 12 November
Tyler Mitchell, Cage, 2022
Idyllic visions of Black beauty, desire, and belonging are lensed by Tyler Mitchell in ‘Chrysalis’, his first London solo show at Gagosian, ahead of the much anticipated ‘The New Black Vanguard’ (to open at the Saatchi Gallery on October 28). Land, water and the sky are woven throughout Mitchell’s utopian visions, as he creates a universe in which the spiritual and the transformative come to the fore. Mitchell explains, ‘Collectively, these moments become figments of an imaginative psychic state of being, one in which radiance, resistance, restraint, comfort, and full human agency exist.’
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Ora-ïto transforms the Renault 17 into a futuristic yet retro-tinged visionThe R17 electric restomod x Ora-ïto is the fourth in Renault's series of designer-led reimaginings of iconic models from its past. We think it's the best of the lot
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First Look: a domestic idyll by Lucy Stark and Fabien Cappello at the Blunk SpaceInspired by the life and times at JB Blunk's haven of a house in Inverness, a new exhibition of paintings and objects has us dreaming of California
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Food writer, Tamar Adler on her perfect restaurant experienceGuest editor Laila Gohar has asked friends and creatives to share their perfect restaurant experience. Here, chef and food writer, Tamar Adler recounts a momentous meal for a happy occasion
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Artist Jonathan Baldock plays hide and seek with the windows of Hermès' London flagshipA series of fantastical, brightly coloured hedges, dotted with peepholes, transform Hermès' New Bond Street store, offering an interactive experience for the passerby
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Penny Slinger’s 1970s erotic Photo Romance asks: ‘Is this where my story begins?’Artist Penny Slinger’s seminal ‘An Exorcism’, gets an immersive outing
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Please do touch the art: enter R.I.P. Germain’s underground world in LiverpoolR.I.P. Germain’s ‘After GOD, Dudus Comes Next!’ is an immersive installation at FACT Liverpool
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‘Happy birthday Louise Parker II’: enter the world of Roe EthridgeRoe Ethridge speaks of his concurrent Gagosian exhibitions, in Gstaad and London, touching on his fugue approach to photography, fridge doors, and his longstanding collaborator Louise Parker
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‘A gentleness in the hard truths’: behind the scenes at Slave PlaySlave Play, London is on at the Noël Coward theatre – Amah-Rose Abrams reports on a ‘hilarious, tender, confronting’ performance and its masterful mirrored set
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‘Regeneration and repair is a really important part of how I work’: Bharti Kher at Yorkshire Sculpture ParkBharti Kher unveils the largest UK museum exhibition of her career at Yorkshire Sculpture Park
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‘Mental health, motherhood and class’: Hannah Perry’s dynamic installation at BalticHannah Perry's exhibition ’Manual Labour’ is on show at Baltic in Gateshead, UK, a five-part installation drawing parallels between motherhood and factory work
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Francis Alÿs plots child play around the world at the BarbicanIn Francis Alÿs' exhibition ‘Ricochets’ at London’s Barbican, the artist explores the universality of play, even in challenging situations
