Iconic Dogs of London at FLUX Exhibition, Marylebone 2025
In July 2025, something that began as a scribble in my notebook found its way onto a wall in Marylebone.
Selected works from my Iconic Dogs of London series were exhibited as part of the 12th edition of FLUX Exhibition at The Bomb Factory Art Foundation in Marylebone, London, from 17 to 20 July 2025.
It was the first public exhibition of the series.
All along, this project has been my gratitude in portraits. A thank you to the dogs who changed my life into what it is today. I never imagined where this journey would take me, or quite how full my heart could become because of them.
Seeing the photographs displayed on a gallery wall felt very different from seeing them on my screen. These precious dogs had spent the months leading up to the exhibition running, bowing, prancing and occasionally doing precisely the opposite of what I had imagined for them.
Suddenly people were standing in front of their portraits, noticing their expressions, recognising familiar corners of London and asking me about the dogs behind them.
Somehow, the little idea in my notebook had become something real.
Exhibition details
Artist: Andrew Raven
Series: Iconic Dogs of London
Exhibition: FLUX Exhibition, 12th Edition
Curator: Lisa Gray
Venue: The Bomb Factory Art Foundation
Location: 206 Marylebone Road, London NW1 6JQ
Dates: 17 to 20 July 2025
Format: Curated group exhibition
How Iconic Dogs of London began
Iconic Dogs of London began with the dogs themselves. Long before the series took shape, much of what I had learnt about photographing them came simply from being around them, from rescue dogs and dogs in kennels to those who needed a little more time and understanding. Over the years I had also spent countless hours walking London with a camera, passing places such as Big Ben, St Paul’s, Horse Guards, Regent Street and the Bank of England, and I gradually started imagining the dogs I knew not simply standing beside these landmarks, but belonging amongst them. London already had all the scale, character and theatre I could ever ask for. I began to wonder what would happen if the dogs were allowed to take their place within it. Somewhere in those walks and scribbled ideas, Iconic Dogs of London began to take shape as a fine art photography series celebrating dogs within the architecture and character of London. It was never really about dogs visiting London. I wanted them to feel as though they belonged there, because to me they were always the ones worth noticing.
From sketches to the gallery wall
In the months leading up to FLUX, so many precious dogs stepped in front of my camera and each brought something completely their own. There were flying tails, unexpected leaps, gentle little moments, and plenty of times when the dog in front of me had a much better idea than the one I had imagined. Some stood beneath the scale of London’s architecture as though they had always belonged there, while others brought movement, mischief and personality into places I had walked past hundreds of times before. That unpredictability became part of what I loved most about the series. I could choose the location, think about the composition and wait for the right light, but the dogs always had the final word. The photographs that eventually found their way onto the walls at FLUX grew from that balance between something carefully imagined and something I could never have planned.
Selected works from the exhibition
St Paul’s Cathedral Skyline
There are few London silhouettes more recognisable than St Paul’s Cathedral rising beyond Millennium Bridge. What I love most about this photograph is the little congregation in front of it.
Stella, Duke, Rollo, Billy, Kiwi, Asha and Forrest gathered across the bridge, each with their own posture and expression, apparently quite unconcerned by the enormous dome behind them. I remember looking at them and thinking that somehow St Paul’s had become the backdrop.
They were the landmark.
Regent Street Icons
Regent Street gave me two very different portraits of something unmistakably London. In one, black cabs surrounded the dogs beneath lines of Union flags. In the other, red buses closed around them in the middle of the city.
I loved how all those familiar pieces of London could fill the frame, while the dogs still remained completely themselves at the centre of it.
The city had all the scale and spectacle. Somehow, they still owned it.
Bank of England Commute
There is something so recognisable about Bank when everyone appears to be going somewhere at once. That became the idea behind this piece.
Six dogs were photographed individually and brought together into one imagined rush through the City of London. Some appear to be walking with purpose, while others seem perfectly happy to take the commute at their own pace.
Which, perhaps, makes it quite an accurate commute.
What mattered to me was that each beloved dog still felt completely themselves. The composition brings them together, and it is their individual expressions and personalities that give the photograph its character.
Horse Guards Parade Bow
Horse Guards Parade gave me this enormous backdrop of scale and symmetry, and I had a fairly simple idea in my head for Rafa. Then, right in the middle of it all, he dropped into the most perfect bow.
It was such a Rafa moment. Calm, elegant and magnificent. For a second, all I could do was catch my breath and press the shutter.
That spontaneous grace became the heart of the photograph.
Those are often the photographs I love most. I can choose the location, wait for the light and arrive with an idea, then the dog gives me something far better.
The first exhibition and what came next
Seeing Iconic Dogs of London on the walls at FLUX was something I don’t think I was quite prepared for. I had spent months with these precious souls, getting to know every little expression and watching their personalities find their way into each portrait.
Then suddenly other people were standing in front of them too. Smiling at a familiar face, recognising a little corner of London, asking me who they were, and sometimes simply stopping for the one who had caught their heart.
Iconic Dogs of London has continued to grow ever since, with more precious faces, more corners of London and more stories becoming part of the collection. Later in 2025, the series received Bronze in Domestic Animals at the 1839 Awards, and the portraits themselves began finding homes as signed and numbered fine art editions.
FLUX will always hold a very special place in this story for me. It was the first time these portraits left my screen and found their place on a gallery wall.
And somehow, it was only the beginning.
Every dog was born an icon
London is filled with landmarks the world already knows. In Iconic Dogs of London, they become the backdrop for the precious souls I have always believed deserve to be seen with just as much importance.
Big Ben, St Paul’s, Horse Guards, Regent Street and the rest give each portrait its sense of place, scale and theatre, while the dog remains exactly where I want them, at the heart of the photograph.
Iconic Dogs of London has always been my gratitude in portraits. A thank you to the precious souls who changed my life, filled it in ways I could never have imagined and continue to remind me why I began photographing dogs in the first place.
London gives them the backdrop.
The city may be instantly recognisable. The dogs are the icons.
