London Exhibitions Not To Miss In May 2025
- meg6982
- May 5
- 4 min read
Our monthly roundup of our favourite London based exhibitions this May, as curated by the BRUSHWRK team...
Silly Bitch, Tulani Hlalo
1st May - 8th June
Soup Gallery
"Comprising textile, moving image, performance, sculpture and installation, Hlalo’s recent bodies of work borrow from the niche subculture of competitive dog grooming as a visual language to explore how identity is at once defined and changeable. Employing playfulness and humour, as well as bizarre or otherwise unconventional imagery, her research examines a search for one’s sense of belonging and explores what it might mean to exist between cultures. The outlandish, fictional grooms present in her tufted textile and film works raise questions about consent, expectation, categorisation and the physical representation of identity, while reflecting on staged or constructed performance within societal, racial or cultural contexts"
Florence Houston - Powder Puff
Until 8th June
Lyndsey Ingram
"Powder Puff is a solo exhibition of Florence Houston, focusing on the artist’s fascination with food that people tend to look at rather than eat—with a particular emphasis on jellies. The wobbling, visually striking nature of jelly intrigues her, creating a dynamic balance between attraction and repulsion. She began painting jellies in 2021, drawing inspiration from Victorian illustrations and the memories of her childhood. The allure of Houston’s jellies, and in her painting practice in general, lies in their ability to be both aesthetically beautiful and grotesque. The exhibition marks the culmination of her growing interest in the tension between these two states, as well as the paradox of objects made to be looked at but not consumed"
Noah Davis
Until 11th May
Barbican
"Primarily based in Los Angeles, Noah Davis created a body of figurative paintings that explores a range of Black life.
Motivated by the desire to ‘represent the people around me’, Davis painted figures diving into pools, sleeping, dancing, and looking at art in scenes that can be both realistic and dreamlike, joyful and melancholic. Davis drew from anonymous photography, personal archives, film, art history and his imagination to create a ravishing body of work. Often enigmatic, his paintings reveal a deep feeling for humanity and the emotional textures of the everyday.
In 2012, Davis co-founded The Underground Museum to give free access to world-class art for the people of Arlington Heights, LA. This exhibition presents over 50 of Davis’ works in painting, sculpture, curating and community-building from 2007 to his untimely death in 2015"
Judith Dean - New Builds / Bilds 2: did you mean peace?
Until 14th June
South Parade
“Through expanding-containing perspectives and spaces within spaces - sometimes empty, un-roofed and leaky, or dripping beyond borders - Judith Dean disrupts the cartographic project, of mapping time, history, and distance, with a sense of dis-placement…with a use of non-writing hand, freed through Chinese brushes offering bleeding swathes of colour. Colour as molecular notation, as feeling, as a reckoning between artist, surface and scene.” Accompanying text extract by Lucy Rose Cunningham.
Peter Mitchell: Nothing Lasts Forever
Until 15th June
The Photographers' Gallery
"Peter Mitchell (b.1943, UK) is widely regarded as one of the most important early colour photographers of the 1970s and 80s. A powerful storyteller and social historian, Mitchell’s photography unfolds a longstanding and poetic connection with Leeds. He has chronicled the people and places, and the demolition and development of the city with warmth and familiarity for over 40 years.
Mitchell has been described as ‘a narrator of who we were, a chaser of a disappearing world’. From an alien's view of England, to demolished flats, proud shopkeepers and landlords, back-streets and eerie scarecrows, his photographs reveal his love, and at times, off-beat vision, of the people and changing face of the city.
Calling himself 'a man of the pavement', Mitchell continues to regularly walk the streets of Leeds to photograph his beloved hometown today"
Christina Kimeze: Between Wood and Wheel
Until 11th May
South London Gallery
"Discover the radiant, textured paintings of Christina Kimeze at the South London Gallery, at her first solo exhibition in the UK.
Between Wood and Wheel brings together a new series of paintings and works on paper. Originally inspired by the resurgence of roller skating in Black communities, the series explores ideas of freedom, flight and escape, particularly from a female perspective."
Astonishing Things: The Drawings of Victor Hugo
Until 29th June
Royal Academy
"Discover the imaginary worlds of Victor Hugo, one of France’s most famous writers, at this exhibition of his rarely-seen works on paper.
This exhibition follows Hugo’s preoccupation with drawing, from his early caricatures and travel drawings to his dramatic landscapes and his experiments with abstraction. It features some of his finest works on paper, which are rarely on public display and were last seen in the UK over 50 years ago"
The Face Magazine: Culture Shift
20th Feb - 18th May
National Portrait Gallery
"The Face Magazine: Culture Shift celebrates iconic fashion images and portraits from The Face, a trail-blazing youth culture and style magazine that has shaped the creative and cultural landscape in Britain and beyond"
Gabriel Moses - SELAH
Until 27th July 2025
180 Studios
"180 Studios presents the largest exhibition to date of photographer and filmmaker Gabriel Moses, bringing together over 70 photographs and 10 films showcasing his work across the worlds of fashion, music, and sport, including the premiere of new work"
If you enjoyed this article, make sure to check out our other blog posts including Artist Spotlight interviews and more over on https://www.brushwrk.co.uk/blog and whilst you’re there, why not have a look through all of the fantastic art we have for sale from emerging artists? Pop into the website to see what catches your eye...
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