Having trouble deciding on the best spots for photography in London?
Then check out the fantastic events in the London and Watford area this month. These events are more geared towards photography, fashion and art.
Welcome to my October newsletter! Autumn is in full swing, and the season’s vibrant colours are everywhere. The leaves are falling, and it’s the perfect time to grab your camera and capture the beauty all around you. Let’s dive into this colourful month together! This will be another busy month of events; check out the list below.
Last Updated: 2nd October
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The Decorative Fair at Battersea Park – 1st to 6th
The Autumn edition of The Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair will be held from 1-6 October 2024 at Evolution London (The Marquee) in Battersea Park. The antiques, textiles, design and art fair has been a cornerstone event in the art and design calendar since 1985 and continues to captivate buyers.
Find out more here.
Black History Month – 1st to 31st
October 1st 2024, marks the beginning of Black History Month, widely regarded as one of the most prominent cultural celebrations of the year. Black History Month is a time to educate and enrich the world with the importance of Black history.
Find out more here.
Shokuhin Sanpuru at Japan House – 2nd to 16th February 2025
This vibrant exhibition offers a rare opportunity outside Japan to see these skilfully created models up close. It explores the craft’s history, materials, processes, and future potential.
Find out more here.
Mike Kelley: Ghost and Spirit at Tate Modern – 3rd to 9th March 2025
Discover the elaborate, provocative and imaginary worlds of experimental artist Mike Kelley. From the late 1970s to 2012, Kelley made a diverse body of work using drawing, collage, performance, found objects, and video.
Find out more here.
Holly Herndon & Mat Dryhurst: The Call at Serpentine North Gallery – 4th to 2nd February 2025
A collaboration between artists Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst and Serpentine Arts Technologies, The Call proposes new cultural, legal, and technical rituals for art in the age of AI.
Find out more here.
Outlaws: Fashion Renegades of 80s London at Fashion & Textile Museum – 4th to 9th March 2025
Outlaws: Fashion Renegades of 80s London exhibition centres around the legendary nightclub Taboo, opened by designer and performance artist Leigh Bowery in 1985.
Find out more here.
Imaginary Institution of India at the Barbican – 5th to 5th January 2025
A landmark group exhibition of art made in response to India’s changing cultural-political landscape during pivotal years. Featuring artwork by over 30 Indian artists, this major exhibition is bookended by two transformative events in India’s history: Indira Gandhi’s declaration of a state of emergency in 1975 and the Pokhran nuclear tests in 1998.
Find out more here.
Japan Matsuri at Trafalgar Square – 6th
JAPAN MATSURI, the UK’s much-loved and biggest annual festival of Japanese culture and food, will return to Trafalgar Square.
Find out more here.
Neneh Cherry: A Thousand Threads at Southbank Centre – 6th
Part of Black History month, Music icon Neneh Cherry discusses her memoir, a kaleidoscopic story celebrating love, family and the joy of creativity – and a call to arms to own your journey.
Find out more here.
Frieze London at Regents Park – 9th to 13th
The fair is one of the world’s most influential contemporary art fairs, focusing only on contemporary art and living artists. It takes place each October in Regent’s Park, in the heart of London.
Find out more here.
Hyundai Commission Mire Lee at Tate Modern Turbine Hall – 9th to 16th March 2025
Mire Lee will create an exciting new artwork for Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall.
Find out more here.
Haegue Yang: Leap Year at Hayward Gallery – 9th to 5th January 2025
A world of inventive, immersive and multisensory installations and sculptures that weave connections between disparate histories, cultures and traditions.
Find out more here.
Art After Dark, London – 10th to 12th
Art of London presents Art After Dark, a new arts and culture initiative for the West End which showcases free late night gallery openings, a public art trail and a selection of the best places to eat and drink when you visit.
Find out more here.
Francis Bacon: Human Presence at Portrait Gallery – 10th to 19th January 2025
Featuring more than 55 works from the 1950s onwards, this exhibition will explore Francis Bacon’s deep connection to portraiture and how he challenged traditional genre definitions. From his responses to portraiture by earlier artists, to large-scale paintings memorialising lost lovers, works from private and public collections will showcase Bacon’s life story. Accompanied by the artist’s self-portraits, sitters include Lucian Freud, Isabel Rawsthorne and lovers Peter Lacy and George Dyer.
Find out more here.
Wildlife Photographer of the Year at Natural History Museum – 11th to 29th June 2025
Experience the wonder of life on Earth through the world’s best wildlife photography. Our photography exhibition is back for its sixtieth year to reveal more of nature’s stories. It’ll take you on a visual adventure through different environments and give you a window into the wildlife that calls them home.
Find out more here.
Emajendat, by Lauren Halsey at Serpentine South – 11th to 2nd March 2025
For the past decade, Lauren Halsey (b. 1987, Los Angeles, USA) has developed a distinct visual language deeply rooted in South Central Los Angeles, where her family has lived for generations. Through objects and installations, Halsey archives and remixes her environment’s changing signs and symbols, gathering physical and graphic material from her neighbourhood.
Find out more here.
Photographic Walk in Whippendell Woods – 16th
Take a guided walk through Cassiobury Park to Whippendell Woods, led by Andrew Lalchan (local photographer); we will explore early autumn in the park with the changing leaves and fungi.
Find out more here.
Hew Locke – what have we here? at British Museum – 17th to 9th February 2025
Join renowned Guyanese-British artist Hew Locke as he turns his lens on the British Museum collection in a collaborative exhibition exploring histories of British imperial power.
Find out more here.
Colour Walk Meetup at Spitalfields Market – 17th
It is an informal gathering of colourful, creative souls who meet, dressed in their finest, to walk, talk, and strut their stuff. It is excellent for photography.
Find out more here.
London Literature Festival at Southbank Centre – 23rd to 3rd November
The longest-running celebration of the written and spoken word of its kind in the capital presents prestigious names alongside rising literary stars, every autumn.
Find out more here.
The world of Tim Burton at Design Museum 25th till 21st April 2025
Delve into the fantastical world of Tim Burton in this major exhibition exploring his remarkable creations and key collaborations with designers.
Find out more here.
‘Reclaiming Narratives’ fashion show at Southside Shopping Centre, Wandsworth – 26th
On Saturday 26 October, Fée Uhssi, creator of ethical luxury fashion brand Art of Fashion Wrapping, will be celebrating black fashion under this year’s theme of ‘Reclaiming Narratives’. The spectacular fashion show will be hosted on the upper mall and supported by a performance from Vibe Squad.
Find out more here.
Diwali on the Square 2024 – 27th
Diwali on Trafalgar Square, the festival of lights in the heart of London. With an exciting line-up of music and dance, plus workshops, food, and arts and crafts for the whole family, it’s a fantastic day out for everyone to enjoy.
Find out more here.
Our Windrush Story at Southside Shopping Centre, Wandsworth – 30th
Pointe Black ballet school will be dazzling with performances of their show ‘Our Windrush Story’ on Wednesday 30 October. The ballet routine pays homage to the Windrush generation, their voyage to the UK, and their incredible legacies. The ballerinas – some as young as eighteen months – will be showcasing a unique style of classic ballet fused with Afro-Caribbean culture.
Find out more here.
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Last chance to see
Tate Britain: Now You See Us – till 13 October 2024
Spanning 400 years, this exhibition follows women on their journeys to becoming professional artists. From Tudor times to the First World War, artists such as Mary Beale, Angelica Kauffman, Elizabeth Butler and Laura Knight paved a new artistic path for generations of women. They challenged what it meant to be a working woman of the time by going against society’s expectations – having commercial careers as artists and participating in public exhibitions.
Find out more here.
Expressionists: Kandinsky at Tate Modern – till 20th October 2024
Explore the groundbreaking work of a circle of friends and close collaborators known as The Blue Rider. In the early 20th century they came together to form, in their own words, ‘a union of various countries to serve one purpose’ – to transform modern art. The artists rallied around Wassily Kandinsky and Gabriele Münter to experiment with colour, sound and light, creating bold and vibrant art.
Find out more here.
Serpentine Pavilion, London – till 27th October 2024
Titled Archipelagic Void, the Pavilion is composed of five ‘islands’; each structure is unique in size, height and form. Built predominantly in timber, these structures are supported by identical footings that adapt to the slightly sloping topography of the site.
Find out more here.
Michael Craig-Martin at Royal Acadamy – 25th till 10th December
A key figure in British art, Michael Craig-Martin is one of his generation’s most influential artists and teachers. Since coming to prominence in the late 1960s, he has moved between sculpture, installation, painting, drawing, prints and digital works, creating a body of work that has fused elements from pop, minimalism and conceptual art.
Find out more here.
Monet and London. Views of the Thames at Courtauld Institute of Art – 27th till 19th January 2025
Claude Monet (1840—1926) is world-renowned as the leading figure of French Impressionism, the movement that changed the course of modern art. Less known is the fact that some of Monet’s most remarkable Impressionist paintings were made not in France but in London. They depict extraordinary views of the Thames, which had never been seen before. It has an evocative atmosphere, mysterious light, and radiant colour.
Find out more here.
Turner Prize 2024 at Tate Britain – 24th till 16th February 2025
Pio Abad, Claudette Johnson, Jasleen Kaur, and Delaine Le Bas are the four artists shortlisted for the 2024 Turner Prize. They will showcase their eclectic work at Tate Britain from 25 September 2024, and the winner will be announced on 3 December 2024.
Find out more here.
Barbie®: The Exhibition at Design Museum – till 23rd February 2025
A major exhibition exploring the design evolution of one of the world’s most famous dolls: Barbie®. Journey into the Barbie universe and discover over 250 remarkable objects, with rare, unique and innovative dolls dating from 1959 to the present day.
Silk Roads Exhibition at British Museum – 26th till 23rd February 2025
Camel caravans crossing desert dunes, merchants trading silks and spices at bazaars – these images come to mind when we think of the Silk Roads. But the reality goes far beyond this. Rather than a single trade route from East to West, the Silk Roads comprised overlapping networks linking communities across Asia, Africa and Europe, East Asia to Britain and Scandinavia to Madagascar.
Find out more here.
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