Photo London 2024 review

©Graham / Finn Carlow

Photo London completed another incredible edition on Sunday 19th May, radiating positivity and hailed as an exceptionally dynamic and attractive fair by collectors, exhibitors, press and the photographic community. The fair was well-attended, driving strong sales across all sectors. Some booths even sold out completely! Highlights included:

128 exhibitors presenting works by over 400 photographers from across the globe, complemented by a hugely popular Public Programme featuring exhibitions, talks, tours, awards and book signings.
Strong sales in all sectors of the fair, with some dealers selling out entire booths.
Record numbers of VIP collectors visited this year, travelling from all over the world.
A Fair for all budgets with prices ranging from around £100,000 through to £100 on the lower end.
An inspirational mix of rare gems from the dawn of the medium alongside 20th century greats in the main fair to the powers of AI to fuse fantasy with memory; and cutting-edge photography from around the globe in the first edition of Discovery, curated by Charlotte Jansen.
The feminist focus of the inaugural ‘positions’ — a curated exhibition within Discovery that brings attention to unrepresented photographers — and a dazzling number of solo presentations by women throughout the Fair.
A regional focus on Turkey and perspectives of photographers coming from more than thirty countries across five continents underscored the Fair’s internationalism.
The public programme was once again a highlight of the Fair with our Master of Photography, acclaimed French photographer, Valérie Belin and her solo exhibition ‘Silent Stories’.
Under-represented people and places were the focus of works by ten incredible photographers in the exhibition ‘See/Change — Art Collection Deutsche Börse @25’ curated by Anne-Marie Beckmann and Renée Mussai.
Works from the dawn of photography through to today, with Robert Hershkowitz’s ‘The Magic Art of French Calotype’ celebrating the ground-breaking beauty achieved by the medium’s earliest practitioners.
‘Shifting Horizons’ featured the trailblazing works by Coco Capitan, Letizia Le Fur and Rosie Marks, curated by Dani Matthews and presented by Belmond.
The Talks Programme led by Talks Partner Thames & Hudson was highly popular and included a group of acclaimed artists – including Joy Gregory and Martin Parr – with sold-out conversations in advance of the fair.
Charlie Tallott represented by New Dimension won the Photo London x Nikon Emerging Photographer Award; while the Nigerian artist Aisha Seriki, shown by Doyle Wham, won the People’s Choice Award.
The second edition of the Photo London x Hahnemühle Student Award was won by An Liu from UAL London College of Communication; while Emi O’Connell from UAL London College of Communication won the People’s Choice Award.
Tenth edition of the fair to take place 15 – 18 May 2025 (Preview Day 14 May).

Spreading from Somerset House’s iconic cobbled courtyard across four floors and three wings of the magnificent riverside venue — and spearheading a celebration of photography that extended far across the city, the ninth edition brought together artists, galleries, collectors, enthusiasts and experts — united through a love of photography — from all across the globe. With works spanning early prints from the dawn of photography, rare gems and iconic images from the 20th century through to pieces that push the boundaries and reflect on the issues of today, Photo London 2024 offered visitors an inspirational panorama of the medium that best defines our era.

Fair Founders Michael Benson and Fariba Farshad comment:

“This year’s edition of the Fair re-affirmed our global credentials. We were particularly thrilled to witness the re-emergence of US-based galleries (particularly those from New York) and to see a strong representation of galleries from France, Italy and Germany as well as from Turkey – a new territory for us. Furthermore, our year-round international collector outreach meant that we were able to welcome a record number of collectors on preview day. All of which resulted in strong sales, an exciting range of new clients for our exhibitors and many fascinating engagements for their artists. Work has already begun in building on this success as we look forward to our special tenth anniversary edition in 2025.

We’re hugely proud of the richness of the mix Photo London brings each year to Somerset House, which is both a tribute to the shape-shifting nature of photography and a reflection of the melting-pot energy of this great city.”

COLLECTORS AND THE VIP PROGRAMME

VIP visitors enjoying a tour at CAMERA WORK Gallery at the Fair. ©Graham / Finn Carlow

The fair was attended by more international collectors than ever before. With groups and individuals from major museums and institutions worldwide, including Tate, V&A, Serpentine Galleries, Institut Français (London), Fotomuseum (Antwerp), George Eastman Museum (New York), New Museum (New York), High Museum of Art (Atlanta), Maison Européenee de la Photographie (Paris), Inter Gallery (Beijing), and MAMCO (Geneva), alongside welcoming VIPs from leading members’ clubs such as The Arts Club, Maison Estelle, The Cultivist and Velocity Black, alongside private client groups from Pictet, Citi Private Bank and TurkishBank.

The popular VIP Programme returned for 2024 with an exciting array of events that complemented the fair’s activities for our collectors. With 45 curated events taking place both on and off-site in close collaboration with our institutional and artistic partners and providing collectors with an exciting array of events to attend throughout the week.

Other VIP event highlights included: an exclusive first-glimpse of Fragile Beauty at the V&A, prior to public opening; a curator-led tour of Yoko Ono at Tate Modern; an artist-led salon and cocktail reception at House of KOKO members’ club; a studio visit with the iconic fashion photographer Nick Knight; and a special dinner for 120 VIP guests to celebrate artist Valérie Belin at the home of a major private collector.

EXHIBITORS 2024

©Graham / Finn Carlow

MAIN FAIR

Presenting an inspirational mix of rare gems from the dawn of the medium alongside 20th century greats in the main fair to the powers of AI to fuse fantasy with memory. Another highlight was the exceptionally strong presence of women across the Fair, among these were Helen Levitt (ZANDER GALERIE), Yildiz Moran (Galeri Nev, Ankara), J.K. Lavin (Alta Vista Arts); Siân Davey (Trolley Books / Michael Hoppen Gallery), Jacquie Maria Wessels (Galerie Baudelaire), and near sell-out booths of Florence di Benedetto (PODBIELSKI CONTEMPORARY) and Johnny Mae Hauser (Homecoming Gallery).

Further stand-out solo presentations included David Bailey (Camera Eye), Rodney Smith (Staley-Wise Gallery), James D. Kelly (Guerin Projects), Cihan Öncü (Dirimart), Gilbert McCarragher‘s photographs of the interior of Derek Jarman’s Prospect Cottage; and Being There, a collaboration between Omar Victor Diop and Lee Shulman / The Anonymous Project (Galerie Binome and Magnin-A).

The global scope of the Fair was also seen with a regional focus on Turkey, with eight galleries at the fair — DIRIMART, Galeri Nev Ankara, Galeri Nev Istanbul, GALERİST, Martch Art Project, SANATORIUM, Versus Art Project and Vision Art Platform — supported by TurkishBank UK.

EXHIBITORS’S COMMENTS

“This year’s Photo London was back with a bang. Impressive booth displays, excellent discourse and a growing number of collectors.”
— Flowers Gallery, London, Hong Kong

“Photo London 2024 has been an overwhelmingly positive experience for New Dimension. We are incredibly grateful for the support from everyone at Photo London. It has been a true blessing to meet new photographers, gallerists, collectors, and journalists, as well as reconnect with friends from the international photography community.”
— New Dimension, London

“A most qualified and successful edition, a great team spirit from organisers and a  great recognition to our project!”
— PODBIELSKI CONTEMPORARY, Milan

“Another successful year at Photo London. It is now the 8th year in a row we do Photo London and we have built up a solid client base. And what makes us happier: we onboard new clients every year!”
— Bildhalle, Zurich, Amsterdam

“Persons Projects in this year’s edition was pleased with the opening nights turnout and the increase in sales, especially with our large format works. But equally important are the other opportunities that evolved out of our participation in this year’s edition. Three of our exhibiting artists were offered residencies and another a commission to do a project in Egypt.”
— Persons Projects, Berlin

“At Photo London 2024, we enjoyed remarkable success, particularly with collectors showing a keen interest in small handmade prints created using alternative printing techniques. Our stand was consistently bustling with activity, attracting a large number of visitors and new collectors. We are thrilled with the enthusiastic response and the numerous connections we made throughout the event. The fair has once again proven to be a fantastic platform for showcasing unique photographic art and fostering relationships within the collector community.”
— Ira Stehmann Fine Art, Munich

“We are thrilled with the way it has gone, James D. Kelly’s works have been extremely popular, receiving a significant amount of coverage and sales. It has truly been a wonderful experience.”
— GUERIN PROJECTS, London

“We had a great time at Photo London ’24, the crowd was buzzing [and] the many fair-organised tours drew in networks from the local museums and art consultants which was great for us as a visiting gallery with Amsterdam as its base.”
— Homecoming Gallery, Amsterdam

“We are thrilled to be back at Photo London and to have participated in this amazing edition. Giuseppe Lo Schiavo’s solo show at Spazio Nuovo’s booth was a great success, we sold more than ten big photographs, including several diptychs by the artist. We are already looking forward to coming back next year.”
— Spazio Nuovo, Rome

“As another successful edition of Photo London comes to a close, Albumen Gallery is looking forward to participating in the 10th anniversary 2025 edition. Photo London represents an important fixture in our international calendar for connecting with friends of the Gallery and reaching new audiences.”
— Albumen Gallery, London

DISCOVERY

Andi Gáldi Vinko, Erika Deak Gallery. Courtesy of Photo London 2024.

Cutting-edge photography from around the globe in the first edition of Discovery to be curated by Charlotte Jansen, which brought attention to artists of all ages who have been long overlooked by the art and photography world and has been widely praised as Photo London’s most exciting Discovery to date.

This year’s we also introduced positions — a new direction for Photo London, through which participation of unrepresented artists is supported by collectors and patrons. In its inaugural year, positions featured five artists who’s works interrogate and explore beauty.

“We are thrilled by the excellent reception received for Roberto Huarcaya’s first solo show in the Discovery sector. The interest and incredible feedback we have received from curators, critics, museums, institutions, and the general public have been truly gratifying. The fact that some of the exhibited works will remain in local collections, fills us with great pride and satisfaction!”
— ROLF ART, Buenos Aires

“We are really proud to be part of the best Discovery section at Photo London to date! It offered a fascinating insight into the international cutting edge of photography, including more multimedia lens-based practices. The reception to Aisha Seriki’s work at our booth was a joy to see, helping us to establish a broader audience for her work at this exciting stage in her career.”
— Doyle Wham, London

Exhibiting Artists from ‘positions’:

“I feel so inspired being among these amazing females and a strong sense of belonging, nurturing each other and growing together. I’m already excited about what’s coming next!”

— Yolanda Y. Liou, London

“It was such a pleasure to show my latest series PETAL in positions, the unrepresented artists section, it helped me to gain more exposure, sell more of my work, and I was really pleased to meet with one of my favourite London gallerists the day after closing. Additionally, it was so lovely to create a little bubble with the other like-minded artists that were able to make it.” 

— Bex Day, London

“It was a very special week/weekend sharing space and being brought together with very powerful women and photographers in positions, a show curated by Charlotte Jansen that disrupts and creates space for unrepresented photographers. I feel grateful and inspired.”

— Lina Geoushy, Egypt

PUBLIC PROGRAMME EXHIBITIONS

©Graham / Finn Carlow

This year’s Public Programme included a fascinating solo exhibition by the exceptional French Photographer and our Master of Photography 2024: Valérie Belin.

‘Silent Stories’ showcased more than three decades of work- exploring the tension between the superﬁcial appearance of things and their true nature, between reality and artiﬁciality. Often using the human body as a vessel for abstraction and projected meaning, she has photographed live models and mannequins, masks and card sharks, dancers and bodybuilders, questioning the construction and fetishization of mainstream beauty ideals and enduring gender constructs.

‘Silent Stories’ presents three decades of Belin’s works, reflecting an iconography that is deliberately silent through images that — in the words of their creator — ”are neither narrative nor documentary and tell no particular stories, but are designed to be seen as the mirror of ﬁctions without words.”

©Graham / Finn Carlow The Magic Art of French Calotype. Paper Negative Photography 1846 – 1860, exhibition at Photo London Fair

The Fair extended its celebration of French photography with ‘The Magic Art of French Calotype. Paper Negative Photography 1846–1860’, curated by Robert Hershkowitz. This exhibition was presented for the first time to the UK audience during the fair.

Hershkowitz explained the appeal of these early images: “When the pursuit and acquisition of ﬁne photographs became the common passion of a very mixed group of art savvy individuals and American and Canadian museums in the late 1970s, early French paper negative photography was considered the most desirable, the images the most intriguing intellectually, the prints the most delectable. This exhibition introduces this body of photographic work to a British audience; it is almost non-existent in British institutions with perhaps a few dozen examples buried among hundreds of thousands of British ones, and these never exhibited.”

A third exhibition was presented by the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation marking the 25th anniversary of its collection — one of the most renowned international collections of contemporary photography, compromising of more than 2,300 works by 160 artists from 35 countries. Curated by Anne-Marie Beckmann, and Renée Mussai, ‘See/Change — Art Collection Deutsche Börse @25’ showcased current artistic positions and recent acquisitions centred around the theme of human condition.

Anne-Marie Beckmann, Director of the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation comments: “We are very excited to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Art Collection Deutsche Börse in 2024. In this special year, the exhibition at Photo London is a particular highlight of our programme and we are delighted to present a curated selection of our collection of contemporary photography to an international audience.”

Another exhibition, ‘Shifting Horizons’, curated by Dani Matthews and presented by Belmond. This exhibition championed new perspectives in travel photography and featured works by Coco Capitán, Letizia Le Fur and Rosie Marks.

“We were extremely happy with the results of our partnership with Photo London this year. Building on last year’s inaugural partnership, we took Belmond’s commitment to photography to the next level this year — not only through the ‘Shifting Horizons’ exhibition of original works by Coco Capitán, Letizia Le Fur and Rosie Marks, but with the launch of our new photobook collection with Parisian publishers RVB. The Photo London team were great partners in helping us reach these ambitions. There was a great crowd on opening night and a real buzz throughout the week.”

— Arnaud Champenois, Senior Vice President, Belmond

PHOTO LONDON AWARDS

Photo London 2024 saw the continuation its support for new talent with both the Photo London x Nikon Emerging Photographer Award, and the Hanhnemühle Student Award, which was won by An Liu, a graduate of the London College of Communication (UAL), for her series
Weaving the World.

Fiona Shields, Judging Chair for Hanhnemühle Student Award, Head of Photography, The Guardian comments “I think it’s fair to say how proud we all are that the competition has grown in entries this year and what an incredibly high standard of photography we reviewed. It’s a real testament to the talent and commitment of the student photographers but also to the quality of tutoring they’re benefiting from across the country.”

Julian Harvie, Nikon’s Marketing Director for Northern Europe, comments: “Now in our 5th year of partnership, it’s been fantastic to see the relationship between Nikon and Photo London strengthen over time. The Fair, Emerging Photographer Award and Nikon talks, workshops and gallery space have all evolved and grown, contributing to a powerful exhibition of photography in its highest art form. Our thanks go to all the Photo London team for their continued energy and passion.”

PHOTO LONDON TALKS PROGRAMME

This year’s Talks Programme was curated by Thames & Hudson. Brining together an eclectic range of engaging events, presented by Charlotte Jansen, Nikon, FT Weekend and the Prix Pictet, among others. Speakers included Valérie Belin, Martin Parr, Howard Greenberg , Joy Gregory, David Campany, Lee Shulman, Peter van Agtmaelin conversation with journalist Sean O’Hagan.

The talks covered a wide range of topics from Black Women Photographers in 1980s–90s Britain, Archiving the works of photographer, model and war correspondent Lee Miller, The Anonymous Project, African Photography and Cinema to the diverse perspectives, scenes and styles of what Street Photography is and can be. These talks were engaging, insightful and gave the audiences an in-depth appreciation and understanding of the various aspects of the world of photography.

Photo London’s talks continue throughout the year as part of the Photo London Academy, a free online magazine, talks archive and book club.

PHOTO LONDON 2025

We are looking ahead to the tenth edition of Photo London 2025, taking place at Somerset House from 15 May- 18 May (Preview Day 14 May)

“We firmly believe that the Fair has an important role to play in developing the photography infrastructure – from building the collector base to supporting young and emerging talent. From this point of view the Photo London x Nikon Emerging Photographer Award and the Photo London x Hahnemühle Student Award play an important role. This year we have gone one step beyond – introducing ‘positions’ to Discovery. ‘Positions’ showcases unrepresented artists whose presence at the Fair is supported by collectors and patrons. For the tenth edition we are determined to present a much expanded ‘positions’ section and are delighted that our long term supporter Maria Sukkar has agreed to work with us to spearhead this development. This is just one of many things that will make Photo London 10 an event that will once again be the UK photography event of the year.” – Michael Benson and Fariba Farshad.