Tim Walker Builds a Fairyland at the National Portrait Gallery

Tim Walker has spent the last five years turning his lens on queer Britain — dozens of writers, performers, activists and artists, cast as characters in an invented world of total freedom. From 8 October that body of work goes up at the National Portrait Gallery as 'Tim Walker's Fairyland', running into January 2027 and opening in time for Frieze Week, when the whole art world is in this city anyway.

The sitters range from national treasures to scene names: Ian McKellen appears, as does performer Harry Keita, photographed as a delphinium fairy. This is Walker doing what made him one of the most recognisable fashion photographers alive — elaborate, hand-built sets, costume as transformation, photography as theatre — pointed at community rather than commerce. The show is curated by Susanna Brown.

Dozens of queer trailblazers across Britain, cast as characters in an alternate world of total freedom — five years of work, one gallery.

A book accompanies the exhibition, with contributions from Travis Alabanza, Shon Faye, Russell T Davies, Lisa Power and Joelle Taylor — a roll call that says how seriously the gallery is taking the subject, not just the pictures.

For photographers, the reason to go is craft: nobody working builds a world inside a frame like Walker, and every one of those worlds was constructed physically — sets, props, costume, light — before the shutter went anywhere near it. St Martin's Place, WC2H 0HE, from 8 October.