Best photography exhibitions to see in London in 2024

London is currently hosting several notable photography exhibitions, including works by acclaimed fashion photographers at the Saatchi Gallery, a photographic exploration of a segregated South Africa by Ernest Cole at The Photographers' Gallery, and the photography collection of Sir Elton John and David Furnish at the Victoria & Albert Museum. Here's our guide to the best current and upcoming photography exhibitions in London.

 Beyond Fashion 

Miles Aldridge, Lookable Legs #1, 2002 © Miles Aldridge : Vogue Italia.

#FLODown: Beyond Fashion at Saatchi Gallery explores the evolution of fashion photography into an art form, featuring over 100 images from 48 photographers. Divided into four sections, it celebrates creativity and beauty while highlighting the intersection of fashion with reality. The exhibition includes Under Your Smell, an installation by students from ECAL/University of Art and Design Lausanne. They visually interpret Jean Paul Gaultier’s perfumes through staged images, using the scents to tell stories of transgression and fantasy.

Date: 31 May – 8 September 2024. Location: Saatchi Gallery, Duke of York's HQ, King's Rd, Chelsea, London SW3 4RY. Price: from £12. Concessions available. Book now.

Fragile Beauty: Photographs from the Sir Elton John and David Furnish Collection

David LaChapelle, Elton John, Egg On His Face, New York, 1999 © David LaChapelle.

#FLODown: The V&A presents an exhibition featuring over 300 rare prints from Sir Elton John and David Furnish's private collection. Showcasing modern and contemporary photography by 140+ photographers like Mapplethorpe, Sherman, Eggleston, and Arbus, it spans from the 1950s to the present. Themes include fashion, reportage, celebrity, the male body, and American photography. Commemorating 30 years of collecting, it highlights portraits of icons and pivotal historical moments, including the Civil Rights movement, AIDS activism, and 9/11.

Date: 18 May 2024 – 5 January 2025. Location: V&A Museum, Cromwell Rd, London SW7 2RL. Price: £20. Book now.

 Zanele Muholi

Zanele Muholi, Manzi I, West Coast, Cape Town, 2022. Courtesy the artist and Yancey Richardson Gallery © Zanele Muholi.

#FLODown: The Tate Modern presents a comprehensive UK survey of Zanele Muholi, a prominent visual activist and photographer from South Africa. Featuring over 260 works, the exhibition documents the experiences of Black LGBTQIA+ communities in Muholi's homeland. Key series such as Only Half the Picture depict intimate and challenging moments, while Faces and Phases offers a powerful archive of portraits disrupting traditional perspectives. Brave Beauties celebrates non-binary and trans women, and Being portrays couples in diverse relationships. Muholi's self-portraits in Somnyama Ngonyama delve into themes of labour, racism, and sexual politics. This exhibition expands on Muholi's impactful 2020-21 Tate Modern show with new and compelling works.

Date: 6 June 2024 – 26 January 2025. Location: Tate Modern, Bankside, London SE1 9TG. Price: £18. Concessions available. Book now.

Naomi Hobson: Adolescent Wonderland 

Daley’s Bike, Naomi Hobson. © Naomi Hobson.

#FLODown: Adolescent Wonderland by Naomi Hobson celebrates the energy and individuality of First Nations youth in Coen, Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, Australia. Captured between 2019 and 2023, the series features vibrant portraits set against black-and-white backgrounds, highlighting the importance of preserving their culture and history. This is Hobson’s first international exhibition, having previously been shown across Australia. Naomi Hobson, of Southern Kaantju descent, began her photography journey documenting her clan members on traditional lands.

Date: Until 28 November 2024. Location: Horniman Museum and Gardens, 100 London Rd, London SE23 3PQ. Price: Free. Website: horniman.ac.uk

Aisha Seriki: Orí Inú

Orí Inú by Aisha Seriki on show at Doyle Wham.

#FLODown: Orí Inú explores the Yoruba concept of "Orí," meaning head and spiritual destiny, using the calabash as a metaphor to depict the artist's journey to reconnect mind and spirit. The project examines the history of photography and its link to truth and time, challenging colonial views of the black body through optical illusions. It features photographic bronze comb sculptures (Iyarun) that converse with the prints, highlighting the comb's role as a cultural symbol of empowerment, ritual, and self-care in African diasporan histories.

Date: 23 May - 27 July 2024. Location: Doyle Wham, 91a Rivington Street, London, United Kingdom EC2A 3AY. Price: Free. Website: doylewham.com.

Before Freedom Pt. 2: The Revolution Cannot Be Built on Dreams Alone: Adam Rouhana

Before Freedom Pt.2 by Adam Rouhana is on show at TJ Boulting.

#FLODown: TJ Boulting presents a solo exhibition by Palestinian-American artist Adam Rouhana titled Before Freedom Pt.2. Featuring new works from 2024, the show draws inspiration from the fertility of Palestinian landscapes and the vitality of spring. Through photography, Rouhana challenges historical narratives, politics, and perceptions of reality, aiming to broaden understandings of subjectivity.

Date: 1 - 22 June 2024. Location: TJ Boulting, 59 Riding House St, London W1W 7EG. Price: Free. Website: tjboulting.com.

Ernest Cole: House of Bondage 

Typical location has acres of identical four-room houses on nameless streets. Many are hours by train from city jobs. Mamelodi, South Africa, 1960s © Ernest Cole / Magnum Photos.

#FLODown: The Photographers' Gallery is showcasing the groundbreaking work of South African photographer Ernest Cole, who exposed the brutal reality of apartheid. The exhibition features over 100 photographs, including previously unpublished works, curated in collaboration with Magnum Photos.

Date: 14 June – 22 September 2024. Location: The Photographers’ Gallery 16–18 Ramillies Street London W1F 7LW. Price: £8 / £5 concessions (members go free) Advance online booking: £6.50 / £4 concessions. Book now.

Roger Mayne: Youth

Men and Boys, Southam Street, London. 1959. Vintage gelatin silver print, 18.5 x 27cm. © Roger Mayne Archive / Mary Evans Picture Library.

#FLODown: Acclaimed British photographer Roger Mayne (1929–2014) is renowned for his evocative documentary images of British youth in the mid-1950s and ‘60s. This exhibition features around 60 vintage photographs, including iconic street images of children and teenagers, as well as intimate later photos of his family in Dorset and honeymoon in Spain. Self-taught and influential, Mayne was dedicated to capturing human life authentically. This is the first exhibition of his work since 2017. Note: The exhibition contains photographs of childbirth.

Date: 14 June – 1 September 2024. Location: Courtauld Gallery, Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 0RN. Price: from £10. Concessions available. Book now. 

 Graciela Iturbide: Shadowlines

Angel woman (Mujer Angel), Sonoran Desert, 1979. Collection Leticia and Stanislas Poniatowski. © Graciela Iturbide.

#FLODown: Currently on display at The Photographers’ Gallery is Shadowlines, an exhibition celebrating the work of renowned Mexican photographer Graciela Iturbide. Born in 1942 in Mexico City, Iturbide is acclaimed for her black-and-white photographs that delve into Mexican culture, identity, and the human experience. The exhibition features her iconic series, including Juchitán de las Mujeres, which highlights the matriarchal society of the Zapotec people. Through her lens, Iturbide captures the lives and resilience of Indigenous communities and various Mexican landscapes, blending documentary observation with imaginative interpretation, offering profound insight into Mexican society and the art of photography.

Date: 14 June – 22 September 2024. Location: The Photographers' Gallery, 16-18 Ramillies St, London W1F 7LW. Price: Members go free. Advance Booking Online: £6.50 / £4 Concession. On the door: £8 / £5 Concession. Your ticket covers all exhibitions on the day of your visit. Book now.

Meditations on Love

Father & son image- © Ollie Adegboye.

#FLODown: Meditations on Love at The Photographers’ Gallery is a special reading room curated by Develop, a collective of six young people. This welcoming space invites visitors to explore an archive of photobooks, novels, and non-fiction works that represent, preserve, and remember love. The collection highlights themes of resilience, community, friendship, subversion, identity, and queerness. Featuring works by Tami Aftab, Ollie Adegboye, Deana Lawson, Ewen Spencer, and others, the exhibition presents the many languages of love through a global lens, showcasing its tender, provocative, queer, defiant, and sacrificial forms. Together, these narratives illustrate love’s enduring and revolutionary power.

Date: 14 June – 22 September 2024. Location: The Photographers' Gallery, 16-18 Ramillies St, London W1F 7LW. Price: Members go free. Advance Booking Online: £6.50 / £4 Concession. On the door: £8 / £5 Concession. Your ticket covers all exhibitions on the day of your visit. Book now.

Ernest Cole: A Lens in Exile

Ernest Cole, Harlem, New York, c. 1970. © Ernest Cole / Magnum Photos.

#FLODown: Ernest Cole, celebrated for his uncompromising documentation of apartheid's harsh realities, fled South Africa in 1966 and became stateless two years later. Upon settling in New York City, his lens turned to capturing Harlem and Manhattan during the civil rights movement, now showcased at the Autograph in an exhibition titled A Lens in Exile. Despite aspirations for freedom from racism, Cole's photographs continued to expose systemic injustice. Rediscovered in 2017, his images from 1967-1972 illuminate the struggles of African Americans in the United States. Today, the Ernest Cole Family Trust preserves and promotes his enduring legacy.

Date:13 June - 12 October 2024. Location: Autograph, Rivington Pl, London EC2A 3BA. Price: Free. 

C. Rose Smith:Talking Back to Power

C. Rose Smith, Untitled no. 55 [detail], Nottoway Plantation, White Castle, Louisiana, 2022. Credit: © and courtesy C. Rose Smith.

#FLODown: Talking Back to Power explores the intertwined histories of violence and wealth rooted in Southern U.S. cotton plantations. Through evocative self-portraits, C. Rose Smith focuses on the symbolism of the white cotton shirt, staged in locations linked to plantation-generated prosperity. These sites, once opulent homes, now bear witness to the brutal legacy of slavery. Smith's portraits, reminiscent of 19th-century paintings, reclaim the black body from its commodification, demanding visibility and challenging historical structures of anti-blackness. Her work confronts and contests these legacies, asserting freedom of expression amid landscapes marked by exploitation and suffering. 

Date:13 June - 12 October 2024. Location: Autograph, Rivington Pl, London EC2A 3BA. Price: Free.

Tropical Modernism: Architecture and Independence

Unity Hall, KNUST, Kumasi by John Owuso Addo and Miro Marasović - film still from Tropical Modernism_ Architecture and Independence, © Victoria and Albert Museum, London.jpegUnity Hall, KNUST, Kumasi by John Owuso Addo and Miro Marasović.

#FLODown: Tropical Modernism: Architecture and Independence delves into the post-World War II architectural style in West Africa and India by Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew. Known for embracing minimalism and addressing tropical challenges, Tropical Modernism initially used to countered independence calls, later became a symbol of progress in newly independent nations. The exhibition explores this transformative period, revealing how art and architecture expressed newfound freedoms and shaped identities separate from colonial pasts.

Date: 2 March 2024 – 22 September 2024. Location: V&A South Kensington, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 2RL. Price: £16. Book now.

Francesca Woodman and Julia Margaret Cameron: Portraits to Dream In

Polka Dots #5, Providence, Rhode Island, 1976 by Francesca Woodman, Gelatin silver print, courtesy Woodman Family Foundation © Woodman Family Foundation / DACS, London

#FLODown: Francesca Woodman and Julia Margaret Cameron: Portraits to Dream In will celebrate the visionary contributions of these two influential women in the history of photography. With over 160 rare vintage prints on display, the showcase spans the careers of both artists, offering viewers new perspectives on their innovative approaches to portraiture while also reflecting on the evolution of photographic portraiture in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Date: 21 March 2024 – 16 June 2024. Location: National Portrait Gallery, St. Martin's Place, London, WC2H 0HE. Price: £8.50 / £9.50 with donation. Book now.

past exhibitions

Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize

First Prize, Diena by Alexandre Silberman From the series NATURE. © Alexandre Silberman.

#FLODown:The 2023 Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize is back on display at the National Portrait Gallery until February 2024, returning after a three-year break. This annual exhibition features a collection of images from young photographers, amateurs, and professionals. Showcasing both traditional and contemporary approaches to the photographic portrait, the selected images, many exhibited for the first time, capture various characters, moods, and locations. The 2023 first prize went to Alexandre Silberman

Date: 9 November 2023 - 25 February 2024. Location: National Portrait Gallery, St. Martin's Pl, London WC2H 0HE. Price: from £8.50. Book now.

Keith Arnatt: Eden 69–89

Keith Arnatt, Walking the Dog, 1976-77. Vintage silver gelatine print, artist’s print.

#FLODown: Sprüth Magers currently features an exhibition dedicated to Keith Arnatt's works, titled Eden 69–89. The show explores Arnatt's creative journey from 1969 to 1989, combining photographs around his Welsh border home with physical interventions and humour that reflect the conceptual interests of the late ’60s and early ’70s. The exhibition includes colour and black-and-white photographic works that provide insight into Arnatt's artistic development during this period.

Date: 22 November - 3 February 2024. Location: Sprüth Magers, Grafton St, London, 7a Grafton Street, W1S 4EJ. Price: Free.

Yannis Davy Guibinga: Children of Distant Suns

Melting Daylight I, Yannis Davy Guibinga.

#FLODOwn: Doyle Wham presents Yannis Davy Guibinga's inaugural UK solo photography exhibition, Children of Distant Suns. Known for reimagining African narratives, Guibinga explores folklore, mythologies, and Christian themes in series like OLOKUN, Daughter of the Lake, Melting Daylight, and Tangled Sins. Through his work, Guibinga creates an imaginary realm, Shira Island, showcasing the universal resonance of myths across different cultures and locations.

Date: 18 January – 23 Mach 2024. Location: Doyle Wham, 91A Rivington St, London EC2A 3AY. Price: Free. Website: doylewham.com.

Capturing the Moment

Dorothea Lange, Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California, 1936 printed c.1950 © Tate (Jai Monaghan).

#FLODown: This exhibition explores the transformative impact of photography on painting, revealing the dynamic relationship between the two mediums. Iconic works from artists such as Pablo Picasso, Paula Rego, Hiroshi Sugimoto, and Jeff Wall are on display, showcasing how these mediums have been utilised by some of the greatest painters and photographers of the modern era to capture moments in time.

Date: 13 June 2023 – 28 April 2024. Location: Tate Modern, Bankside, London SE1 9TG. Price: £20. Book now.

Daido Moriyama: A Retrospective

Kanagawa, 1967.From A Hunter. © Daido Moriyama Photo Foundation.

#FLODown: Daido Moriyama: A Retrospective explores the diverse career of the acclaimed photographer. From early magazine works to exploring photorealism and a self-reflective phase in the 1980s and 1990s, the exhibition captures Moriyama's essence in over 200 works, installations, rare photobooks, and magazines.

Date: 6 October 2023 - 11 February 2024. Location: The Photographers' Gallery, 16-18 Ramillies St, London W1F 7LW. Price:from £6.50. Concessions available. Book now.

BURTYNSKY: Extraction/Abstraction

Ed Burtynsky Copyright: © Edward Burtynsky.

#FLODown: The Saatchi Gallery will open an exhibition of Edward Burtynsky's work titled BURTYNSKY: Extraction/Abstraction in February 2024. Curated by Marc Mayer, this showcase will feature Burtynsky's largest collection to date, comprising 94 large-format photos, 13 murals, and augmented reality. The exhibition explores humanity's impact on Earth and includes the multimedia experience In the Wake of Progress, encouraging reflection on sustainability and highlights organisations dedicated to it.

Date: 14 February – 6 May 2024. Location: Saatchi Gallery. Price: £10. Book now.

Soulscapes

Mónica de Miranda, Sun rise (detail), 2023, inkjet print on cotton paper. Courtesy of the artist and Sabrina Amrani Gallery, Madrid.

#FLODown: Soulscapes at the Dulwich Picture Gallery, though not exclusively a photography exhibition, prominently includes a substantial amount of photography. The exhibition seeks to redefine landscape art through contemporary perspectives, featuring over 30 works encompassing painting, photography, film, and collage. Exploring themes of belonging, memory, joy, and transformation, artists from the African Diaspora provide insights into their relationship with the natural world.

Date: 14 February – 2 June 2024. Location: Dulwich Picture Gallery. Website: dulwichpicturegallery.co.uk.