Cultured Calm: Tim Walker: Wonderful Things

The Tim Walker: Wonderful Life exhibition currently showing at the V&A is the result of the photographer Tim Walker being given complete freedom to scrutinise all the museums 145 public galleries.  He describes the museum as ‘a palace of dreams’ and the opportunity to select objects which would go on to become sources of inspiration to develop his photographic scenes was a dream come true. The result is the creation of 10 photographic scenes, all of which are a reaction to the emotions Walker felt on seeing his chosen objects.

The vast well of Walkers incredible imagination is obvious from the very beginning.   From the moment I entered I was clear it was going to be large scale and theatrical and I was swept into this world of wild imaginings, colour and  music almost immediately.

The exhibition is a series of rooms all featuring the object which inspired the creation of it. Visitors move from  dark to light always accompanied by music and sound and often motion picture too as they make their way through the exhibition. Each room producing its own surprise.  Silent videos play in many of the rooms giving an insight into Walker’s creative process.  Hidden seductively behind a pink curtain is the chapel of nudes.  Vibrant photographs of a scantily clad Beth Ditto feature.  There are also series of gorgeous pocket size photographs of Kate Moss re enacting scenes from The Magic Toyshop by Angela Carter

One moment you are in a dark atmospheric room and the next inside a room blindingly bright in its whiteness, punctuated only by a series of pictures styled in black and white.  Another dimly lit room filled with a kaleidoscope of colourful floral images featuring models dressed in vast swathes of coloured silks, posing in fields of wild flowers.  In the same room large colourful wild animals with elongated limbs hang from, and prowl the edges of the ceiling.  All of it a celebration of the vibrancy and mysticism of India.

He uses muses such as Tilda Swinton and Karen Elson to create bold and striking images. They are used to create theatrical scenes dreamt up in Tim Walkers wild imaginings.  The whole exhibition is a theatre set with a constant sense of the unexpected and where all of the human senses are stretched and stimulated.

What staggered me most was how much Walker was able take from even the smallest object. An object which may be regularly overlooked by casual visitors to the museum was absorbed and ingested by him and developed into something utterly fabulous.

This for me was a joy from beginning to end.  The colour, the music, the ambiance created by the pure theatre is all consuming.  I reached the end of the exhibition hoping for more.  This is the sign of a very good exhibition.  Often exhibitions go on just a little too long.  For me this couldn’t go on long enough. I left smiling very broadly.

The very good news is that the Fabulous Tim Walker Exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum has been extended until the 22nd March. So there are still 2 whole months left in which to enjoy it.  If you are in London and haven’t seen it already there is now no excuse.  If like me you have seen it and completely loved it, then there is every opportunity to go and see it again.

Do keep you eye on the V&A this year.  There are some wonderful exhibitions coming  up including ‘Alice, Curisor and Curisor’ which I cannot wait to see.