Photography exhibitions to see in London now and in 2025
London is currently hosting an array of photography exhibitions offering compelling reflections on nature, identity, and urban life, with even more set to open in the later stages of 2025. From Dennis Morris: Music + Life at The Photographers’ Gallery, capturing intimate portraits of cultural icons from Bob Marley to the Sex Pistols, to Felicity Hammond’s V3: Model Collapse, exploring the intersections of photography, technology, and power. Tate Britain presents the UK’s largest retrospective of Lee Miller, spanning surrealism, fashion, and war photography, while Boris Mikhailov’s Ukrainian Diary charts five decades of Ukrainian life through humour, tragedy, and social commentary. Here’s our guide to the photography exhibitions to see now — and those to look forward to in 2025.
Dennis Morris: Music + Life
Dennis Morris Babylon by van, London, 1973. © Dennis Morris
#FLODown: A journey through music, culture, and Black British identity, this exhibition showcases the work of British-Jamaican photographer Dennis Morris. Famous for his close, candid portraits of icons including Bob Marley, the Sex Pistols, and Marianne Faithfull, Morris captures both the energy of performance and the intimacy of everyday moments. Music + Life spans reggae’s soulful pulse, punk’s rebellious chaos, and the multicultural streets of post-war London, offering a rare insider’s view into 20th-century cultural history.
Date: 27 June – 28 September 2025. Location: The Photographers' Gallery, 16-18 Ramillies Street, London WIF 7LW. Price: £10 / £7 concessions (members go free). Save with advance online booking: £8.50 / £6 concessions. Book now
Felicity Hammond: V3 Model Collapse
V3: Model Collapse, 2025. © Felicity Hammond
#FLODown: Part of her ongoing Variations project, Felicity Hammond’s V3: Model Collapse examines the deep connections between photography, technology, and power. In this third chapter, the artist links geological mining with data mining, exploring how image-making intersects with surveillance, AI, and the exploitation of natural and human resources. Through manipulated, destabilised photographic images, Hammond invites visitors to confront the strange, sometimes unsettling world of machine-generated imagery. Commissioned by Photoworks and the Ampersand Foundation, the installation forms part of a four-part UK-wide project supporting mid-career artists.
Date: 27 June – 28 September 2025. Location: The Photographers' Gallery, 16-18 Ramillies Street, London WIF 7LW. Price: £10 / £7 concessions (members go free). Save with advance online booking: £8.50 / £6 concessions. Book now
Gabriel Moses: Selah
Gabriel Moses, Selah (2025). Courtesy of the artist.
#FLODown: Gabriel Moses’ largest exhibition to date is on display at 180 Studios, featuring over 70 photographs and 10 films. The exhibition highlights Moses’ work across fashion, music, and sport, with collaborations including Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Dior, Nike, Pharrell Williams, Skepta, and Travis Scott. The exhibition also debuts his new short film, The Last Hour, shot in Atlanta.
Date: 28 March – 31 August 2025. Location: 180 Studios, 180 The Strand, London, WC2R 1EA. Price: from £20. Concessions available. Book now.
Lee Miller
Lee Miller, David E. Scherman dressed for war, London 1942. Lee Miller Archives. © Lee Miller Archives, England 2025. All rights reserved.
#FLODown: Tate Britain will open the UK’s largest retrospective of Lee Miller with around 230 vintage and modern prints, including newly discovered works, and unseen archival material, spanning her entire career from French surrealism to war photography. The exhibition highlights Miller’s innovative and fearless approach that produced some of modern photography’s most iconic images. It traces her journey from modelling in New York to working with Man Ray in Paris, her avant-garde surrealist photography, and her pioneering fashion work for British Vogue during WWII. As one of the few accredited female war correspondents, Miller documented frontline battles and post-war Europe with striking immediacy. The show also explores her post-war artistic circles and powerful self-portraits, offering a comprehensive view of her legacy as both artist and photojournalist.
Date: 2 October 2025 – 15 February 2026. Location: Tate Britain, Millbank, London SW1P 4RG. Price: £20. Concessions available. Book now
Boris Mikhailov: Ukrainian Diary
From the series "Yesterday's Sandwich", 1966-68 © Boris Mikhailov, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, Courtesy Boris and Vita Mikhailov
#FLODown: This major retrospective celebrates over fifty years of work by Boris Mikhailov, one of Eastern Europe’s most influential contemporary artists. Known for blending humour, mischief, and tragedy, Mikhailov’s photography captures the shifting social and political realities of Ukraine, from the Soviet era to the present. Featuring over twenty key series, Ukrainian Diary spans documentary, conceptual, and performance-based works, providing an intimate yet provocative portrait of a country in transformation.
Date: 10 October 2025 – 22 February 2026. Location: The Photographers' Gallery, 16-18 Ramillies Street, London WIF 7LW. Price: £10 / £7 concessions (members go free). Save with advance online booking: £8.50 / £6 concessions. Book now
Click! 100 Years of the Photobooth
Courtesy of Autofoto
#FLODown: Marking the centenary of the photobooth’s invention in New York, this archival exhibition celebrates the quirky charm and democratic spirit of this photographic format. Loved by celebrities and everyday people alike, photobooths have been a fixture of fairs, train stations, and shopping centres since the mid-20th century. Through historical photographs, memorabilia, and stories from fans over the decades, Click! explores the photobooth’s cultural impact. Visitors can also make their own booth portrait at the Gallery. Presented in partnership with AUTOFOTO.
Date: 10 October 2025 – 22 February 2026. Location: The Photographers' Gallery, 16-18 Ramillies Street, London WIF 7LW. Price: £10 / £7 concessions (members go free). Save with advance online booking: £8.50 / £6 concessions. Book now
I Still Dream of Lost Vocabularies
Arpita Akhanda, A Veil of Memories III, 2023
#FLODown: This major group exhibition opening at Autograph in October explores political dissent and erasure through the artistic technique of collage, from traditional cut paper to cutting-edge generative AI. Featuring over 90 works by 12 contemporary artists, the show investigates how photographs can be deconstructed and reassembled to challenge the idea of photographic “truth” and revisit contested social histories. Highlights include AI-driven family reconstructions, queer diasporic digital collages, and reinterpretations of colonial archives. The exhibition questions whether constructed images can convey complex, entangled narratives where words fall short, all while confronting difficult themes including violence and identity.
Date: 10 October 2025 – 21 March 2026. Location: Autograph, Rivington Place, London EC2A 3BA. Price: Free. autograph.org.uk
Eileen Perrier: A Thousand Small Stories
Eileen Perrier, From the Series Red, Gold and Green, 1997. Credit: © Eileen Perrier. Autograph, London.
#FLODown: Autograph presents a retrospective of Eileen Perrier’s photographic portraiture, centring on themes of identity, kinship, and belonging. Drawing on both European and African studio traditions, Perrier’s work explores personal and cultural connections through striking, thoughtful portraiture. The exhibition features some of her most iconic series, including Afro Hair and Beauty Show, which celebrates Black hair as a symbol of pride, and Red, Gold and Green (1997), a poignant collection of portraits of British Ghanaians in their homes.
Date: 17 April - 13 September 2025. Location: Autograph, 1 Rivington Place, London, EC2A 3BA. Price: Free. autograph.org.uk.
Cecil Beaton’s Fashionable World
The Second Age of Beauty by Cecil Beaton, British Vogue February 1946 © The Condé Nast Publications Ltd. Condé Nast Archive London.
#FLODown: Opening at the National Portrait Gallery in October, Cecil Beaton’s Fashionable World celebrates the legendary British designer and photographer, celebrated for his visionary work in fashion illustration, costume design, and portraiture. This is the first exhibition to focus solely on Beaton’s pioneering fashion photography, which helped define the visual style of the interwar and post-war periods. From the glamour of the Jazz Age to the elegance of the 1950s — including his Oscar-winning designs for My Fair Lady — the show also explores his roles as a war photographer and royal portraitist, tracing his lasting impact on both British and American culture.
Date: 1 October – 15 December 2025. Location: National Portrait Gallery, St. Martin's Pl, London WC2H 0HE. Price: TBC. npg.org.uk.
Zofia Rydet: Sociological Record
From the series Sociological record 1978 - 1990 © Zofia Rydet.
#FLODown: A landmark in 20th-century Polish photography, Sociological Record documents the interiors of Polish homes across decades and regions. Beginning in 1978 at age 67, Zofia Rydet travelled extensively to photograph households unannounced, creating intimate portraits of domestic life and the people within. The project grew to nearly 20,000 negatives, only a small portion of which were printed during her lifetime. This exhibition showcases over 100 prints alongside personal letters and books, highlighting Rydet’s extraordinary dedication to recording Poland’s social fabric. Part of the UK/Poland Cultural Season 2025.
Date: 10 October 2025 – 22 February 2026.Location: The Photographers' Gallery, 16-18 Ramillies Street, London WIF 7LW. Price: £10 / £7 concessions (members go free). Save with advance online booking: £8.50 / £6 concessions. Book now
Dianne Minnicucci: Belonging and Beyond
Dianne Minnicucci’s new series Belonging and Beyond to open at Autograph.
#FLODown: Dianne Minnicucci’s new series Belonging and Beyond explores vulnerability and discomfort in front of the camera as acts of self-discovery and collaboration. Set in Abbey Wood, South London, her poetic black-and-white portraits of herself and her young son focus on subtle body language shifts and the unease of being photographed. The series highlights Minnicucci’s roles as an artist, mother, and teacher, and reflects her approach to photography as a collaborative, shared process.
Date: 17 April - 13 September 2025. Location: Autograph, 1 Rivington Place, London, EC2A 3BA. Price: Free. autograph.org.uk.
Jennie Baptiste: Rhythm & Roots
Jennie-Baptiste, 1995. Photo taken from a series for fashion designer Wale Adeyemi
#FLODown: Jennie Baptiste: Rhythm & Roots, opening at Somerset House in October, will be the first major solo exhibition by pioneering British photographer Jennie Baptiste. Spanning over three decades, it will showcase both iconic and previously unseen portraits that celebrate the sound, style, and spirit of Black British youth culture, from 1990s Brixton to today. Featuring striking images of artists like Roots Manuva, Estelle, Ms Dynamite, and NAS, the exhibition also includes Revolutions @33 1/3 rpm, Baptiste’s seminal series on London’s hip hop DJ scene, and Black Chains of Icon, a conceptual exploration of Black identity and legacy. Accompanied by DJ-curated soundtracks and a public programme of talks and creative responses, Rhythm & Roots will affirm Baptiste’s impact on British photography and the cultural landscape.
Date: 17 October 2025 – 4 January 2026. Location: Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 1LA. Price: Pay what you can. somersethouse.org.uk
Flowers – Flora in Contemporary Art & Culture
Aimée Hoving, Compost, 2019. © Aimee Hoving, flowers by Brigitte Gentis van Dam Merrett.
#FLODown: Whilst not solely a photography exhibition, the Saatchi Gallery’s Flowers – Flora in Contemporary Art & Culture features enough to make the list. The exhibition explores the multifaceted role of flowers in art, fashion, and music. Occupying two floors with over nine galleries, it showcases more than 500 artworks, including large-scale installations, photography, fashion, and design. Don’t miss Rebecca Louise Law’s breathtaking large-scale installation of 100,000 dried flowers, or Miguel Chevalier’s interactive digital projections.
Click here for our review of Flowers – Flora in Contemporary Art & Culture.
Date: until 9 September 2025. Location: Saatchi Gallery, Duke of York's HQ, King's Rd, London SW3 4RY. Price: from £12. Book now.
