Photo London, Like Its Host City, Is Outward-Facing and Ever-Changing

Photo London has had a change of backdrop. After 10 years at Somerset House, the U.K.’s leading photography fair has moved five miles west to Olympia, a renovated 19th-century exhibition space in Kensington. From now through May 17, visitors can see photographs brought by galleries from around the world in a new iteration of the fair that puts more emphasis on trade without sacrificing offerings for non-buyers who simply want to look around.

London is, of course, a global city, and so it’s no surprise that the U.K. capital’s largest photo fair is a snapshot of the world. “I always say that we are a representation of London and how diverse and multicultural it is,” Sophie Parker, director of Photo London, tells Observer. The very first presentation visitors see is 96 silver gelatin prints by Ahmed Ali—brought by PHOTOINK, New Delhi, exhibiting at the fair for the first time—showing workers on their way to factories. A selection of Latin American and Central and Eastern European galleries is situated between the main gallery area and the Discovery Section. Zofia Rydet’s Polish interiors are on view, as are works by David Díaz Gonzales, an indigenous artist from the Shipibo-Konibo ethnic group based in Peru.

The Positions section showcases works by artists without gallery representation, and the work of two Iranian photographers, in particular, is worth seeking out. Tahmineh Monzavi’s series Iran Gen Z focuses on young women across Iran, while Shayan Sajadian uses photography to capture the country’s periurban and marginalized communities. Equally compelling, Wara Vargas Lara’s work focuses on ritual and shifting identities in her native Bolivia, while Hicham Gardaf examines displacement and urbanization in Tangier.

But there is still plenty of Britishness to be found. In the main section are original prints from David Bailey, the iconic photographer of Swinging Sixties London. In the Master of Photography exhibition are Steven Meisel’s blown-up portraits taken in London in 1993: Bella Freud, Stella Tennant and Twiggy, all captured in glorious monochrome. Part of his iconic Anglo-Saxon Attitude series, here the streets of Notting Hill and Spitalfields serve as subtle but instantly recognizable backdrops to anyone familiar with London’s geography. Contemporary London, meanwhile, can be seen in Misan Harriman’s black-and-white portraits (brought by Hope93 Gallery) of protests that have taken place over the last few years. Capturing placards and activists campaigning on Gaza, BLM and LGBTQ+ rights, Harriman’s is the most overtly political work in the fair.

As well as expanding geographically, Photo London aims to expand the conceptual definition of what a photograph is. There are a few A.I. images here and there, though nowhere near as many as in Paris Photo and its dedicated digital section. Notably, Photo London eschews any fixed or conservative definition of what a photograph is, and several galleries have brought works that combine photography with other media. “I feel like our role at Photo London is to show that the spectrum of photography is broad,” Parker says. “We want people to realize that photography is not necessarily a two-dimensional image on a wall. It can be sculpture, it can incorporate sound, it can be textile work.”

This porous interpretation is evident in “We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For,” a collection of work by female and non-binary artists curated by Bindi Vora of Autograph Gallery, who says her approach to curation involved presenting “a very different idea of what the canon of photography is and what it could look like.” A portrait made out of metal by Sacha Huber, a hand-tinted image by Ingrid Pollard and an A.I.-generated family picture by Sabrina Tirvengadum are all afforded space. “What I really wanted to do with this collection display was show the breadth, the expansive nature of what photography can be.”

For the fair’s first decade, wandering around Photo London was like stumbling through a neoclassical labyrinth—it always felt as though there was another room one was missing. In Olympia, the fair is much easier to navigate; the layout is similar to that of Paris Photo, though admittedly, Olympia’s development can’t compete with the grandeur of the Grand Palais. The updated layout helps position Photo London as less of a festival and more of a traditional art fair, explains Parker. “We have to make sure that we are presenting the best environment for our exhibitors to have commercial success.”

That said, there’s plenty to take in, whether or not you visit Photo London with checkbook in hand. A new moving image section is screening films throughout the fair, which runs through May 17. Highlights include a new documentary by Krissy Shook, Your Eyes and Love in Grain and Shadow, about the life of her mother, Melissa Shook, plus Sarah Moon’s film, There Is Something About Lillian, about Lillian Bassman. The new Olympia venue lets fair organizers expand the Publishers section, where those not in the market to spend a few thousand pounds on prints can spend more modest sums on photobooks.

The talks, tours and screenings are all geared toward engaging the non-buying public, and as Parker is keen to point out, the fair offers opportunities “for people who love photography to get an impression of what global photography looks like at the moment.” Traversing Photo London—the new venue makes circling back round much easier—one encounters old favorites (Bailey, Meyerowitz, Evelyn Atwood), new works by established names (Burtynsky), plus hundreds of works by unfamiliar names from around the globe. Even more so than in prior years, Photo London should be an essential stop on any photography-lover’s calendar.

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