Photo London Digital – Overview

• The inaugural Photo London Digital was the first-ever international online photography fair
• Photo London Digital has pioneered a new relationship between the Fair and its exhibitors
• Key audience sectors USA, UK, Europe, and Australasia
• 28,452 unique visitors, 195,613 unique pageviews and 4,205 artworks showcased over the 14 opening days
• Online digital events viewed over 34,000 times and available to view on-demand on the across the Photo London digital channels

London, Tuesday 20th October 2020 – ‘While nothing can truly replace the experience and effectiveness of a physical fair, Photo London Digital has been a vitally important bridge to our next physical Fair which we are looking forward to hosting at its iconic home, Somerset House, next May’ say Michael Benson and Fariba Farshad, Founders of Photo London.

The fair – which formally closed on Sunday, 18 October 2020 – attracted 109 galleries from 21 countries worldwide. Over its fourteen days, Photo London Digital registered 28,452 unique visitors, 195,613 unique pageviews and 4,205 artworks showcased.

Speaking of the challenges facing the Fair in these difficult times, Michael Benson and Fariba Farshad continue: ‘The pandemic challenged us to think in new ways about Photo London. Our response has been to pioneer a new form of interaction with our exhibitors. Digital gives us the ability to work closely with them, across geographical boundaries and time zones, over a period of months, showcasing their artists via our online magazine, talks, screenings and other events.

‘Photo London Digital has been an important first step in that process. It has lived up to its billing as the world’s first global photography fair, playing to large audiences in the USA, Europe and the Far East. Our intention was to create a powerful platform for that would bring our exhibitors’ work and their artists to the attention of a wide international audience; bringing them into contact with collectors around the world and, of course, to enable sales. Although the sales process continues until the end of the month it is already clear that the Fair has delivered on these ambitions.’

Photo London’s public programme has always attracted considerable acclaim and this year’s programme broke new ground by presenting a series of workshops, live artist talks, studio visits, and book launches that were closely linked to the exhibitors and their artists, free of charge. Highlights of this programme included this year’s Master of Photography Shirin Neshat in conversation with Yasufumi Nakamori (Tate); James Barnor in conversation with Hans Ulrich Obrist (Serpentine) and Prix Pictet Laureate Joana Choumali in conversation with Professor Francis Hodgson.

Photo London Digital also made the most of it global reach via a VIP programme that included studio visits and virtual tours of some of the major museums and institutions around the world – the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the International Center of Photography (ICP) in New York City; the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Hayward Gallery and The Photographers’ Gallery in London; Moscow Multimedia Art Museum (MAMM); and Foam, Amsterdam.

The professional training workshops organised in collaboration with Nikon School UK were all fully booked.

Most of the events are available to watch on-demand on the Photo London Fair IGTV channel and Facebook page. Highlights include talks organised in collaboration with FT Weekend, featuring artists Silvia Rosi, Dafna Talmor and Chrystel Lebas; and a series of 3 panel discussions featuring photographers of the international photo agency NOOR Images. Organised in collaboration with Nikon UK, these discussions tackled present issues in the photographic industry – from authorship and visual storytelling to questioning the meaning of ‘community’ in today’s society.

Last October, the digital events had been viewed over 34,000 times in total.

Photo London Digital continued the Fair’s commitment to emerging galleries and artists with a strong Discovery section featuring an international group of 22 galleries. In addition, with the support of Nikon, the Fair was able to continue its practice of recognising the Emerging Photographer of the Year.

This award was launched during the first edition of Photo London in 2015. Previous award winners have included Daisuke Yokata, Thibaut Brunet and Tania Franco-Klein, whose work is on show at Photo London Digital with ROSEGALLERY (Los Angeles).

The winner of the Emerging Photographer of the Year Award 2020 is Marguerite Bornhauser, presented at Photo London Digital by Carlos Carvalho – Arte Contemporanea (Lisbon).

Bornhauser will receive the ultimate Nikon Z Series kit and professional Nikon training. All the shortlisted artists will be featured in a special issue of the Photo London magazine.

The prize jury was Simone Klein, Former Global Director of Print Sales at Magnum Photos; Sofia Vollmer de Maduro, Director of Education, Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach, collector and Curator Emeritus of the Alberto Vollmer Foundation collection; and Fiona Shields, Head of Photography at the Guardian.

The jury chose the winner from a shortlist of 10 artists that included Ibrahim Ahmed (represented by Tintera), Angela Blažanović (represented by Sid Motion Gallery), Ryoichi Fujisaki (represented by KANA KAWANISHI GALLERY), Kira Leskinen (represented by Persons Projects), Thandiwe Muriu (represented by 193 Gallery), Karen Navarro, presented by Fotorelevance), Margaret (Sherie) Ngigi (represented by AKKA Project), Sameer Tawde (represented by Up Gallery) and David Uzochukwu (represented by Galerie Number 8).

In addition, thousands participated in a public poll. The public vote was won by Thandiwe Muriu presented at Photo London Digital by 193 Gallery, Paris.

Commenting on the success of Photo London Michael Benson and Fariba Farshad say ‘In these extraordinarily difficult times we are indebted to our exhibitors and our partners, particularly Nikon and the FT, for helping us realise the first Photo London Digital. We will now proceed to build on this excellent start and work to deliver an outstanding Fair at Somerset House in May next year. This would not have been possible without the support of the government’s Culture Recovery Fund and the Here for Culture campaign that was announced last week.’

Photo London will return to Somerset House 13 -16 May 2021 with a Preview Day on Wednesday 12 May 2021.

 

List of exhibitors
Akio Nagasawa, Tokyo
AKKA Project, Dubai, Venice
Artitled, Herpen
Atlas Gallery, London
Augusta Edwards, London
Autograph, London
Bastian Gallery, London, Berlin
Bau-Xi, Toronto, Vancouver
Ben Brown Fine Arts, London, Hong Kong
Bildhalle, Zurich, Amsterdam
Black Box Projects, London
Camera Work, Berlin
Carlos Carvalho – Arte Contemporânea, Lisbon
Catherine Edelman, Chicago
Christophe Guye Galerie, Zurich
Clémentine de la Féronnière, Paris
Crane Kalman Gallery, Brighton
Danziger Gallery, New York
Ed Cross Fine Art, London
Eleven Fine Art, Twickenham
England & CO, London
Fisheye Gallery, Paris, Arles
Flowers, London
foto relevance, Houston
Galerie de Bellefeuille, Montréal, Toronto
Galerie Esther Woerdehoff, Paris
Galerie Johannes Faber, Vienna
Galerie La Forest Divonne, Paris
Galerie Springer Berlin, Berlin
Galerie Thierry Bigaignon, Paris
Galerie_Frédéric Moisan, Paris
Galerie-Peter-Sillem, Frankfurt
Galerie Thomas Zander, Cologne
Galleria Valeria Bella, Milan
Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, Cape Town, London
HackelBury Fine Art, London
Holden Luntz Gallery, Palm Beach
Ibasho, Antwerp
Kana Kawanishi Gallery, Tokyo
Large Glass, London
Les Douches la Galerie, Paris
Louise Alexander Gallery, Porto Cervo, Los Angeles
Magnum Photos, London, Paris
Maureen Paley, London
Michael Hoppen Gallery, London
Miyako Yoshinaga, New York
MMX gallery, London
Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto
Persons Projects, Berlin
Peter Fetterman Gallery, Santa Monica
PGI Gallery, Tokyo
Podbielski Contemporary, Milan
Prahlad Bubbar, London
Project 2.0 /Gallery, The Hague
Purdy Hicks, London
Reflex Amsterdam, Amsterdam
Robert Hershkowitz Ltd, Linfield, London
Roland Belgrave, Brighton
ROSE Gallery, Santa Monica
Roya Khadjavi Projects, New York
SCAD, Savannah
Seager Gallery, London
SmithDavidson Gallery, Amsterdam, Miami
Sprüth Magers, London, Berlin, Los Angeles
Staley-Wise, New York
Steven Kasher, New York
Stewart & Skeels, London, Scotland
Suite 59 Gallery, Amsterdam
Sundaram Tagore, New York, Singapore
The Music Photo Gallery, New York, Los Angeles, Buenos Aires
The Photographers’ Gallery, London
The Rendon Gallery, Los Angeles
Vision Gallery, Jerusalem
Von Lintel Gallery, Los Angeles
Webber Gallery, London
Yancey Richardson, New York

Discovery
193 Gallery, Paris
A.I. Gallery, London
African Arty, Paris, Casablanca
ASZ Fine ART, Buenos Aires
Black Box Publishing, Cape Town
ECAD Gallery, London
Encounter Contemporary, London
FLATLAND, Amsterdam
Galerie Number 8, Brussels
Gallery 1957, Accra
Gudberg Nerger, Hamburg
Hi-Noon, London
Kovet.Art, London
l’étrangère, London
OdA Oficinas de Arte, Buenos Aires
Open Doors Gallery, London
PHOTIQ Gallery, Royal Lemington Spa
Seager Gallery, London
Seen Fifteen, London
Sid Motion Gallery, London
Spazio Nuovo, Rome
Tintera, Cairo
UP Gallery, Taiwan

Publishers
Aperture, New York
Benrido, Kyoto
Dewi Lewis Publishing, Stockport
Éditions Xavier Barral, Paris
Gost Books, London
Hoxton Mini Press, London
Keher Verlag, Heidelberg
Thames & Hudson, London

Special Exhibitors
Aho Soldan Foundation, Helsinki
Lee Miller Archive, Chiddingly
Association of Photographers, (AOP) London