Photo London, the UK capital’s leading photography fair, comes back for its 11th edition with a bold new home at Olympia in Kensington this May. The acclaimed event will take place from 13–17 May, presenting an eclectic array of exhibitions covering personal family stories, nostalgic island photography and challenging modern art. This year’s programme features both renowned galleries and fresh entries, with a notable concentration on overlooked areas through a new ‘Focus’ section showcasing galleries from Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe. From Spanish Catalan photographers capturing Ibiza’s pivotal 1970s to British artists exploring the complexities of family bonds, Photo London’s 11th iteration is set to provide the curatorial ambition and photographic storytelling that has made it an essential fixture in the international photography calendar.
A Fair Reimagined: Fresh Space, Contemporary Vision
Photo London’s move to Olympia represents a significant milestone for the fair, providing a fresh canvas for its artistic direction. The move to Kensington’s heritage location delivers expanded gallery space and improved visitor experience, allowing exhibitors to showcase their pieces with increased scope and ambition. This new home reflects the fair’s growing stature within the global photography sector and its dedication to showcasing diverse artistic voices. The change of venue also indicates Photo London’s transformation from a conventional art fair into a hub for dedicated collectors, photographers and aficionados pursuing substantive engagement with contemporary and historical photographic practice.
The 11th edition’s curation reflects a intentional pivot towards inclusion. By introducing the ‘Focus’ section, Photo London strongly supports galleries and artists from geographies historically excluded in mainstream art fairs. This curatorial strategy transcends geographic representation to incorporate a range of themes, with exhibitions ranging from intimate family stories to rigorous explorations of identity and representation. The fair’s dedication to backing both established institutions and emerging galleries ensures a lively commercial space where established masters appear next to bold emerging voices, creating chances for surprising artistic encounters and meaningful dialogue across generations and cultures.
- Expanded Olympia venue facilitates more ambitious gallery exhibitions and displays
- New ‘Focus’ section highlights galleries from Latin America and Central Eastern Europe
- Programming combines established masters with emerging contemporary photographers
- Fair highlights personal narratives alongside large-scale historical photographic projects
Nostalgia and Memory: Capturing Pivotal Moments
Ibiza’s Golden Era Through Two Lenses
Agony and Ecstasy gallery makes its Photo London debut with a striking exhibition examining Ibiza throughout one of its most transformative decades. Catalan-Spanish photographer Oriol Maspons and German photographer Walter Rudolph’s collaborative exhibition captures the island across 1976 and 1985, a pivotal period following Franco’s death but preceding the surge of British tourism that would fundamentally reshape the destination. Their photographs maintain a visual record of Ibiza’s cultural renaissance, chronicling the island’s development through personal, candid moments that reveal the character of an era presently lost to commercialisation and mass tourism.
The exhibition presents a visual nostalgia that goes beyond simple tourist imagery, instead providing a sociological portrait of Ibiza’s shift from relative obscurity to global recognition. Rudolph’s The Montesol Hotel and Maspons’ Miss Ku at Privilege nightclub demonstrate the fair’s commitment to historical photographic documentation. These images act as historical records, documenting the ambience, visual character and social dynamics of a transformative moment in Mediterranean history. The work appeals strongly to modern viewers seeking authentic documentation of places dramatically changed by global expansion and commercial development.
Family Connections and Local Landscapes
Guest Editions, a Hackney-based gallery, presents itself at Photo London with two compelling bodies of work examining home, belonging and familial connection. Thomas Duffield’s series Poppy Promises charts a nine-year journey of rapprochement with his father, following years of estrangement caused by addiction. The project goes beyond conventional documentary photography to serve as a meditation on forgiveness, patience and the possibility of reconstructing fractured relationships. Duffield’s close engagement converts personal struggle into universal narrative, inviting viewers to consider their own encounters of family rupture and repair.
Laura McCluskey’s decade-long project on the Isle of Sheppey likewise examines the complexity of familial ties and geographical belonging. Centred on 13 Acorn Street, the ancestral home of her paternal grandparents, McCluskey’s photographs explore how family bonds both deteriorate and persist. Her work demonstrates how specific locations function as repositories for family memory and identity, with each image functioning as a sensitive exploration into heritage and continuity. Both artists utilise photography as a tool for understanding the intricate emotional architectures that shape domestic life and personal history.
Global Perspectives: Expanding Geographical Reach
Photo London’s 11th edition marks a notable change in curatorial vision, with the fair launching ‘Focus’, a novel scheme dedicated to promoting galleries and artists from underrepresented regions. This strategic expansion demonstrates the fair’s dedication to making more accessible the international photography landscape, moving beyond established Western markets to highlight rising practitioners from the Americas and Eastern European territories. By providing specialist gallery space and prominence to these regions, Photo London establishes itself as a truly international venue rather than just a UK-centric event, nurturing international exchange and disrupting established hierarchies within the current art landscape.
- Flagship initiative launches, showcasing galleries from Latin America and Central-Eastern Europe
- Ungallery exhibits artists from Argentina examining current social and political issues
- Belén Romero Gunset examines lesbian identity through performance photography self-portraits
- Galeria Monopol showcases Polish neo-avant-garde practitioner Zygmunt Rytka’s critical practice
- Daido Moriyama’s Japanese vintage prints underscore post-war photography’s lasting influence
South America and Central Europe Come Into Focus
Ungallery’s exhibition features a collection of practitioners engaging with work in Argentina, engaging with themes of identity, societal hierarchies and collective heritage. Among these practitioners, Belén Romero Gunset’s body of work L Form offers self-representations that directly confront past and present preconceptions regarding lesbian representation. Via photo-performance techniques, Gunset’s 2024 piece examines the ways in which identity formation occurs, interpreted and mediated, giving audiences a compelling exploration of visual culture significance in informing public perception and disrupting conventional structures.
Galeria Monopol showcases work by Zygmunt Rytka, a Polish artist working across media whose practice emerged from the vibrant neo-avant garde movements of the 1970s and the independent art scenes of the 1980s. Rytka’s photographs operate as sharp critical commentaries on systems of representation, representation and political realities, utilising conceptual precision and ironic strategies to interrogate structures of power. His presence emphasises the substantial contributions of Eastern Europe to postwar artistic discourse, frequently marginalised in dominant accounts dominated by Western-centric perspectives and institutions.
Key Figures and Schools: Photography’s Lasting Impact
Photo London’s 11th edition showcases the deep resonance of influential practitioners whose work has fundamentally shaped current artistic discourse. By presenting both historical and contemporary practices, the fair illustrates how photographic conventions remain dynamic and stimulate emerging creators of artists. The inclusion of established professionals alongside rising practitioners creates a compelling conversation between historical and contemporary, uncovering the connections between distinct periods, regions and creative approaches. This curatorial approach underscores photography’s unique capacity to capture, question and transform our relationship with the world, yet recognising the the medium’s intricate connections with truth, representation and recollection.
The fair’s programming schedule reflects a conscious dedication to acknowledging photography’s worldwide legacy outside of Western-dominated narratives. From Spanish and German examinations of Ibiza’s transformative 1980s to Polish avant-garde experimentation, and Japanese post-war innovation, Photo London frames these different methodologies as equally vital to comprehending photography’s progression. Such broad representation challenges institutional hierarchies and invites visitors to reassess conventional art historical frameworks. By honouring photographers who worked across different contexts and periods, the fair underscores photography’s common expressive medium whilst recognising the distinctive cultural perspectives and aesthetic innovations each practitioner invested in their craft.
| Photographer | Notable Focus |
|---|---|
| Walter Rudolph | Ibiza’s cultural transformation during the 1970s and 1980s |
| Oriol Maspons | Spanish island life captured during post-Franco era |
| Zygmunt Rytka | Polish neo-avant garde and critical media commentary |
| Daido Moriyama | Postwar Japanese photography and street documentation |
Japanese Advancement and Street Photography
Akio Nagasawa Gallery’s presentation of Daido Moriyama’s archival prints gives visitors an opportunity to engage directly with one of post-1945 photography’s most notable photographers. Moriyama’s distinctive approach to street photography fundamentally changed how photographers conceptualised immediacy, structure and the connection between camera and subject. His work reflects Japanese photographic important role in worldwide artistic culture, demonstrating how local traditions have deeply influenced global creative movements. Through meticulously curated vintage prints, the gallery reveals Moriyama’s continued significance on present-day photographers who still seek guidance from his bold, uncompromising portrayal of city existence and human condition.
Tales of Belonging and Identity
Photo London’s 11th instalment showcases intimate narratives that explore the complexities of family, place and identity. Guest Editions, a Hackney-located gallery making its debut at the fair, offers two striking bodies of work that question how we construct meaning through our connections and environments. These photographers employ the medium not merely to document, but to excavate emotional truths hidden within personal environments and family connections. Their work connects with viewers in search of sincere, emotionally engaging imagery that transcends surface-level depiction.
Thomas Duffield’s series Poppy Promises chronicles a nine-year journey of reconciliation with his father, revealing the meticulous work of restoring trust fractured by addiction. Simultaneously, Laura McCluskey’s decade-long project on the Isle of Sheppey investigates how familial bonds survive despite expected strain and change. Both photographers utilise prolonged, careful observation to demonstrate photography’s distinctive ability for personal narrative, turning individual struggle into experiences of universal resonance that audiences recognise in their own experiences.
- Thomas Duffield examines paternal reconciliation through a nine year long photographic documentation project
- Laura McCluskey explores family bonds and sense of place through the framework of her family home
- Both artists reveal the power of photography to convert personal accounts into communal awareness