Thames & Hudson presents: The Art of the Photobook

Friday 15 May 2026
2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Talks Room
Groundfloor, National Hall (G)

Courtesy of the Artist E.A. KAHANE

The Art of the Photobook brings together artists and publishers to explore how photographic work moves from idea to sequence to object. Spanning self-publishing, editing, design, binding, and circulation, the discussion considers what gives a photobook its presence as both a creative medium and a collectible, accessible form.

Featuring E.A. KAHANE , whose COME JOIN THE PARADE. reflects her immersive, multidisciplinary approach; Ana Casas Broda, author of Álbum and Kinderwunsch, known for her deeply personal, long-form narratives; and Chris Boot, an influential editor and publisher who has helped shape the contemporary photobook landscape. Moderated by curator Freeny Yianni, the panel brings together perspectives from across independent publishing and artist-led practice.

Panel members are E.A. KAHANEAna Casas Broda and Chris Boot moderated by Freeny Yianni.

 E.A. KAHANE is an American artist whose photographic practice transforms images into immersive encounters that expand photography beyond its traditional boundaries. Central to her work is the photobook COME JOIN THE PARADE. (“25 Years From My Third Floor Window”), a long-term project that brings together twenty-five years of photographing the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade into a sustained visual study of spectacle, rhythm, and community.

E.A. KAHANE’s   practice is rooted in a lifelong engagement with curiosity, travel, and place. Whether capturing Central Park, African wildlife, Italian landscapes, car races, or New York parades, her images reveal a recurring sensibility where beauty, movement, and human connection intertwine. Her installations integrate light, sculpture, video, and custom-designed elements—including light boxes, furniture, murals, and silkscreen—inviting viewers to step into the images rather than simply observe them.

Her most recent project, HEART OF THE RACE: Master Mechanics of the Mille Miglia, honours the skilled mechanics of the historic 1000 Miglia race. Inspired by Irving Penn’s Small Trades, it combines formal studio portraits with on-the-road imagery and premiered as an expanded public installation at Museo Mille Miglia and MoCA Centro per le Nuove Cultura in Brescia, Italy.

Ana Casas Broda (SPAIN | MEXICO 1965), lives in Mexico since 1974. She studied Visual Arts, History and Photography in Mexico, Spain, Austria and the United States. Ana Casas Broda is a photographer and co-director from Hydra with Gabriela González Reyes, a platform to generate projects related to the medium of photography, including a publishing house, a bookstore, exhibitions and an educational program. Hydra has organized big public projects and an extended educational program mainly focused on photography projects production, photobooks, photography and other media, conservation and archive. In her artistic work Ana Casas Broda focuses on the exploration of identity, memory and its link with the photographic medium. She is active as photographer since 1983 and has presented her work in many international exhibitions and publications. She published two photobooks in Spain: Álbum, and Kinderwunsch, which received the Award for the best edited art book, 2014 Ministry of Education and Culture, Spain. She has presented her work internationally in many solo shows. Kinderwunsch was nominated for the Deutsche Börse Prize 2015 and included in many international publications. Since 1990 she organizes photography educational programs, seminars, workshops, festivals, lectures and exhibitions, with many institutions such as Centro del la Imagen and others. She has given workshops, portfolio reviews, lectures at international venues and she has been Jury of many international awards. Since 2016 at Hydra she organizes INCUBADORA DE FOTOLIBROS, a long-term photobook educational program, from which started the publishing project Hydra with more than 30 published photobooks which have nominated for several international awards and been widely presented in fairs and museums all over the world and are part of several collections.

Chris Boot’s career as an editor in photography began in 1984, with south London community activists the Photo Co-op, during which time he gained a first class honors degree in photography from the Polytechnic of Central London. After working for Magnum Photos, (including as director of its London and New York operations), and as editorial director at Phaidon Press, Boot set up his own publishing imprint, Chris Boot Ltd., in 2001, editing and publishing forty books including by Keith Arnatt, John Davies, Luc Delahaye, Martin Parr, Joy Gregory, Sunil Gupta, Jacqueline Hassink, Tim Hetherington and Mikhael Subotzky. Between 2011 and 2021, Boot led the New York not-for-profit publisher Aperture as its executive director. He is now back in London.

Freeny Yianni is a curator and founder of CLOSE Gallery. CLOSE represents artists, runs exhibitions, residencies and education programs. Yianni’s home gallery and studios are set in Somerset, her gallery has been established since 2009. She is a Greek Cypriot and has lived most of her life in the UK. Yianni is an important figure within the history of contemporary art of the 1990’s to the present day. She has been responsible for nurturing artists careers from the onset and seeing them flourish in the cultural arena. Yianni’s ethos for her gallery concentrates on a contemporary art program in a unique way, developing artists legacy’s through astute direction, and a bespoke approach, whilst engaging art programs in collaboration with inspiring partnerships with museums, galleries and cultural institutions. Yianni sees art as a vehicle to transformation.

Ticket Price: £10.00 with Photo London Ticket

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