Tim Walker exhibition to feature over 150 new works inspired by V&A Museum

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Mar 21, 2019

The new Tim Walker: Wonderful Things exhibition opening at Victoria & Albert Museum in London in September has been in the works since 2015, new details revealed this Thursday.

The photography show will be the largest ever exhibition to focus on English fashion photographer Tim Walker, who has worked with a vast number of fashion magazines including Vogue, W, i-D, AnOther and Love throughout his star-studded career.

The exhibition will also introduce ten major new photographic projects developed by Walker as a sort of love letter to the museum’s extensive collection, unearthing the inspirational role that the V&A plays in his creative process.

“To me, the V&A has always been a palace of dreams – it’s the most inspiring place in the world. The museum’s collection is so wide and eclectic, and I think that’s why it resonates with me so much,” Walker said about his collaboration with the museum, which has recently extended its fashion exhibition on the house of Dior due to “unprecedented” demand.

To prepare for the exhibition, Walker scoured the V&A’s 145 public galleries, visited object stores and conservation studios, and met with many of the museum’s curators, conservators and technicians.

The objects he encountered along the way, from luminous stained-glass windows to Indian miniature paintings, jewelled snuff boxes to golden shoes, directly influenced a series of photographs included in the new exhibition, designed by Shona Heath, a leading British creative and reportedly one of his closest friends.

“Many of the objects that I saw during my research at the museum made my heart swell, I wanted to try to create a photograph that would relate not only to the physical presence and beauty of that object, but also to my emotional reaction to it. Each new shoot is a love letter to an object from the V&A collection, and an attempt to capture my encounter with the sublime,” said the photographer, describing the process as an exploration of new territories.

“We started discussing this project back in 2015 and it’s been a marvellous journey,” added Susanna Brown, curator of photographs at the V&A. “Tim embarked on a sustained exploration of the museum and many V&A colleagues helped to spark his imagination by unlocking our collection stores and sharing the fascinating stories behind the objects with him. Tim has a wildly inquisitive mind and a boundless energy, he never stops innovating and these new pictures are some of the most spectacular he has ever made. Tim’s photographs and Shona’s exhibition design combine to create a show that I think our visitors will adore.”

Opening on 21 September 2019 until 8 March 2020, Tim Walker: Wonderful Things will showcase in total over 300 items, including the V&A objects which inspired Walker’s latest photographs, short films, photographic sets and props, scrapbooks and sketches.