National Portrait Gallery to Host Tim Walker’s 'Fairyland: Love and Legends'

The National Portrait Gallery in London is set to host 'Tim Walker’s Fairyland: Love and Legends,' a new exhibition by photographer Tim Walker. Scheduled to run from October 9, 2026, to February 7, 2027, the exhibition will feature 250 specially created portraits.

This installation centers on themes of Queer activism, community, and love. The subjects of Walker’s new portraits include a range of figures such as Isaac Julien, Ian McKellen, Miriam Margolyes, Chappell Roan, Olivette Cole-Wilson, Lisa Power, Peter Tatchell, Paul O’Grady, and Hunter Schafer. The exhibition also acknowledges figures like Hans Holbein the Younger and Nicholas Hilliard, placing contemporary narratives within a broader historical art context.

Utilizing both photography and film, Walker's work for this exhibition delves into aspects of Queer culture and the LGBTQ+ community, addressing topics such as the HIV/AIDS crisis. It integrates elements of fashion photography, eroticism, and fairy tales, recurrent motifs in Walker's practice, to illuminate contemporary and historical Queer experiences.