Rala Choi, Lips, 2018 / Bildhalle
Photo London brings the finest international photography to the British capital every year. The Fair presents the best historic and vintage works while also spotlighting fresh perspectives in photography. Along with a selection of the world’s leading photography dealers and galleries, Photo London’s Discovery section is dedicated to the most exciting emerging galleries and artists. In addition, each edition sees a unique Public Programme including special exhibitions and installations; and several Awards announced, headlined by the Photo London Master of Photography Award.
Valérie Belin, Beltline Burgers, Atlanta (reflection series), 2019 / Courtesy the artist and Galerie Nathalie Obadia
Leading the 2024 Public Programme, is a solo exhibition by Valérie Belin, the ninth recipient of the Photo London Master of Photography Award which is presented each year to a living artist who has made an exceptional contribution to photography.
One of France’s most popular and acclaimed photographers, Valérie Belin (b. 1964) investigates 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.
Justine Tjallinks, Trixie I, 2018 / Galerie Sophie Scheidecker
Nan Goldin, Greer and Robert in bed, NYC, 1982 / Galerie Sophie Scheidecker
Martin Parr, Bowling, Bristol, England, 1995 / ROCKET
Jacquie Maria Wessels, Garage Still #10/2014 Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 2014 / Galerie Baudelaire
Roope Rainisto, TBC, 2024 / Verse Solos
Presenting Partner of Photo London 2024, Belmond, returns to the ninth edition of the Fair with the exhibition ‘Shifting Horizons’, a creative endeavour led by and celebrating female photographers: Coco Capitán, Rosie Marks and Letizia Le Fur.
The new body of work has been shot at three diverse locations: Mount Nelson Hotel in Cape Town (Rosie Marks), the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express in Europe (Coco Capitán) and the hotel Caruso on Italy’s Amalfi Coast (Letizia Le Fur).
Each of the three artists’ expression and approach is unique, and the diversity of work reflects not only their singular lens, but their personal fascinations with travel and the Belmond destinations they document. These new commissions push us to collectively be open to the ever-evolving possibilities of artistic photography as a vehicle to share meaningful experiences of travel.
Rosie Marks, ‘Maintenance III’, 2023 / Belmond
Nazif Topcuoglu, Europa, 2011 / Galeri Nev Istanbul
Helen Levitt, New York, 1974 / Zander Galerie
Şahin Kaygun, Untitled 40, 1983 / Galerist
This year the acclaimed writer and curator Charlotte Jansen has been announced as the new Curator of the Discovery section, Photo London’s showcase of the best emerging photographers and galleries.
Emphasizing the importance of this aspect of the Fair, Jansen states: “It is vital to this ecosystem to have an area to encounter different kinds of projects outside the conventional gallery model, as well as different propositions about what photography might be and how it might be presented. Overall, this year, you’ll notice a majority of artists of all ages who have been long overlooked by the art and photography world, and devote their practice to interrogating dominant perspectives and inquiring deeply into their own; there’s a focus on durational projects, contrary to the idea of photography as the ‘point and shoot’ medium; also recurrent across the work on show is photography’s abiding power to bolster communities and empower.”
Ghada Khunji, FaRIDA IV, 2017 / Janet Rady Fine Art
Augusto Brázio, Untitled #01, “Bang!” series, 2023 / Galeria Das Salgadeiras
Jacob Lillis, Flowers and Cars, 2015 / Palm Studios
Chloé Jafé, Untitled, 2013-2019 / Galerie Echo 119
Beyond the Fair, Photo London regularly hosts Pre-Fair Talks engaging with the craft, market and knowledge of photography and acts as a catalyst for London’s dynamic photography community, with major institutions, auction houses, galleries and the burgeoning creative communities in the East End and South London presenting a series of Satellite Events.
Photo London is produced by Candlestar, an internationally renowned cultural consultancy with an outstanding reputation within the field of photography and the arts. Candlestar produces the Prix Pictet on behalf of the Pictet Group.
Photo London 2024
May 16–19, 2024 / Photo London, Somerset House
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