Four Low Cost Art Exhibitions You Can See Right Now in London

From oil on canvas to photography, here are five free or low cost art exhibitions you can get access to right now

It’s always a challenge to find things to do in London. London’s got some great art shows on at the moment and some, well, mediocre ones. As always, caught in the phosphenes of the internet’s ‘please everyone’ mentality, here’s our honest take on what you can expect of the capital city’s most demanding exhibitions.

Sanlé Sory’s work is currently on show at The Photographers’ Gallery.

The Cass Art Prize at The Bomb Factory

The Bomb Factory hosts another round of The Cass Art Prize with some interesting and not-so-interesting pieces. While some work on show lives up to our expectations, some feel a little on the nose and/or expected.

Despite this, if you enjoy finding something new outside the confines of the big four galleries, then this might be for you. You have nothing to lose except time, because it’s free.

Visitor Information

Location: The Bomb Factory, 206 Marylebone Road, London NW1 6LY
Closest Tube Station: Marylebone, Baker Street
Dates: Closes this Saturday, 14 November
Admission: Free

The Photographers’ Gallery: Sanlé Sory, William Eggleston and more

Sanlé Sory’s exhibition, Colour Years, showcases the work of a photographer who took an estimated 1 million portraits over six decades. Capturing images of life, fashion and the youth cultures of Burkina Faso, his work offers a great insight into a country Brits should know more about. Meanwhile, outside, you’ll find a free exhibit: NINAGAWA Mika’s Captive Blooms. At £10, there’s not much to lose, unless you hate them all.

After taking in the sights of a master, you can take a short walk to William Eggleston’s All That Goes Unnoticed. His propensity to turn the banal into interesting visions was part of a much larger movement that instinctually injected distinct motifs without overcompensating. In this new exhibition, which celebrates 50 years of William Eggleston’s Guide (1976), you’ll get an up-close and personal look at his bold and attractive colour prints.

Visitor Information

Location: The Photographers’ Gallery, 16-18 Ramillies Street, London W1F 7LW
Closest Tube: Tottenham Court Road, Oxford Circus
Dates: Wednesday, October 14, 2026 – Sunday, February 21, 2027
Admission: £12 online, £14 at the door (your ticket purchase covers access to all exhibitions)

Winston Taylor Photo Portrait Prize

The annual Winston Taylor Photo Portrait Prize exhibitions are visually appealing, though they offer little to top up and inspire. Photography competitions often share the same responses thanks to the same usual suspect judges. But, surprise, surprise, their choices render the same results. Like many photographic prizes, you’ll find nothing that is compositionally new on offer except personal introspection and experiences. While the latter is often essential reading, once again, the composite between text and visuals lands in a disjointed and lacklustre manner. To sum up: Aesthetically nice, execution? Done before.

Visitor Information

Location: National Portrait Gallery, St Martin’s Place, London, WC2H 0HE
Closest Tube Station: Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square
Dates: 5 November 2026 – 17 January 2027
Admission: £10–£11 (off-peak Mon–Thu), £12–£13.20 (peak hours Fri–Sun). An optional donation can be made.
Details: Showcasing the work of 56 photographers

Susan Meiselas: Carnival Strippers

Susan Meiselas is one of photography’s most underrated photographers. Spanning decades, her work has been used as both a testament to the events she has documented and a visual inspiration for how to do it right. Each print recreates the intensity and raw energy she likely experienced, and her matter-of-fact captures, forged with compositionally fascinating, impressive and effective execution, make this a must-see.

It’s also free, making it a no-brainer for those seeking to step outside conventional photography wisdom thanks to her works of note. In Carnival Strippers, Meiselas follows dancers between 1972 and 1975. She says: “I photographed the dancers’ public performances as well as their private lives. I also taped interviews with the dancers, their boyfriends, the show managers, and paying customers.” This body of work showcases the disparity in gender economics and societal taboos of the time.

Visitor Information

Location: Huxley-Parlour Photographs, 45 Maddox Street, Mayfair, London, W1S 2PE
Closest Tube Station: Oxford Circus
Dates: October 23 – November 21, 2026
Admission: Free

Bonus — Tim Walker’s Fairyland: Love and Legends

The National Portrait Gallery has welcomed Tim Walker several times in various ways. This time, they put on a show cataloguing the many subjects he has photographed over the years from the queer community. In an effort to take back the word “fairy”, a derogatory term, the word takes centre stage in his latest solo exhibition, Tim Walker’s Fairyland: Love and Legends.

The show, hosted by the National Portrait Gallery, features several photographs from over the years with commentary on the photographer’s early years growing up as a gay man.

Followers of his work will rejoice in a fresh set of prints alongside historical photographs; however, uniqueness is mostly off the table. Approximately 250 new images are on show alongside some familiar photos and portraits. However, the commentary on each is more enlightening and offers a sense of introspection into how each one was captured and what his subjects believed at the time.

However, the more interesting part of this is not the photographs, which remain at a high standard, but the curatorial efforts and supplemental insight. Overall, it’s interesting. But galleries need to up their game and step outside the world of display mediocrity. This one in particular was subpar.

You can see Tim Walker’s Fairyland at the National Portrait Gallery, though entry is slightly more expensive at £23.

Photo courtesy of The Photographers’ Gallery.

Stanisland Magazine