Tim Walker's Fairyland

 This morning I had the chance to visit Tim Walker's new exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery. The exhibition started a week ago, on October 9th and will run until the 7th of February 2027. 

Tim Walker is a British photographer who works mostly in fashion, collaborating regularly with Vogue, W and Love magazines. He gained popularity in the 1990s thanks to his unique imaginary photography style, which combines whimsical elements inspired by his love for fairytales.

This exhibition is presented as an exploration of queer identity, community, and love. In the presentation at the beginning of the exhibit, he explains how the term "fairyland" is a reference to his childhood, a garden he decorated where he felt he could be himself and dream about adventures and romances. Growing up, he was confronted with society's oppressive response to his queerness, to the point of being ashamed of it. This exhibition is a statement that difference is precious and beautiful, and Walker affirms he can now place himself with confidence in Fairyland, a realm that constitutes a safe space where everyone can be themselves.

The photographs exposed here were taken across five years, during which Walker gathered activists, artists, writers, performers, doctors, politicians, dozens of trailblazers that he considered an inspiration and relevant for their contribution to the queer community. 

In the first room, we can find a description of some events relevant across queer history, such as the Stonewall riots. In the same room we see the first portraits of the exhibition, depicting important queer activists. This continues in the following rooms, where we can see each portrait accompanied by a piece of the story of the person in the photo.

I think this part of the exhibition pays such a beautiful homage to all the people who advocated for queer rights and dedicated part of their lives, their art or discipline to this cause. Every portrait is unique and shows really well the dedication and the admiration that the artist has for these people.

After this part of the exhibition, we find a room dedicated to the Rebel Dykes, a collective of queer women who, in the early 1980s, stood for many battles, including nuclear disarmament, environmentalism, sex positive feminism and AIDS solidarity. Their portraits exude a punk energy and they capture perfectly the complicity and affection these women have for each other and their daring dedication. 

Then, we enter the Fairyland, a realm of inclusivity and self-affirmation where everyone can boldly be themselves. Here we see more exuberant and creative pictures, as the first theme we encounter is Camp. As Susan Sontag describes it in her essay Notes on Camp, «the essence of Camp is its love for the unnatural: of artifice and exaggeration». This is an aesthetic sensibility tied to queer culture and drag, characterized by a love for artifice, exaggeration, and theatricality.

This room also displays pictures from editorials of many queer artists, such as Björk, Chappell Roan, Frank Ocean and Hunter Schafer, and fashion icons, showing how fashion can be a tool of self-expression through which people can voice their uniqueness. I loved the works exposed in this room for their magical and colorful style, celebrating freedom and identity.

In the back of the garden, we enter a room that displays explicit photography, a depiction of queer sexuality and intimacy. This part is probably the one I enjoyed the most as it was characterized by an intersectional approach: some photographs established links with passages of poems and tales, while others suggested a connection with paintings from different eras. I also think the pictures managed to portray a sexuality that should be embraced, rather than be regarded as shameful.  

I loved this exhibition so much, and I really advise you to go. You can see how much devotion the artist put into every detail and how important it was for him to honor queer history and the people who made it. This is such a dazzling, emotional and magical journey that celebrates queer identity and creates a space of community where everyone can feel unapologetically themselves.