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 Sizzling July!
The summer heat has arrived—and so has Wimbledon, kicking off with soaring temperatures and the classic combo of strawberries and cream. But that’s just the beginning. This month is packed with standout events: from more graduate fashion showcases to Pride weekend and a rich lineup of art exhibitions across the city. Plus, the city sculpture festival returns.
Last Updated: 1st July
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Wimbledon Tennis Tournament – till 13th July
Tennis returns to SW19 for two weeks. Good to get in with a ground pass, and you can take photos for personal use.
Find out more here
Hampton Court Flower Festival – 1st till 6th
RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival 2025 promises amazing garden designs, gorgeous floral displays and exclusive shopping.
Find out more here.
Watford Fringe Festival – till 31st
The Watford Fringe Festival first started in 2016 as a way to support great local talent to develop and perform their shows and to bring high quality performing arts to local audiences to enjoy. It has grown and grown over this time, even temporarily going online during the pandemic lockdown. Every year, venues across Watford host an extraordinary live line-up of great theatre, music, comedy, dance, magic and family fun-filled shows.
Find out more here.
Summer Science Exhibition 2025 at the Royal Society – 1st till 6th
Discover cutting-edge research and innovation at the Royal Society’s unmissable Summer Science Exhibition, 1 – 6 July 2025. This free event, suitable for all ages, showcases the latest research from across the UK, through interactive exhibits, hands-on activities and talks.
Find out more here.
CSM Shows 2025: Postgraduate Art – 2nd till 6th
Open‑studio exhibition of postgraduate work across disciplines such as MA Art & Science, Fine Art (digital), Photography, Moving Image, and more. Includes college tours and publicly accessible installations.
Find out more here.
New Designers at Business Design Centre – 2nd till 12th
New Designers is an annual London showcase of the UK’s most innovative emerging design talent. Since its inception 40 years ago, New Designers has provided a platform for over 2,500 graduates every year to present their visionary ideas to industry professionals and the public.
Week 1: 2 – 5 July 2025 | Week 2: 9 – 12 July 2025
Find out more here
RCA2025: School of Design EXPO – 3nd till 19th
Exhibitions and events showcasing the work of graduating RCA students in the School of Design and Intelligent Mobility Design Centre, on selected dates 3–19 July.
Find out more here.
Sunset lavender models shoot in Mayfield – 4th
With the beautiful backdrop of the Mayfield lavender fields, we will be shooting a model (Two if full). Taking place 2 hours before sunset, it should be golden light.
Find out more here.
Pride In London in West End – 5th
A vibrant celebration of LGBTQ+ culture with colorful floats parading through central London, live performances at multiple stages, street food stalls, and after‑party events in Soho and Dalston.
Find out more here
Discover the newest names in art and design.
Find out more here.
Emily Kam Kngwarray at Tate Modern – 10th till 11th January 2026
Renowned Australian artist Emily Kam Kngwarray (c.1914–1996) created compelling, powerful works that reflect her extraordinary life as an Anmatyerr woman born in Alhalker in the Sandover region of the Northern Territory of Australia.
Find out more here.
Deptford X Festival – 11th till 27th
This 26th edition of Deptford X free festival takes on a bold new biennial format, expanding the festival to 18 days of incredible art from the 11-27 July 2025. Join us in celebrating three major strands of our programme with over 500 participating artists in 100+ artist-led Fringe projects, eight new artist commissions and a participatory street parade created with schools of Lewisham.
Find out more here
More Than Human at The Design Museum – 11th till 5th October
Why has design traditionally only focused on the needs of humans, when we exist alongside billions of animals, plants and other living beings? This groundbreaking exhibition offers a new perspective, one that will be crucial to enabling the planet to thrive.
Find out more here.
Taste of the Carribean Festival, Watford – 12th
Whether you’re seeking a gourmet adventure or simply craving an unforgettable day of epicurean indulgence, this food festival promises to be a flavorful extravaganza like no other. Gather your crew and let’s savor the authentic flavors of the Caribbean right here in the heart of Watford!
Find out more here.
Sculpture in the City – 16th till spring 2026
Sculpture in the City is an annual sculpture park that uses the urban realm as a rotating gallery space. The 14th Edition of Sculpture in the City will be on display from 16 July 2025 to Spring 2026, and includes 11 artworks from renowned and emerging artists alike: Ai Weiwei, Jane and Louise Wilson, Andrew Sabin, Julian Opie, Maya Rose Edwards, Samuel Ross, Richard Mackness, Elisa Artesero, Daniel Silver, and Oliver Bragg.
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.
Performance of Entrapment by Jane and Louise Wilson at London Mithraeum – 17th till January 2026
Central to the installation will be 2,000-year-old oak stakes discovered during excavations for Bloomberg’s European headquarters. The Wilsons use high-resolution microscopic imagery of the oak’s grain as a starting point for a new body of work. Blending screen-printing, resin, and carved wooden forms, and drawing inspiration from the wood’s structure, patterns and DNA sequencing to create large-scale, visually layered artworks.
Find out more here.
Hyper Japan at Kensington Olympia – 18th till 20th
From manga and anime to the latest fashion trends, J-pop music, and traditional Japanese culture, this event has something for everybody. Explore unique and diverse booths and stalls at the marketplace, including various gifts, decorations, games, and more. Be part of the exciting, one-of-a-kind event of Japanese culture in the heart of London!
Find out more here.
Ura Matsuri at Southbank Centre – 19th
An upturned toybox of live music and joyful performances, featuring UK based East and SE Asian artists and its FREE in the Clore Ballroom at the Southbank Centre.
Find out more here.
Watford Market Lates Fringe – 19th
The Big JiveSwing Festival is one of the biggest FREE one day ‘JiveSwing Jazz Festivals’ ever to be held in the UK for both dancers, musicians and fans to jam together in one of the UK’s largest and beautiful parks.
Find out more here.
Rathayatra at Trafalgar Square – 20th
Rathayatra is a celebration of love of God. The festival dates back to the Satya Yuga which pre-dates ancient history. It originates from Jagannatha Puri in Orissa on India’s eastern coast. There the festival lasts a whole week with two processions and lots of smaller events in between. The route goes from Park Lane to Trafalgar Square from 12pm till 5pm.
Find out more here.
Photographic Walk in Cassiobury Park Nature Reserve – 23rd
Take a guided walk through Cassiobury Park Nature Reserve led by Andrew Lalchan (local photographer), we will be exploring summer in the park with the butterflies, dragonflies & damselflies.
Find out more here.
Virtual Beauty at Somerset House – 23rd till 28th September
Featuring over 20 international artists, Virtual Beauty will delve into the influence of artificial intelligence, social media, and virtual identities on self-image. The exhibition will feature interactive installations and pioneering works that challenge traditional beauty standards. Highlights include ORLAN’s Omniprésence (1993), a groundbreaking performance in which the artist live-streamed her own facial aesthetic surgery to critique Western beauty ideals, and Amalia Ulman’s Excellences & Perfections, a powerful commentary on the authenticity of social media personas.
Find out more here.
Future Of Food at Design Museum – 24th till 4th January
How does our food today go from field to plate? How did food use to be produced in the past? And how will major advances in ecology and biotechnology change food in the future? Discover the answers to these and many more vital questions in an exciting new exhibition exploring how science is creating more sustainable ways of growing, making, cooking and eating food.
Find out more here.
Watford Market Lates – 26th
The Big JiveSwing Festival is one of the biggest FREE one day ‘JiveSwing Jazz Festivals’ ever to be held in the UK for both dancers, musicians and fans to jam together in one of the UK’s largest and beautiful parks.
Find out more here.
Big Jive Swing Festival, Watford – 27th
The Big JiveSwing Festival is one of the biggest FREE one day ‘JiveSwing Jazz Festivals’ ever to be held in the UK for both dancers, musicians and fans to jam together in one of the UK’s largest and beautiful parks.
Find out more here.
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Cornelia Parker – History Painting at Frith Street Gallery – till 5th July
Frith Street Gallery is delighted to announce an exhibition of new works by Cornelia Parker. For this show Parker has created a series of paintings: seemingly abstract oil-on-canvas works inspired by historic newspaper and magazine covers and the colour analysis charts of American artist Emily Noyes Vanderpoel (1842-1939).
Find out more here.
The Craft of Carpentry at Japan House – till 16th July 2025
Step into the serene world of Japanese carpentry. This exhibition transports visitors from the living forests that sustain the craft to the celebrated structures it has produced.
Find out more here.
Arpita Singh Remembering at Serpentine North Gallery – till 27th July 2025
Remembering is the first solo exhibition of Arpita Singh outside India, featuring key works selected in close collaboration with the artist from her prolific career spanning more than six decades. Singh’s paintings centre on her emotional and psychological state, drawing from Bengali folk art and Indian stories, interwoven with experiences of social upheaval and global conflict.
Find out more here.
Wandsworth Heritage Festival – till 13th July
Wandsworth’s annual festival celebrates the borough’s rich history through a programme of walks, talks, exhibitions, and creative performances. The 2025 Wandsworth Heritage Festival will take place from Friday 13th June – Sunday 13th July and will be themed ‘Wandsworth and the Arts’ with a bumper four-week festival to mark Wandsworth’s year as London Borough of Culture.
Find out more here
Splash! A Century of Swimming and Style at Design Museum – till 17th August 2025
A major exhibition celebrating our enduring love of the water over the last 100 years. Explore the full spectrum of the design of swimming — from sports performance and fashion, to architecture.
Find out more here.
Dan Guthrie at Chisenhale Gallery – to 17th August
Film and installation artist Dan Guthrie explores Black British identity and local histories.
Find out more here
Ed Atkins at Tate Britain – till 25th August
Ed Atkins is best known for his computer-generated videos and animations. Repurposing contemporary technologies in unexpected ways, his work traces the dwindling gap between the digital world and human feeling. He borrows techniques from literature, cinema, video games, music and theatre to examine the relationship between reality, realism and fiction.
Find out more here.
Feel the Sound at the Barbican Centre – till 31st August
A new immersive exhibition will rearrange what you think sound is. Feel the Sound includes multi-sensory installations that take you on a journey across locations in the Barbican, from the car parks to the Lakeside Terrace.
Find out more here.
Yoshitomo Nara at Hayward Gallery – till 31st August
Dive into the captivating, creative world of Yoshitomo Nara in the largest European retrospective of one of Japan’s most celebrated artists.
Find out more here
Hiroshige – artist of the open road at The British Museum – till 7th September
This is the first exhibition on Hiroshige to be held at the British Museum and the first on the artist in London for more than a quarter of a century. It is a visually stunning portrait of a country about to change forever. Born during an unsettled time in Japan’s history, Utagawa Hiroshige (1797–1858) went on to become one of the country’s most talented, prolific, and popular artists.
Find out more here
Jenny Saville: The Anatomy of Painting at National Portrait Gallery – till 7th September
The first UK museum exhibition dedicated to Jenny Saville, showcasing 50 powerful figurative works spanning her career. Saville rose to prominence in the early 1990s, following her acclaimed degree show at the Glasgow School of Art. Since then, she has played a leading role in the reinvigoration of figurative painting – a genre that she continues to test today.
Find out more here.
Leigh Bowery exhibition at Tate Modern – till 2nd September 2025
This is a celebration of the boundary-pushing career of artist Leigh Bowery. An artist, performer, model, TV personality, club promoter, fashion designer, and musician, Bowery took on many different roles, refusing to be limited by convention.
Find out more here.
Giuseppe Penone at Serpentine South – till 7th September
With a career spanning over five decades, Giuseppe Penone (b. 1947 Garessio, Italy) has created an expansive body of work that encompasses sculpture, drawing, painting, installation, and photography. Born in a village near Cuneo, Italy, his practice is deeply influenced by the forested landscapes of Northern Italy, shaping his lifelong exploration of the relationship between humans and nature.
Find out more here.
Rachel Jones at Dulwich Picture Gallery – till 19th October
An explosion of colour and feeling, this solo show explores identity and abstraction in Jones’s vivid new paintings.
Find out more here
Ancient India: living traditions at The British Museum – till 25th October
This new exhibition, reaching back more than 2,000 years, explores the origins of Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist sacred art in the ancient and powerful nature spirits of India and the spread of this art beyond the subcontinent.
Find out more here.
Edward Burra & Edward Burra at Tate Britain – till 19th October
Edward Burra runs in parallel with an exhibition of works by Ithell Colquhoun, offering visitors the chance to see two influential British artists with one ticket. Edward Burra is one of the most distinctive British artists of the 20th century, renowned for his vibrant, satirical scenes of the uninhibited urban underworld and queer culture during the ‘Roaring Twenties.’
Find out more here
Making Egypt exhibition at the Young V&A – till 2nd November 2025
Embark on a fascinating journey through the ancient past to the modern day, exploring ancient Egypt’s creativity and how it continues to influence art, design and popular culture today.
Find out more here.
VE Day – The Tower Remembers at Tower Of London – 11th November
2025 Poppies commemorative display to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. The display will feature nearly 30,000 of the original poppies, created for the 2014 installation, ‘Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red’, returning to the Tower, marking the sacrifices made by many during the Second World War.
Find out more here
The Edwardians: Age of Elegance at Kings Gallery – til 23rd November 2025
Explore the opulence and glamour of the Edwardian age – the period between the Victorian era and the First World War. Visitors will learn about the lives and tastes of two of Britain’s most fashionable royal couples – King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, and King George V and Queen Mary – from their family lives and personal collecting to their glittering social circles and spectacular royal events.
Find out more here.
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