Tim Walker Builds a Fairyland at the National Portrait Gallery

Tim Walker has spent the last five years turning his lens on queer Britain: 250 specially made portraits of writers, performers, activists and artists, cast as characters in an invented world of total freedom. That body of work is now up at the National Portrait Gallery as 'Tim Walker's Fairyland: Love and Legends'. It opened on Friday 9 October 2026, the week before Frieze London (14–18 October), when the whole art world is in this city anyway, and runs to 7 February 2027. Time Out calls it his first show in London since the V&A's exhibition in 2019.

The sitters range from national treasures to scene names. Amateur Photographer names Ian McKellen and Miriam Margolyes, and performer Harry Keita appears as a delphinium fairy. Artlyst's list of sitters adds Isaac Julien, Peter Tatchell, Paul O'Grady, Ncuti Gatwa, Boy George, Björk, Lady Gaga, Frank Ocean and Chappell Roan. This is Walker doing what he is known for — elaborate, hand-built sets, costume as transformation, photography as theatre — pointed at community rather than commerce. The show is curated by Susanna Brown and designed by Shona Heath.

Two hundred and fifty portraits, cast as characters in an alternate world of total freedom: five years of work, one gallery.

According to Amateur Photographer, a 320-page catalogue (£35) accompanies the exhibition, with an extended interview between Walker and the curator, Susanna Brown, and contributions from Travis Alabanza, Russell T Davies, Shon Faye, Lisa Power and Joelle Taylor — a roll call that says how seriously the gallery is taking the subject, not just the pictures.

The run of 9 October 2026 to 7 February 2027 is the one given by Amateur Photographer, Artlyst, Time Out's listing and, on 28 September, Digital Camera World, whose Tom May previewed the show and found the plain white backdrops of the portrait rooms a surprise from a photographer famed for giant sets, but said Walker still 'brings out each sitter's personality', with the more fantastical rooms reaching what he called peak kitsch, 'gloriously'. Earlier reports said 8 October and a January close. Amateur Photographer also gives ticket prices of £23 Monday to Thursday and £25 Friday to Sunday (£25.50 and £27.50 with a donation), with the gallery open 10.30–18.00 daily and until 21.00 on Fridays and Saturdays.

For photographers, the reason to go is craft: Walker builds his worlds inside the frame, and every one of them was constructed physically — sets, props, costume, light — before the shutter went anywhere near it. St Martin's Place, WC2H 0HE, from 9 October 2026 to 7 February 2027.