HEADER IMAGE Courtesy of Tate Modern
Somehow, entering the new year in January and February feels like just a warm up until March rolls around. Flowers are blooming, we’re unpacking our spring wardrobes from storage and people in the streets are actually smiling. As the sun shines in London this week, the city feels ready to embrace new beginnings. Luckily for us, a fresh lineup of exhibitions are set to open over the coming weeks and months to inspire our creative spirits.
Below, we share are our top picks of exhibitions, theatre shows and panel talks to get excited about this Spring.
LEIGH BOWERY!
Tate Modern | Until 31st August | Tickets £18
Leigh Bowery’s life may have been short, but it was nothing less than extraordinary. Bowery’s work blurred the lines between art and reality and left an indelible mark on creative culture. As an artist, performer, model, TV personality, club promoter, fashion designer and musician, Bowery was a true multi-hyphenate who refused to be boxed by any expectations. From his rise in the wild nightlife scene of 1980s London to his bold, boundary-pushing performances in galleries, theatres, and even the streets, the artist carved out his own vibrant, unapologetic path.
Challenging the status quo, he used the body as a constantly shifting canvas to defy conventions of sexuality, gender and beauty. This eclectic exhibition gives us a rare insight into Bowery’s personal looks, alongside works from collaborators including Nick Knight, Lucian Freud, Fergus Greer, Michael Clark, Baillie Walsh and more. Providing a fresh insight into the fashion and music scenes in London and New York, the exhibition features queer icons including Princess Julia, Sue Tilley, Trojan, Andrew Logan, Lady Bunny, Scarlett Cannon, MINTY and Boy George.
“Homesick”: Annual international Women’s day exhibition
The Sarabande Foundation | Curator tour – Friday 7th March, 15:00 – 16:00 & evening panel discussion – Tuesday 11th March, 19:30 – 20:45 | Free entry with booked ticket
The Sarabande Foundation presents its third annual international women’s day exhibition Homesick, bringing together 11 of the organisation’s artists who redefine the meaning of ‘home’ – featuring Adele Brydges, Bex Massey, Helena Lacey, Jennifer Jones, Jia Xi Li, Kasia Wozniak, Mairi Millar, Rosie Gibbens, Semin Hong, Shan Hua and Yijia Wu.
By dismantling societal expectations, the work in this exhibition sparks conversations of queerness, family and the body as an extension of home. The art invite viewers to question their own ideas of place and belonging and to discard what no longer fits, as we are constantly in the process of deconstructing and rebuilding. In 2006, Lee Alexander McQueen established Sarabande, a charitable foundation with the ambition to support the most creative minds of the future, and it has since nurtured over 200 artists and designers.
Photography: © David Parry. Image courtesy of National Portrait Gallery
The Face Magazine: Culture Shift
National Portrait Gallery | Until 18th May | Tickets cost £23, or free for members
This retrospective at the National Portrait Gallery celebrates the influential British magazine’s vast history through photography and its monumental impact on youth culture from the 1980’s to the early 2000’s. The exhibition features over 200 images by legendary photographers including David Simms, Sølve Sundsbø and Elaine Constantine capturing British icons such as Kate Moss and Liam Gallagher.
There are also dedicated snippets from their roster of writers including Ekow Eshun, Sabine Jaskot-Gill and Pete Phadies. The works celebrate a time when physical media was more prevalent than ever and running to your local shop to grab The Face was the easiest way to access all the latest fashion, music and art news and inspiration.
Linder: Danger Came Smiling
Southbank Centre | Now – May 5th | Tickets cost £19
Since the 1970s, Linder Sterling’s subversive, feminist punk photomontage work has been a beacon for British counterculture. Sterling subverts conventional representations within her work, challenging how women are portrayed in the media. The collages reimagine femininity and challenge the viewer to confront the complexities of gender and power. Excitingly, Sterling’s most regarded image of a naked woman with an iron in place of her head for The Buzzcocks’ 1977 single ‘Orgasm Addict’ is displayed in this Southbank retrospective. Across the exhibition, there is a large array of compelling imagery that reimagines the female form, blending humour with otherwise provocative imagery.
Egon Schiele: Portraits on Paper
Omer Trioche Gallery, 21 Conduit Street | Friday 14th Feb 2025 – Friday 2nd May 2025 | Free entry
This exhibit explores Schiele’s intimate portraits on paper spanning from 1910 up until the end of his life in 1918. Schiele was an Austrian painter, best known for his intense, provocative and erotic works based on the human body. Exploring themes of psychological depth, sexuality, love and loss, his distorted angular figures shocked many but were central to his exploration of human nature.
The paper works in this exhibition can be considered equal, if not more significant than his paintings. They show the inner workings of the artists mind and how he achieved greatness, capturing the raw human emotion and vulnerability he wanted to display, Schiele truly pushed the boundaries of modern portraiture with intensity and conviction.
Tim Stoner: Negative Space
Pace Gallery | 5th Mar – 12 Apr 2025 | Free entry
Pace Gallery also brings us a works on paper exhibition by London based artist Tim Stoner. Works on paper allow us an insight into the artistic journey and provide us a deeper understanding of the interworks of the Artist. This series was developed over several years, revealing the complex process of layering and deliberate deconstructing which is the core of Tim Stoner’s practice. Stoner’s paintings evoke a feeling of nostalgia, the fragmented memories blend influences from ancient symbols and modern consumer culture.
ICA New contemporaries
Now- 23rd March | Until 23rd March | Free entry
Marking 75 years of the Institute of Contemporary Arts, their annual exhibition showcasing emerging artists returns. This exhibition opens a platform to 35 artists early in their career, offering an overview of the social realities of this generation across pop culture, consumerism and societal constructs. This year’s new contemporaries exhibition not only highlights the innovative work of the artists, but also reinforces the ICA’s commitment to fostering experimental practices and engaging audiences with contemporary art.
TRANSCESTRY: 10 years of the Museum of Transology
Lethaby Gallery, Central Saint Martins | 11 March – 11 May 2025 | Free Entry
This landmark exhibition marks a decade of community collecting by the Museum of Transology – home to the world’s biggest collection of objects and stories celebrating trans, non-binary and intersex lives. This exhibition comes at a poignant time when trans rights and representation are being debated across the globe. ‘TRANSCESTRY’ offers an important counterpoint and is the largest exhibition of its kind, showcasing over 1,000 personal artefacts donated by more than 1,000 members of the community, amplifying underrepresented, and often forgotten, stories from the trans community – celebrating resilience, identity and creativity.
The collection bridges the personal and the public – featuring items that commemorate private gender milestones and medical ephemera alongside hundreds of protest placards from mass public rallies, a substantial political t-shirt collection and costumes from some of the UK’s best loved performers including BRICKS cover star Travis Alabanza, Kate O’Donnell and Nando Messias. Additionally, the exhibition spotlights work from award-winning artists including Claye Bowler, Kasra Jalilipour, Victoria Cantons and Whiskey Chow. Homemade zines will be displayed beside best-selling books by Kit Heyam, Juno Roche and Juliet Jacques, with films curated by My Genderation, and displays by Trans Pride Collective UK & Ireland and the youth collective Trans Kids Deserve Better.
Plied & Prejudice
The Vaults | 13th March – 18th May | Tickets from £19
You’re invited to Pemberley for Mr Darcy’s booziest ball in this production that promises the Jane Austen hit like you’ve never seen it before. From the production company behind West End shows Back to the Future: The Musical and 9 to 5: The Dolly Parton Musical, this immersive performance throws all notions of respectable theatre (and Regency etiquette) out the door as five actors scramble to play twenty characters in this chaotic and cocktail-fuelled retelling of the romantic classic.
Equal parts performance and party, the show invites audience members to get out of their seats and onto Darcy’s dance floor with dance lessons, inappropriate proposals, free flowing drinks, that wet shirt scene, and even a cameo from “Keira Knightly”. Direct from a sellout run in Australia, whether you are a Janeite or just down for a laugh, we’re sure you’ll love this mad night of love, lust, and libations.
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