Top photography exhibitions in London

Leeds is another planet in this exhibition from veteran British photographer Peter Mitchell, a name nowhere near as well-known as contemporaries like Don McCullin or Martin Parr – but a truly worthwhile discovery if you’ve never heard of him. A Londoner who moved to Leeds in 1972 and never left, Mitchell’s photos in this small but transporting exhibition at the Photographers’ Gallery take us on a tour of the backstreets and alleys of his adopted city, mainly during the 1970s, giving us proud shopkeepers and aproned artisans standing in front of crumbling premises.

Why go: When Mitchell was taking these photos, colour photography was barely respected. There’s now a retro appeal to his vision, but to his contemporaries, this was strange, modern, radical work.

By rights, Peter Hujar should be far more famous than he is. A contemporary of Robert Mapplethorpe and Nan Goldin, and a close friend of Paul Thek and David Wojnarowicz, he rubbed shoulders with countless artists and literary luminaries, photographing everyone from Andy Warhol, Susan Sontag and Wiliam S. Burroughs to Greer Langton, John Waters and Cookie Mueller. Many of these are on display in this landmark exhibition, alongside anonymous street figures, nudes of friends and lovers, landscapes from road trips across America, and self-portraits through the decades.

Why go: Full of tender, poised, compassionate photographs, this show cements Hujar’s reputation as a major force in 20th-century photography.

Like a blast of hairspray to the eyes, the Tate is about to blind you with the ’80s. This expansive, exhaustive and exhausting exhibition features dozens of photographers and hundreds of photographs depicting all the turbulence of that most turbulent of decades.

Why go? This show is a window into a turbulent past. 

For Brits of a certain age, The Face was the pop culture bible of their youth. Its pages were a chaotic, colourful blend of music, fashion, nightlife, and subcultural anthropology, combining the grit, tone, and subject matter of the era’s music publications with the creative flair, quality, and splashy colour photography of the big fashion magazines. And this exhibition is intent on bombarding you with as many of the publication’s brilliant photos as possible.

Why go: It’s vibrant, energetic and really, really cool.

Everyone in 1970s Lagos was cooler than you. At least they were on the evidence of this show, which collects together the best work of Abi Morocco Photos, a husband and wife duo who documented life in Nigeria as prosperity blossomed and the economy boomed. 

Why go: This is a window into Lagos at its coolest, hippest and chicest.