“A Weeks Worth Of Celebrations You Don’t Want To Miss”
Photo London is an annual photography event celebrating a number of photographers from all over the world. Galleries and publishers showcase and sell work with curated exhibitions and multiple talks housed all over Central London. Photo London was originally found in 2004, and has been running annually since 2015, when it returned from a 7 year break.
The event is based in Somerset House, but there are a variety of exhibitions and events happening all over London in celebration of this important week of photography. This year, running alongside Photo London are major photography exhibitions such as Palm Photo Prize, Foam Talent and Peckham 24. Dover Street Market London has also been a part of Photo London for the last few years, with an evening of book and magazine signings, a series of installations and special product launches throughout the space.
Check out our guide of the best places to visit this week.
Photo London
When : Thursday 16th – Sunday 19th May. 12pm onwards (with talks starting from Wednesday 15th May)
Location : Somerset House Strand, London WC2R 1LA
This years Photo London includes over 100 of the world’s leading galleries – it’s the place to discover new artists, masters of the field, established and award winning work, and photographs from the dawn of photography that have only been seen before in books. Exhibiting galleries are presenting an accumulative mix of over 400 artists – some making their first appearance at Photo London and some very familiar names. There’s an increase in solo presentations this year, as well as an encouraging rise in the number of European galleries. Some exhibitors will use the event as a platform to launch new work, where others focus on a specific theme – such as cinema, theatre or street photography, or a particular region, such as Iran, Japan, Latin America or Scandinavia. The fair also includes artists who push the boundaries between photography and other art forms such as sculpture, painting, video or textiles, finding new ways to interpret photography.
Exhibitors include A.I, Aperture Foundation, Goodman Gallery, Howard Greenberg Gallery, Hoxton Mini Press, Leica Camera, Magnum Photos, Thames and Hudson, The Photographers’ Gallery, TJ Boulting, Webber Gallery and many more. From Wednesday 15th, Photo London will also host over 30 talks from major Photographers and Creatives such as Tim Walker, Susan Meiselas, Stephen Shore, Hans Ulrich Obrist and Martin Parr.
Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York, presents the first major presentation of Vivian Maier’s work in the United Kingdom – the low-key street photographer that has captured the streets of New York, Chicago and Los Angeles over a 60 year period, dating back to the 1950s. Her work was only discovered in 2007 near to her passing by somebody who purchased boxes filled with negatives at an auction. 150,000 photographs were discovered, from a photographer that nobody had ever heard of before. ‘Finding Vivian Maier’ (the 2013 documentary) will also be screened onFr iday and Sunday for those who want to find out more.
Palm* Photo Prize
When: Tuesday 14th (Private View from 7:30) to Friday 17th May
Location : theprintspace, 74 Kingsland Rd, Hackney, London E2 8DL
Founded by photographer Lola Paprocka, independent publisher Palm* Studios return this year with the Palm* Photo Prize, showcasing a shortlist of 100 photographs from a variety of talent across the globe including Sarah Pannell, Ricardo Nagaoka, Pat Martin, Kent Andreasen, Benjamin Mallek, Alessandro Iovino and many more.
The publisher sent out an open call to photographers back in March to have their work exhibited during Photo London at theprintspace gallery. Exhibited entries will be considered to win prizes in the following categories; Judge’s Panel 1st place, Judge’s Panel 2nd place, People’s Choice Award and People’s Choice Instagram Award. The judges panel includes Karen McQuaid, who is a Senior Curator at The Photographers’ Gallery, Sarah Allen – Assistant Curator at Tate Modern, David Company – writer, curator and teacher, and lastly Jessica Lopez who is the Photo Editor at Polaroid Originals. On Opening Night, the public are invited to vote for the photograph they think should win the People’s Choice award. We are also able to vote online for the People’s Choice Instagram award, by liking your favourite entry/photo (multiple, if you wish) on Palm* Studios Instagram page.
Foam Talent
When: Wednesday 15th May (Public Opening from 6pm) to Sunday 16th June
Location : Beaconsfield Gallery, 22 Newport St, Lambeth, London SE11 6AY
Foam Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam and Beaconsfield Gallery team up for the fourth year running to present the Foam Talent 2019 exhibition, celebrating a new generation of visual artists. The exhibition includes 20 young artists selected through the annual Foam Talent Call, which was open to people from all over the world, to allow and create international exposure for young creatives and a helping hand starting-up their careers.
Talent this year includes:
Florian Amoser (Switzerland), He Bo (China), Valentine Bo (Ukraine), Chen Zhe (China), Maisie Cousins (United Kingdom), Sylvain Couzinet-Jacques (France), Durimel (France), Sophie Gabrielle (Australia), Eric Gyamfi (Ghana), Thomas Hauser (France), Gregory Eddi Jones (United States), Stelios Kallinikou (Cyprus), Takashi Kawashima (Japan), Dima Komarov (Russia), Lilly Lulay (Germany), Jaya Pelupessy (Netherlands), Daniel Shea (United States), Senta Simond (Switzerland), Salvatore Vitale (Italy) and Carmen Winant (United States).
Jamie Hawkesworth’s ‘A Short Pleasurable Journey, Part Two’
When: Thursday the 16th May 2019 (Private View from 6pm) to Thursday 27th May
Location : Beaconsfield Gallery, 22 Newport St, Lambeth, London SE11 6AY
’A Short Pleasure Journey’ series including 86 photographs and 1 film all made in Florets, Transylvania returns with part two. Opening as part of Photo London exhibit.
Hawkesworth about the project:
“I always find myself thinking about the feeling of naivety, how everything feels so simple and confusing at that first moment of discovery, when you react from just your gut and the energy this creates. I think this has to be the most valuable and sensitive state of mind and something so important to hold onto. In July 2018, I found myself in Floresti, Transylvania on a project following around a youth orchestra , that were performing across Romania. Once I arrived in Floresti, I settled in and began exploring without expectation, each day waking up at sunrise and walking down the road with my camera.”
Dover Street Market x Photo London
When: Thursday 16th May 2019. 11am to 8pm
Location: DSM, 18-22 Haymarket, London SW1Y 4DG
Dover Street Market London opens up its doors for one night only in honor of Photo London, for a night filled with installations, book signings and special product launches throughout the store.
There will be in-store installations by Dexter Navy (for Nike Cactus Plant Fleamarket), Nicholas Daley ‘Reggae Klub’ Soundsystem, Another Man Magazine X Gucci ‘Map Of Love’, Loewe and more. Launches include Nike Cactus Plant Flea Market, Kiko Kostadinov Magnum Specials, Nike Sacai and more. There will be signings for Idea Presents Harley Weir ‘Father’ and Thomas De Kluyver ‘All I Want To Be’ and Michele Lamy x King Kong Magazine.
Peckham 24
When: Friday 17th May 2019 – Private View at 6 P.M onwards Exhibition continues until the 19th May
Location: Copeland Gallery Unit 9I, Copeland Park, 133, Copeland Rd, London SE15 3SN
Peckham 24 is a non-profit festival co-founded by artist Jo Dennis and curator Vivienne Gamble in 2016. The festival was founded to begin a collaboration between artists, curators and art spaces around Peckham. The festival runs alongside Photo London, celebrating 35 international artists who are exhibiting at Copeland Park this year. The 2019 edition celebrates a theme of COLLABORATION X COMMUNITY. Artists who are exhibiting this year are Mel Bles, Ronan McKenzie, Lotte Anderson, Maja Daniels, Tom Hunter, Michal Iwanowski, Katrin Koenning, Alix Marie, Max Miechowski, Marton Perlaki, Senta Simond and more.
NOWNESS : Photographers In Focus
When : Saturday 18th May 2019, All Day
Location : Screening Room, Somerset House Strand, London WC2R 1LA
Global platform NOWNESS, who premiere video content around Arts & Design, Culture, Fashion & Beauty, Music, Food & Travel, are joining Photo London at Somerset House to premiere ‘NOWNESS – Photographers In Focus’ series. A project exploring the life behind the lens of some of the world’s greatest photographers including Stephen Shore, Viviane Sassen and Wolfgang Tillmans. The schedule includes two screenings of ‘Photographers In Focus’, a screening of ‘This Is Documentary’ – a selection of films previously premiered on NOWNESS, a screening of ‘From Frame to Film’ – a selection of work by photographers who made their first films with NOWNESS, a filmmaker panel discussion led by Bunny Kinney, Frederick Paxton, Yumna Al-Arashi, Campbell Addy and Maisie Cousins, followed by drinks at The Terrace at Somerset House.
See the schedule below;
11:00 A.M and 1:30 P.M – Photographers In Focus Screening (Screening approx 65 mins)
12:00 P.M – This Is Documentary (Screening approx 60 mins)
03:00 P.M – From Frame to Film (Screening approx 60 mins)
04:15 P.M – From Frame to Film Panel Discussion
05:30 P.M – Drinks with the NOWNESS team
Keep an eye out of on our social platforms for any of the events we attend for this years Photo London.