Art exhibitions to see in London in December 2022

The most wonderful time of year is here and with it comes a lot of excitement from pretty festive lighting, and ice skating to those work Christmas parties! In between all your festive fun, there are heaps of great exhibitions on show in the city. From an immersive exhibition dedicated to the legendary Van Gogh to an empowering exhibition at the Barbican Centre dedicated to feminist icon Carolee Schneemann whose work explores topics ranging from sexual expression to the violence of war. Here is our guide to the best exhibitions to visit in London before the end of 2022. 

We are fortunate enough to live in a city where art can be accessed by all for free. There are several free exhibitions featured on this list. 

Eugene Palmer: Standing Still

When: until 19 December 2022

Where: Ed Cross Fine Art Gallery

Price: Free

Image: Eugene Palmer, Standing Still Exhibition

#FLODown: Ed Cross presents Standing Still, an exhibition of new work by Jamaican-born British artist Eugene Palmer. Palmer is a figurative painter whose work explores the British black diaspora based on his own experience of leaving Jamaica for the UK at the age of nine to settle in Birmingham.  In Standing Still, Palmer presents paintings based upon two recent family celebrations: one the marriage of his youngest daughter, and the other a family reunion spanning four generations. Palmer paints parents, grandchildren, grandparents and other relatives dressed in their finest clothes for the wedding. Through his portraits, he displays the timeless and transcendent values of familial love, as we witness Palmer’s process of patient observation and interpretation. Location: Ed Cross Fine Art, 19 Garrett Street, EC1Y 0TY

Click here to read our full interview with Eugene Palmer.

Carolee Schneemann - Body Politics

When: until 8 January 2023

Where: Art Gallery, Barbican Centre 

Price: from £18/ concessions available

#FLODown: The Barbican is showcasing the first major survey of Carolee Schneemann’s work in the UK. With over 200 objects and rarely seen archival material, this exhibition explores her diverse and interdisciplinary expression over six decades. Schneemann was a radical artist who remains a feminist icon and point of reference for numerous contemporary artists to this day. Addressing important topics from sexual expression and the objectification of women to human suffering and the violence of war. Location: Barbican Centre, Silk Street, EC2Y 8DS.

Maria Bartuszová Exhibition 

When: until 16 April 2023

Where: Tate Modern

Price: from £16/concessions available

Image: Maria Bartuszová Exhibition, Tate Modern, November 2022, MTotoe

#FLODown: Known for her abstract white plaster sculptures, Maria Bartuszová has created around 500 sculptures, from small organic forms to commissions for public spaces as well as works in the landscape. This exhibition presented by Tate Modern brings together many of her works that have rarely been exhibited in the UK. Location: Tate Modern, Bankside, SE1 9TG

 Cecilia Vicuña: Brain Forest Quipu

Location: Turbine Hall Tate Mordern 

Date: Until 16 April 2023

 Price: Free

Image: Cecilia Vicuña, Brain Forest Quipu, Turbine Hall, Tate Modern, November 2022

#FLODown: Tate Modern in partnership with Hyundai Motor has unveiled a captivating installation by Chilean artist and poet Cecilia Vicuña. Brain Forest Quipu continues her long-standing work with the ancient Andean tradition of the quipu. Woven together from different materials including found objects, unspun wool, plant fibres, rope and cardboard, the sculptures are combined with music and voice that emerge at moments as you move through the space. This multi-media installation is an act of mourning for the destruction of the forests, the subsequent impact of climate change, and the violence against Indigenous people, but also an opportunity to create a space for new voices and forms of knowledge to be heard and understood, as we take responsibility for our part in the destruction. Location: Bankside London, SE1 9TG.

Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience 

When: until January 2023

Where: Shoreditch 

Price: from £16.40/ £25.40 (Children/Adults). Concessions available

Image: Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience, November 2022

 #FLODown: The Van Gogh immersive experience will give you a chance to explore the life and works of the most renowned artist in the world, Vincent Van Gogh. Visitors will experience more than 300 of Van Gogh’s sketches, drawings, paintings and a VR experience which will take you on an interesting interactive exploration of some of Van Gogh’s works and life (this is not included in the price of a standard ticket). Throughout the experience, there is also a fantastic area where kids and adults alike can colour in some of Van Gogh’s most recognisable works. The immersive exhibition has been touring since 2018 and appeared in cities all over the world including Los Angeles, Beijing and New York.  Location: 106 Commercial Street, E1 6LZPrice: from £16.40/ £25.40 (Child/Adult). Concessions available.

 Lynette Yiadom-Boakye: Fly-In League With The Night

When: until 26 February 2023

Where: Tate Britain 

Price: from £16/Concessions available 

Image: Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Fly In League With The Night, Tate Britain, December 2020, MTotoe

#FLODown: Lynette Yiadom-Boakye’s excellent exhibition has returned to Tate Britain for a second run! Largely considered one of the most intriguing painters of her generation, Tate Britain presents 70 paintings and works on paper by Lynette Yiadom Boakye from 2003 to the present day. Boakye's paintings of fictitious people have earned her the prestigious Carnegie Prize in 2018, and a shortlist for the Turner Prize in 2013. Expect to find perplexing paintings with poetic titles, that demand you to create your own interpretations. Boakye explains to Tate Britain: ‘I write about the things I can’t paint and paint the things I can’t write about.’ First exhibited in 2020, the exhibition was cut short due to the pandemic and is now back for a second run. Not to be missed! Location: Millbank, London, SW1P 4RG.

Africa Fashion 

When: until 16th April 2023

Where:  Victoria & Albert Museum

Price: from £16/Concessions available

Image: Africa Fashion Exhibition, Victoria & Albert Museum, June 2022

#FLODown: Africa Fashion celebrates the creativity and global impact of contemporary African fashion. It is the UK’s most extensive exhibition of African fashion to date, featuring 45 designers from more than 20 countries across the continent, alongside personal insights from the designers, sketches, editorial spreads, photographs, film and catwalk footage. Location: V&A, Cromwell Road, SW7 2RL.

Beatrix Potter: Drawn to Nature

When: until 8 January 2023

Where: Victoria & Albert Museum

Price: from £14/ Concessions for under 26s

Image: Beatrix Potter: Drawn to Nature, Victoria & Albert Museum, November 2022, MTotoe

#FLODown: In collaboration with the National Trust the V&A present this intriguing exhibition giving visitors an opportunity to explore the wonders of Beatrix Potters's life as a writer, illustrator, scientist and conservationist. Visitors will discover some of the places and animals that inspired some of her beloved characters. The V&A hold the world's largest collection of works by Potter including drawings, manuscripts and photographs. This is a family-friendly exhibition with great interactive elements perfect for children. Location: V&A, Cromwell Road, SW7 2RL.

WEIRD SENSATION FEELS GOOD: The World of ASMR

When: Until 10 April 2023

Where: The Design Museum

Price: from £9.50

Image: WEIRD SENSATION FEELS GOOD: The World of ASMR, The Design Museum, September 2022

#FLODown: Have you ever heard a sound that has brought you a sense of calm? Or even made your skin tingle? Millions around the world are part of an online community who experience ASMR (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response), a physical sensation of euphoria or deep calm, sometimes tingling in the body, triggered through sound, touch, and movement. This is the first exhibition of its kind to lift the world of ASMR out from your screen and into physical space. Step into an environment of relaxation! Previously due to end this year, the exhibition has been extended until April 2023. Location: 224-238 Kensington High Street, Kensington, W8 6AG.

Making Modernism

When: until 12 February 2023

Where: The Gabrielle Jungels-Winkler Galleries, Royal Academy of Arts 

Price: from £17/Concessions available

Image: Marianne Werefkin, Circus – Before the Show, 1908-10. Tempera on cardboard. 53 x 88.5 cm. Leopold-Hoesch-Museum, Düren. Photo: © Peter Hinschlaeger. Royal Academy of Arts

#FLODown: Making Modernism is the first major UK exhibition devoted to pioneering women working in Germany in the early 1900s: Paula Modersohn-Becker, Kӓthe Kollwitz, Gabriele Münter and Marianne Werefkin. Bringing together 65 works, many never seen in the UK before, the exhibition explores subjects such as self-portraiture, still-life, the female body, depictions of childhood, landscapes and urban scenes through the experiences and perspectives of these ground-breaking artists. Location: Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House, W1J 0BD.

Christopher Kulendran Thomas: Another World

When: until 22 January 2023

Where: Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) 

Price: £5/Concessions available 

Image: Christopher Kulendran Thomas, Being Human (2019/22) in collaboration with Annika Kuhlmann, film still

#FLODown: In collaboration with KW Institue for Contemporary Art in Berlin, ICA London present the first major exhibition of works by British-Tamil Artist Christopher Kulendran Thomas. Another World explores an alternative approach to technology through the prism of the defeated revolutionary struggle for an independent Tamil homeland. During the Sri Lankan Civil War, the de facto state of Tamil Eelam was self-governed by a liberation movement that, in the early years of the World Wide Web, used the internet to coordinate a globally distributed parallel economic system amongst the Tamil diaspora. However, the movement’s political ambitions were eclipsed by a bitter military conflict and the autonomous state they led was brutally eradicated in 2009 by the Sri Lankan government. Location: The Mall, St James’s, London, SW1Y 5AH.

Sasha Huber: YOU NAME IT

When: until 25 March 2023

Where: Autography Gallery 

Price: FREE

Image:  Sasha Huber: YOU NAME IT, Autograph Gallery, December 2022, MTotoe

#FLODown: Sasha Huber explores how colonial histories are imprinted into the landscape through naming and acts of remembrance - asking what actions it might take to repair the inherited traumas of history. YOU NAME IT brings together over a decade of Huber’s work, prompted by the campaign Demounting Louis Agassiz. In 2007, Huber joined the transatlantic committee Demounting Louis Agassiz, initiated by the Swiss historian and political activist Hans Fässler. The purpose of Demounting Louis Agassiz is to readdress the legacy of Swiss-born naturalist and glaciologist Louis Agassiz (1807-1873), an influential proponent of scientific racism who advocated for segregation and “racial hygiene.” His scientific contributions to the fields of glaciology, palaeontology and geology resulted in over 80 landmarks bearing his name on Earth, the Moon, and Mars. Less well known, however, was Agassiz’s legacy of ‘scientific’ racism, and how he used his position to actively promote the subjugation, exploitation, and segregation of Black people and other people of colour.

Huber’s desire to use art to heal colonial and historic traumas can be seen throughout the exhibition. The artist uses a staple gun to “symbolically stitch wounds together”, creating visually arresting portraits. Click here to book your free ticket. Location: Autograph, Rivington Place, EC2A 3BA.

In Plain Sight

When: Until 12 February 2023

Where: Wellcome Collection

Price: FREE

Image: Anting anting - All seeing eye. In plain sight exhibition at Wellcome Collection, @wellcomecollection

#FLODown: In Plain Sight explores the different ways we see and are seen by others. It questions the central place that sight holds in human society through the different experiences of sighted, partially sighted and blind people. In the UK, more than 2 million people live with sight loss and 69% of the population wear corrective eyewear or have had laser eye surgery, according to figures from the NHS. The exhibition will feature eyewear from the 1600s to the present day, reflecting on evolving design innovations and style, as well as contemporary artworks and commissions, and historical and scientific material investigating visual perception. Location: 183 Euston Road, NW1 2BE.

Ayo Akingbade: Show Me The World Mister

When: until 5 February 2023

Where: Chisenhale Gallery

Price: FREE

Image: Ayo Akingbade’s exhibition ‘Show Me The World Mister’ at Chisenhale Gallery, @chisenhalegallery

#FLODown: Show Me The World Mister is a solo exhibition comprising two new films by London-based artist Ayo Akingbade. Shot on location in Nigeria, The Fist and Faluyi are Akingbade’s most ambitious productions to date, building upon her continued interest in history, place-making, legacy and power. Location: Chisenhale Gallery, 64 Chisenhale Road, E3 5QZ.

Stacey Gillian Abe: Shrublet of Old Ayivu

When: until 27 January 2023

Where: Unit London 

Price: FREE

Image: Stacey Gillian Abe, The Sitting 1 (2022), 150 x 200 cm, @unitlondon

#FLODown: Stacey Gillian Abe’s first solo exhibition with Unit London is an exploration of memory, time and emotion. Focusing on the concept of shared memory, Abe’s latest body of work examines how memories have been passed down through her family’s lineage, alluding to how traditions are absorbed and transformed from generation to generation. Location: 3 Hanover Square, London, W1S 1HD.

M aka Michael Chow (周英 麒派): Bridges

When: until 14 January 2023

Where: Waddington Custot

Price: FREE

Image: M aka Michael Chow (周英 麒派): Bridges, Waddington Custot

#FLODown: Waddington Custot presents the first UK solo exhibition in nearly 60 years by Michael Chow also known by his signature name ‘M’. Six large scale paintings are presented alongside a number of “One Breath” works on paper. M’s process is highly performative and unique, adding layer upon layer of paint and other matter onto the surface plane to create works that are both painterly and sculptural. M creates the three-dimensional forms first by pouring household paint, which form giant sheets of colour. He then sculpts the paint sheets onto the canvas, a technique he started over 60 years ago. Location: Waddington Custot, 11 Cork Street, London W1S 3LT.