UK’s Leading Photography Fair Brings Expanded Programme to New London Venue

London Follow +

Photo London eleventh’s edition will see the introduction of a new section dedicated to solo presentations by significant artists and the expansion of the Discovery section for emerging galleries, the photography fair announced this week.

This May’s iteration will be the fair’s first at Olympia exhibition centre in Kensington, west London, marking a major shift and ending a ten-year run at Somerset House. The new venue has undergone a £1.3 billion re-development led by Heatherwick Studio. 

Photo London’s director Sophie Parker said in a statement: “The move to Olympia creates a unified experience that has sparked incredible enthusiasm from new and returning galleries alike. 

“…The move has given us the space and freedom to increase much-loved areas of the fair, with Discovery, Positions and Publishing bigger than ever.”

Fashion photographer Steven Meisel will take centre stage at this year’s fair as Photo London’s Master of Photography, a title that was not awarded at the 2025 edition. Meisel, who rarely exhibits, will show his London portraits of fashion icons Bella Freud, Plum Sykes and Isabella Blow. 

A second exhibition, We Are The Ones We Have Been Waiting For, from London’s Autograph Gallery, will present works that question who is seen, remembered and represented within the photographic archive. Curated by Bindi Vora, photographers will include this year’s Hasselblad Foundation laureate Zanele Muholi, alongside Carrie Mae Weems and Joy Gregory.

This year will also see the introduction of Source, a photographic trail curated by photography specialist and former Discovery section curator Tristan Lund, that will run throughout the fair. The trail will focus on marginalised artists and risk-taking approaches, including Alfredo Jaar’s series Searching for Africa in Life and Wu Chia-Yun’s photographs exploring Taiwanese identity.

Photo critic Charlotte Jansen will once again curate this year’s newly expanded Discovery section, which has long been considered a highlight of the fair. Devoted to emerging galleries and photographers, the section will feature both international and London-based galleries and will this year present a strong offering of South Asian photographers.

Jansen said in a statement: “Discovery is a testing ground within the fair. Whereas elsewhere you’ll see work validated by the institution, the art market and by history, Discovery offers an exploratory encounter that encourages visitors to slow down.

“I’ve been keen to select galleries who are genuinely interested in shifting the conversation rather than following trends, with generative, risk-taking work that might resist easy placement and challenge its own audience.”

For the first time this year, Photo London will introduce an art film screening room, where exhibiting galleries will show collectible film work by both emerging and established artists. Works will include Wu Chia-Yun’s Nature Prints, a new documentary by Krissy Shook and Alys Tomlinson and Sarah Moon’s film There is something about Lillian on Lillian Bassman.

Positions, the fair’s section devoted to unrepresented talent, also makes a return. Curated by arts patron Maria Sukkar, it will showcase work by global image-makers who are without gallery representation, including Leslie Hakim-Dowek, Fyodor Pavlov-Andreevich and Tahmineh Monzavi.

Finally, a major expansion of the fairs Publishers section, dedicated to both emerging and established photobook platforms, will serve to highlight the importance of the photobook to the genre.