Dates: 8 May – 8 August 2026
Location: Arch 10, Bankside Yards, 250 Blackfriars Road, London, SE1 9AX
This international exhibition is presented by TheGallery at Arts University Bournemouth (AUB) in partnership with Andy Earl.
Curated by Violet M McClean, the exhibition marked the official launch of TheGallery’s 2025–2026 exhibition programme in November last year. The exhibition was developed and produced by AUB in close collaboration with Andy Earl, who is an Honorary Fellow of the University.
Exhibition overview
This May, Bankside Yards, a Native Land development, will mark a major cultural milestone with the opening of its historic Victorian arches to the general public for the first time in over a century, as a three-month-long photography exhibition opens.
The inaugural public event, Andy Earl × Bankside Yards, celebrates the four-decade career of the acclaimed photographer, filmmaker and artist whose work has defined the visual language of popular culture.
Set within one of the 14 restored Victorian railway arches the international touring exhibition from AUB, curated by Violet M McClean, will feature 40 pieces of work, bringing together large-scale panoramic works alongside smaller, more intimate pieces, allowing audiences to experience both the cinematic ambition and quieter observational detail of Earl’s work.
Across portraiture, landscape, and commissioned imagery, the exhibition highlights his distinctive approach to composition and his long-standing engagement with visual culture. Drawing on fine art, surrealism, and architectural form, Earl’s photographs blur the line between photography and painting through staged and carefully constructed compositions.
Throughout his career Earl has collaborated with some of the world’s most influential artists, musicians, and national treasures, including Sir David Attenborough, Johnny Cash, Madonna, Pink Floyd, Mick Jagger, The Rolling Stones, and Robbie Williams, producing more than over 400 record and album covers and directing around twenty music videos. His work is defined by a distinctive visual approach, including the development of his “Flash and Blur” technique, which introduced movement and instability into precisely staged images.
The day the exhibition opens – 8 May – marks the 100th birthday of Sir David Attenborough and in tribute, the exhibition features Earl’s definitive Blue Planet portrait, a cinematic shot of Attenborough wading through a theatrical ocean, captured within the water tanks of Elstree Studios in 2003
As Bankside Yards continues to evolve into London’s newest mixed-use cultural district on the South Bank, the opening of the Victorian arches signals the beginning of a wider cultural programme embedded within the site’s historic fabric. With the delivery of the landmark residential building, Opus, scheduled for completion in early 2027, Andy Earl × Bankside Yards offers an early glimpse of the vibrant neighbourhood as it takes shape.
Meet the artist
Andy Earl
Born and raised in Sussex, Andy Earl’s creative journey began in unexpected ways. At 16, he worked as mechanic for James Hunt...
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