What’s On
Explore our upcoming exhibitions, photobook launches, and events. Whether online or in the Gallery, our programme spans artist talks, creative workshops, screenings, and photobook showcases, bringing together photographers, enthusiasts, and fans to learn, share, and connect.
Attending Our Events
All of our events are free unless stated otherwise, we have optional RSVP for each event, but we welcome walk- ins. Paid or private events can be booked below or via the organiser.
Access
Please note our basement gallery has no step free access and 25 steps and bright white light.
Lovers on Film an exhibition by Jack Gunn
Lovers on Film will take over Photobook Cáfe, London, for its first-ever exhibition across Valentine’s weekend.
Lovers on Film (2020 – ongoing) is a curated photographic project by photographer Jack Gunn, presenting thousands of photographs submitted by couples from over 100 countries worldwide. The exhibition explores intimacy, tenderness, and the quiet, often unseen moments of romantic relationships. Photographed primarily in private or domestic spaces, the images focus on closeness, vulnerability, and the small gestures that define being in love.
Lovers on Film was created in London during the summer of 2020's Covid Lockdown. The project operates through an open submission model, inviting couples to submit their own photographs. This approach creates a collective, global portrait of love that is both deeply personal and quietly universal. Rather than idealising romance, Lovers on Film is interested in honesty, presence, and attention – existing somewhere between documentary and portraiture. Analogue photography is fundamental to the project. Working with film introduces slowness, limitation, and uncertainty into the process – qualities that closely mirror the emotional landscape of intimate relationships themselves. Each photograph exists as a physical object, shaped by time, chance, and care, resisting the immediacy and disposability of digital imagery. In an era increasingly shaped by AI and image simulation, Lovers on Film feels even more important. These images exist as records of something that genuinely happened, preserving love as lived rather than imagined.
Opening Hours:
14 February, 3pm – 10pm
15 February, 10am – 4pm
16 – 20 February, 8am – 10pm
21 February, 10am – 10pm
22 February, 10am – 4pm
For press enquiries, please contact: contact@jackgunn.co.uk
@jackgxnn
All are welcome no rsvp required
Zine Club (Lovers edition)
Our Zine Workshops take place biweekly on Mondays in our Gallery from 18:30–20:30. They’re free to attend, and you can drop in at any time during the session. The only cost is printing, which starts at £12 per zine. During the workshop, you can create and print black-and-white mini zines up to A4 size, with a maximum of 16 pages. We supply paper and staples, however if you wish you can bring your own paper with you!
Having Had Faith by Leah McLaine
We’re pleased to host a series of informal talks that celebrate photobooks, zines, and independent publishing. We welcome individuals to join us on select Monday evenings. These sessions offer a relaxed and engaging space for creators to share the stories, processes, and ideas behind their work. This will be an opportunity to share knowledge and build relationships with those interested in publishing.
Talks take place on select Monday evenings between 18:00–21:00.
Guests can RSVP. Please also note that our basement gallery does not have step-free access and involves 25 steps.
Talks begin at 18:30, with an opportunity to meet the photographer and view their publication during the event. There will also be time to ask the photographer questions during the second half of the Talk.
Having Had Faith by Leah McLaine
Leah McLaine (b.2001, Newcastle) is a British Malaysian photographer who works in black and white 35mm and 120 film, and the darkroom. Growing up strictly religious, her orthodox jewish background became incongruous with her sexual identity, and after attempts to change, she became estranged. She now works to document her life, found family and relationships, finding many of her queer friends also estranged, or no longer having family members to document their lives. She uses portraiture as a form of attention, care and prayer; a way of keeping the nearest and dearest near and dear.
Having Had Faith is Mclaine's debut photo book made this year which foregrounds the question of what to do with a religiously tuned body when the mind has lost faith through a sequence of portraits. Mclaine is particularly interested in the concept of “faith” not as some innate given capacity to believe; but rather, something the body and mind has to work hard to attain or to get back to. She foregrounds this topic of faith in her book as a central issue for many young people today; a generation who largely have lost touch with the faith ingrained in their childhood, either as a consequence of prescribed incompatibility with (sexual) identity, or a loss of hope in general with the world and the future. This turn back to spirituality, outside of the bounds of organised religion or liturgy, emerges sometimes in a prayer that catches one off guard when in trouble, and is what drives Mclaine’s work today.
Book Launch: t-fags by El Hardwick & Orion Isaacs
't-fags' is a sensual, defiant book of photographs and interviews with trans men, transmasculine and non-binary people who identify with the term ‘fag’. By reclaiming the historically loaded slur, the series’ contributors embody masculinities that embrace femininity and gender expansiveness; deconstructing expectations of heteronormativity for those who transition gender. The book has already garnered praise from i-D, Dazed, Gay Times, Them, Huck and Polyester.
The project is the culmination of a three-year-long collaboration between photographer El Hardwick and creative director Orion Isaacs, who are also romantic partners. The book features twenty one individuals and real-life couples, who responded to an open call. Hardwick and Isaacs shared an extensive moodboard of homoerotic images with respondents, and asked which they were drawn to reimagining; empowering participants to be active collaborators rather than 'subjects'. Some of the resulting portraits are candid, intimate moments at portraitees’ homes, whilst others are orchestrated images with a cinematic quality that materialise fantasy scenarios participants wished to explore.
El Hardwick is a photographer and multidisciplinary artist based in London. They have exhibited internationally at galleries including The V&A Museum, Palais de Tokyo and Southbank Centre.
Orion Isaacs is a London-based film writer-director and interdisciplinary artist. They’ve exhibited at The V&A Museum, Southbank Centre and LADA. Since 2022, Isaacs's focus has been on writing and directing films, which have screened across BIFA and BAFTA qualifying festivals internationally.
Social Media Handles
@el_hardwick @orionisaacs_
IN MANY FORMS | REG
This show brings together three artists from distinct backgrounds and locations, each working in different mediums yet united by shared themes. Through painting, photography, and mixed media, their works tell their stories, revealing how diverse voices can express strikingly similar experiences. Together as REG, the artists create a dialogue that crosses borders, materials, and perspectives.
From North London, Richard Dixon is a self- taught photographer who explores urban spaces through a psychogeographic lens, examining how the city shapes experience, memory, and identity. His work reflects how occupants and everyday life shift alongside regeneration, capturing the emotional and social landscapes of ever-changing neighbourhoods.
Born and raised in New York City, Eli Shallcross draws inspiration from the pauses and fleeting stillness woven throughout urban life. Their work captures the easily overlooked quiet moments hidden within the city’s constant motion, presenting scenes that feel intimate and recognisable yet difficult to place. His work lingers in a space between memory and observation, inviting viewers to slow down and sit with a sense of subtle familiarity.
Gill Thorpe is an Irish textile and surface designer living in London. Her love of found textures and irregular patterns that often go unnoticed have been a particular point of interest that informs her design practice through photography, collage and rugs.
Social Media Handles
@lostintottenham @shallcross @gill_thorpe
PBC Reading Room: Photobook Collection Contributions
Discover Fresh Photobook Narratives
Step into the cozy retreat of the Photobook Café’s Reading Room, where each visit brings fresh discovery. We're delighted to present the latest submissions to our ever-growing photobook collection, featuring personal photo narratives, insightful zines, rare self-published volumes, and curator-selected works that redefine visual storytelling.
Why Visit Us?
New Releases on Display - Whether you're browsing creative storytelling, documentary photography, or experimental layouts, you’ll always find something distinctive and compelling.
Browse & Immerse – The reading room is freely accessible during café hours. No booking required, just drop in and leaf through our growing collection at your leisure photobookcafe+1photobookcafe-archive.co.uk.
Curated for Creativity – We thoughtfully categorize each new submission using Omeka, ensuring easy browsing and discovery of emerging photographers and artists.
Inclusive Community Spotlight – From personal passion projects to boundary-pushing self-publishing experiments, our photobook collection champions voices often overlooked by mainstream platforms.
Want more? Our Monthly Photobook Displays
Photobook Displays – Every month, we spotlight new entries with curated showcases in our cafe.
What's In The Collection – Delve deeper into the stories behind the pages, featuring what’s in the collection reels by our team.
It’s not too late to be a part of it yourself, head to our photobook collection page to find out how to submit your photobook now!
Kaleidoscope by Kate Carpenter
We’re pleased to host a series of informal talks that celebrate photobooks, zines, and independent publishing. We welcome individuals to join us on select Monday evenings. These sessions offer a relaxed and engaging space for creators to share the stories, processes, and ideas behind their work. This will be an opportunity to share knowledge and build relationships with those interested in publishing.
Talks take place on select Monday evenings between 18:00–21:00.
Guests can RSVP. Please also note that our basement gallery does not have step-free access and involves 25 steps.
Talks begin at 18:30, with an opportunity to meet the photographer and view their publication during the event. There will also be time to ask the photographer questions during the second half of the Talk.
Kaleidoscope by Kate Carpenter
Kate’s photographer parents brought her up to love photography. She studied Languages, and has taught in schools and colleges in the UK, Germany and Belgium. Kate has an MA in Education, a Law degree, and an MA in Photography. She has worked in an advice centre, and run private and pro-bono photography workshops.
Kate uses her photography to tell stories about memory and forgetting, family, love, and grief.
About 'Kaleidoscope'
The old red family album is falling to pieces - pages empty, gaps and glue marks on the thick black paper. Prints are dispersed around the house, the museum of our lives randomly curated and re-curated on the mantelpiece like the shuffling and muddling of memories. Objects, photographs, articles and other mementos appear, sit together for a while and then disappear as we shake the kaleidoscope and the story’s emphasis shifts. The clock stopped some time ago at five past two, but mantelpiece-time does not stand still. It’s all snapshots and vignettes and fragments from up and down the decades.
Something about middle age, something about the shock of sudden losses and the slow creep of anticipatory grief, something about the thread of dementia that winds its way down the generations - something about all this compels me to set a narrative down, to fix the past, and the present too, before it all slips from my grasp forever, before I too forget.
But each time I shake the kaleidoscope, a different picture forms.
This is one of those pictures.
Book Launch: Catch Sight Of by Tom Porter
Tom Porter is a London based photographer exploring the often overlooked beauty in the ordinary details of everyday life. In his new book ‘Catch sight of’ and accompanying exhibition, Porter brings together recurring themes whilst juggling fatherhood.
Social Media Handles
https://www.instagram.com/tomrporter/
Workshop: On Entering Photography Awards by Wendy Carrig
This workshop was originally created as a response to female photographers not appearing to be entering photography awards in the same way or numbers as their male counterparts. The two hour workshop will help answer your questions on the benefits of entering photography awards, what are the best competitions, and how to select your images for submission. During the workshop you will have the opportunity to enter your images into a mock photography awards, where you will also experience being part of the judging process. In the lead up to International Women’s Day we aim to show that entering awards can help gain visibility for your work, improve confidence in your photographic practice, and assist your career progress. Please bring along as many of your single, series and project images as you wish in 6”x4” (A6/postcard) size only to take part. This is a FREE Photobook Cafe workshop presented by photographer Wendy Carrig in support of Women’s History month.
Wendy Carrig began her career documenting anti-war protests at Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp whilst still a photography student, and went on to forge a career working across fashion and celebrity portraiture. Her current practice crosses multi-genres with a focus mainly on women's stories and environmental concerns. She regularly submits work to major photography awards, and her work has been recognised including by the Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize, the Marilyn Stafford Award, Portrait of Britain, and with gold awards from the Association of Photographers. Wendy Carrig is a founding member of f22AOP women photographers, a group created to challenge gender disparity within the photographic industry. She is an Associate Lecturer in Photography at Oxford Brookes University.
Social Media Handles
@wendycarrigphotography @f22aop @assocphoto @rpswomeninphotography
Exhibition - Parallel Realities: Rio De Janeiro by Thaisa Lemos
Thaisa Lemos is a London-based designer and Graphic Design student at Kingston School of Art. Her culturally influenced practice explores themes of family, belonging, and home, drawing on her Brazilian heritage and lived experience. Working across photography, moving image, text, installation, and publication, her work is grounded in personal and cultural research and continues to develop through experimentation.
Parallel Realities: Rio de Janeiro explores the contrast between how the city is often perceived versus how it is truly experienced. While Rio is widely associated with beautiful beaches, a vibrant culture, and leisure, the exhibition introduces other, less visible realities that exist alongside these familiar images.
Bringing together photography, filmed interviews, text, and material works, the exhibition is structured around contrasting narratives. Work focusing on communities such as Vila Aliança engages with harsher conditions and violence that shape everyday life, while photographs from Complexo da J.K. turn toward quieter moments of daily routine, intimacy, and community. Rather than offering a single story, the exhibition presents multiple perspectives that exist side by side.
Interviews conducted in Rio de Janeiro and London add personal voices and reflections, inviting viewers to pause, listen, and consider how places are experienced differently depending on who is speaking and where they stand.
Social Media Handles
@thaiisa.lemos, @designsbythaisa
Free RSVP Here
Zinnia Collective Open Crits
Zinnia Collective’s Monthly Open Crits
Zinnia Collective is a photographic duo made up of Edward Brilliant and Emily June Smith, who run events, exhibitions, and workshops.
The Open Crits are informal, friendly sessions where photographers come together to share work, get feedback, and connect with one another.
They’re open to photographers of all ages and at any stage of their career. The focus is on conversation, collaboration, and creating a supportive space to talk about work.
We know photography can be a pretty lonely practice at times, and making real connections in the industry isn’t always easy, especially if you’ve recently finished university.
These sessions are about bringing people together and building a sense of community.
If you have prints, feel free to bring them along, but it’s not essential. Laptops are very welcome so everyone can easily view and discuss each other’s projects.
The emphasis is on openness, learning from one another, and connection, rather than formal critique.
Book your spot here;
Monday Photobook Talk Series: Between Vision and Thought, introducing 兼兼 magazine06 - Au-delá by Mélina Benyoub
We’re pleased to host a series of informal talks that celebrate photobooks, zines, and independent publishing. We welcome individuals to join us on select Monday evenings. These sessions offer a relaxed and engaging space for creators to share the stories, processes, and ideas behind their work. This will be an opportunity to share knowledge and build relationships with those interested in publishing.
Talks take place on select Monday evenings between 18:00–21:00.
Guests can RSVP. Please also note that our basement gallery does not have step-free access and involves 25 steps.
Talks begin at 18:30, with an opportunity to meet the photographer and view their publication during the event. There will also be time to ask the photographer questions during the second half of the Talk.
Between Vision and Thought, introducing 兼兼 magazine06 - Au-delá by Mélina Benyoub
Mélina is a spatial practices and architecture student at Central Saint Martins in London. Her work centres on people first, looking at how spaces are shaped by power, history and lived experiences. She is especially interested in practices of decolonialisation and how rethinking whose voices are heard can lead to more inclusive ways of designing and occupying space.
Her practice explores how the built environment affects the way people interact, behave and feel, often focusing on everyday spaces and overlooked narratives. Working across architecture, design and storytelling, Mélina uses space to question dominant structures and imagine alternatives that are more grounded, human and socially aware.
The architecture of the self is reflected in the architecture of the city. Memories of my childhood and the tender whispers of what could have been sit concrete, neglected and lost in time. Nostalgia doesn’t fit easily in this space. Ideas of permanence fall away and are replaced by a softer, thinner kind of hope This series unveils the contrast between life in the city and life in the suburbs. The stark contrast between two lived experiences shared and in limbo, neither able to be sustained without the other. These photographs rest in that tension. Between what is maintained and what is left to fade, between the city’s bright centre and its quieter, eroded edges. They look at the places where life continues anyway, quietly and without announcement. Snippets of the two lives fight for dominance, and the lines become blurred.
Bootleg Zine Workshop
Have you always wanted a photobook thats out of print? well in this workshop we make cheap bad bootlegs of the books you want. Fanzine or bootleg whatever you want.
Our Zine Workshops take place biweekly on Mondays in our Gallery from 18:30–20:30. They’re free to attend, and you can drop in at any time during the session. The only cost is printing, which starts at £12 per zine. During the workshop, you can create and print black-and-white mini zines up to A4 size, with a maximum of 16 pages. We supply paper and staples, however if you wish you can bring your own paper with you!
Come experiment, fold, cut, copy, and share your voice in zine form. All materials provided — just bring your ideas!
Exhibition & Artist Talk: The Woman Who Fell To Earth by Wendy Carrig
The vast and infinite horizons of Romney Marsh where nature and nuclear live in symbiosis are (for now) Britain’s only desert. In this strange and otherworldly landscape Rapunzel-like towers of mythological proportions - once powerful symbols of industry - appear redundant in a seemingly desolate wasteland. This oft-forgotten land has inspired a profusion of science fiction, from H.G.Wells to Doctor Who. The Woman Who Fell to Earth is a response to the climate emergency viewed through the lens of a fictional space traveller. The title is borrowed from the The Man Who Fell to Earth, the cult sci-film where an extraterrestrial crash lands on Earth desperately seeking water to save his drought-ridden planet. Mixing marine debris with industrial landscapes and self portraiture, the project also encourages conversations on gender equality, visibility and loss. Leading us to ask, when does science fiction become science fact?
Wendy Carrig began her career documenting the anti-war protests at Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp whilst still a photography student, before going on to forge a career working across fashion and celebrity portraiture. Her current multi-genre practice focuses on women's stories and environmental concerns, and her work has been recognised by major photography awards including the Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize, Portrait of Britain, the Marilyn Stafford Award, and Gold Awards from the Association of Photographers. Wendy is a founding member of f22AOP women photographers, which challenges gender disparity within the photographic industry. She is an Associate Lecturer in Photography at Oxford Brookes University.
Social Media Handles
https://www.instagram.com/wendycarrigphotography
Artist Talk RSVP Here
Exhibition opening and duration you do not need to rsvp or book, walk ins are welcome.
Workshop: Re-framing the Narrative, a collage & zine workshop by Wendy Carrig
'Re-Framing the Narrative' On this final weekend of International Women’s Month we encourage you to change the narrative. Using traditional collage techniques this mindful workshop guides you to create a personalised, handcrafted mini-zine from a singular and random magazine. Re-framing and changing the narrative presented, to one that reflects your own mood and aesthetic, by drawing upon individual and personal storytelling.
Come and immerse yourself in two hours of meditative cut’n’paste. All materials will be supplied. No previous experience required. Workshop is FREE but places are limited and booking is essential.
Wendy Carrig is a British Irish photographer living and working between London and the Kent Coast. She began her career documenting anti-war protests at Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp whilst still a photography student, and went on to forge a career working in fashion and celebrity portraiture. Her current practice of commissioned work and personal projects crosses multi-genres.with Storytelling is always at the heart of her creativity with a focus on women's stories and environmental concerns. Wendy Carrig is a founding member of f22AOP women photographers, a group created to challenge gender disparity within the photographic industry. She is an Associate Lecturer in Photography at Oxford Brookes University.
Social Media Handles
@wendycarrigphotography
Mini zine workshop
Our Zine Workshops take place biweekly on Mondays in our Gallery from 18:30–20:30. They’re free to attend, and you can drop in at any time during the session. The only cost is printing, which starts at £12 per zine. During the workshop, you can create and print black-and-white mini zines up to A4 size, with a maximum of 16 pages. We supply paper and staples, however if you wish you can bring your own paper with you!
Come experiment, fold, cut, copy, and share your voice in zine form. All materials provided — just bring your ideas!
Monday Photobook Talk Series: Between Vision and Thought, introducing 兼兼 magazine07 - One Day in Berlin by Holger Biermann and Christian Reister
We’re pleased to host a series of informal talks that celebrate photobooks, zines, and independent publishing. We welcome individuals to join us on select Monday evenings. These sessions offer a relaxed and engaging space for creators to share the stories, processes, and ideas behind their work. This will be an opportunity to share knowledge and build relationships with those interested in publishing.
Talks take place on select Monday evenings between 18:00–21:00.
Guests can RSVP. Please also note that our basement gallery does not have step-free access and involves 25 steps.
Talks begin at 18:30, with an opportunity to meet the photographer and view their publication during the event. There will also be time to ask the photographer questions during the second half of the Talk.
Between Vision and Thought, introducing 兼兼 magazine07 - One Day in Berlin by Holger Biermann and Christian Reister
Holger Biermann and Christian Reister are Berlin-based photographers who have known and respected each other for years. They realised a joint project with the images for this publication. From midnight to midnight on 21 June 2025, they independently documented their city. Together, they exposed 13 rolls of black-and-white film. Around 470 images were created. For the publication Jian Jian 07, the focus was not on juxtaposing two individual perspectives, but on merging them into a photographic duet.
Social Media Handles
Holger Biermann @holgerbiermannphoto, Christian Reister @christianreister
Zinnie Collective Open Crits
Zinnia Collective’s Monthly Open Crits
Zinnia Collective is a photographic duo made up of Edward Brilliant and Emily June Smith, who run events, exhibitions, and workshops.
The Open Crits are informal, friendly sessions where photographers come together to share work, get feedback, and connect with one another.
They’re open to photographers of all ages and at any stage of their career. The focus is on conversation, collaboration, and creating a supportive space to talk about work.
We know photography can be a pretty lonely practice at times, and making real connections in the industry isn’t always easy, especially if you’ve recently finished university.
These sessions are about bringing people together and building a sense of community.
If you have prints, feel free to bring them along, but it’s not essential. Laptops are very welcome so everyone can easily view and discuss each other’s projects.
The emphasis is on openness, learning from one another, and connection, rather than formal critique.
Book your spot here;
Monday Photobook Talk Series: Humanscape by HU Yue
We’re pleased to host a series of informal talks that celebrate photobooks, zines, and independent publishing. We welcome individuals to join us on select Monday evenings. These sessions offer a relaxed and engaging space for creators to share the stories, processes, and ideas behind their work. This will be an opportunity to share knowledge and build relationships with those interested in publishing.
Talks take place on select Monday evenings between 18:00–21:00.
Guests can RSVP. Please also note that our basement gallery does not have step-free access and involves 25 steps.
Talks begin at 18:30, with an opportunity to meet the photographer and view their publication during the event. There will also be time to ask the photographer questions during the second half of the Talk.
Humanscape by HU Yue
HU Yue (胡悦) is a London-based visual art practitioner, curator, editor, and translator. She holds an MA in Documentary Photography from the University of Westminster and is currently finishing practice-based doctoral research with the University of Plymouth. Her interdisciplinary research situates the dynamic relationship between humans’ interventions and natural landscapes in the context of environmental and climate change. Her artistic investigations often engage with artificial landscapes, ecological imaginaries, and the sensory experience of a place. Through curating and walking practices, she explores the broader contemporary visual art world and reimagines the landscape as a site of negotiation, memory, and transformation.
Humanscape: Tianjin 39.0851° N, 117.1994° E presents the main body of work from HU Yue’s PhD research titled ‘Humanscape’ in Geopoetics — A Visual Diagnosis of Reclaimed Landscapes. Rooted in her intimate and intuitive walking in the alienating newly reclaimed lands of her hometown Tianjin, the project applies multi-sensory perspectives of “seeing”— Watching, Listening, Asking, and Feeling— borrowed from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). These TCM diagnostic approaches are applied across drone photography, cyanotype printing, microscopic imaging, videography, and sound recording. Through her “earth writing” inspired by geopoetics studies, the project introduces ‘Humanscape’ as a terrain shaped by perception, emotion, and imagination.
Journey to the West by Wei Jian Chan
We’re pleased to host a series of informal talks that celebrate photobooks, zines, and independent publishing. We welcome individuals to join us on select Monday evenings. These sessions offer a relaxed and engaging space for creators to share the stories, processes, and ideas behind their work. This will be an opportunity to share knowledge and build relationships with those interested in publishing.
Talks take place on select Monday evenings between 18:00–21:00.
Guests can RSVP. Please also note that our basement gallery does not have step-free access and involves 25 steps.
Talks begin at 18:30, with an opportunity to meet the photographer and view their publication during the event. There will also be time to ask the photographer questions during the second half of the Talk.
Journey to the West by Wei Jian Chan
Wei Jian Chan (b.1991) is a Singaporean-born photographer based in London, whose work seeks to find beauty in the chaos of modern life. Wei Jian first picked up a camera at the age of 14 while growing up in Singapore. Over the years, as he moved to Oxford to attend university and to London for work, the camera has been his constant companion. In his time behind the camera, photography has grown from a pastime into a source of inspiration and a passport to new experiences. Working primarily in black-and-white, Wei Jian utilises both traditional wet darkroom processes and modern digital techniques in his work. His work frequently incorporates elements of geometry, architecture, and motion. Wei Jian’s debut photobook ‘Journey to the West’ was published by Setanta Books in 2025. His photography has been exhibited in various locations in the UK and Europe, and has been acquired to form part of the permanent collection of the Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Art. His work has also been featured by numerous outlets, including The Guardian, Deutsche Welle, National Geographic, Amateur Photographer, and Leica Camera.
In September 2012, I drifted across the ocean and found myself in an unfamiliar land. Leaving behind family, friends, and the comfort of home, I left Singapore and embarked on a new life in the UK. For me, it was a time of great personal growth, as I set about to integrate into a foreign culture and find my place in the world. This series uses the anonymity, geometry, and formal visual language of my street photography to evoke the sense of dislocation and uncertainty I felt over this period. The title ‘Journey to the West’ comes from a Ming dynasty Chinese myth about the journey of the Buddhist monk Xuanzang who travelled to the ‘Western Regions’ to obtain Buddhist sacred texts (sutras).
Zine Club (Weekend edition)
Our Zine Workshops take place biweekly on Mondays in our Gallery BUT, we are trying something new, Come this Saturday between 12-5PM for a drop in session of Zine club. The times to come is for the first part of the day from 12-2pm and then from 3-5pm.
The only cost is printing, which starts at £12 per zine. During the workshop, you can create and print black-and-white mini zines up to A4 size, with a maximum of 16 pages. We supply paper and staples, however if you wish you can bring your own paper with you!
Come experiment, fold, cut, copy, and share your voice in zine form. All materials provided — just bring your ideas!
Zine club (Lovers edition)
Join us for this months themed zine club!
Valentine is around the corner, make a zine for someone you love (or hate) friend, enemy, partner or yourself.
Our Zine Workshops take place biweekly on Mondays in our Gallery from 18:00–20:00. They’re free to attend, and you can drop in at any time during the session. The only cost is printing, which starts at £12 per zine. During the workshop, you can create and print black-and-white mini zines up to A4 size, with a maximum of 16 pages. We supply paper and staples, however if you wish you can bring your own paper with you!
Zinnia Collective Open Crits
Zinnia Collective’s Monthly Open Crits
Zinnia Collective is a photographic duo made up of Edward Brilliant and Emily June Smith, who run events, exhibitions, and workshops.
The Open Crits are informal, friendly sessions where photographers come together to share work, get feedback, and connect with one another.
They’re open to photographers of all ages and at any stage of their career. The focus is on conversation, collaboration, and creating a supportive space to talk about work.
We know photography can be a pretty lonely practice at times, and making real connections in the industry isn’t always easy, especially if you’ve recently finished university.
These sessions are about bringing people together and building a sense of community.
If you have prints, feel free to bring them along, but it’s not essential. Laptops are very welcome so everyone can easily view and discuss each other’s projects.
The emphasis is on openness, learning from one another, and connection, rather than formal critique.
Book your spot here
In Search of Amnesia by Barry Falk
We’re pleased to host a series of informal talks that celebrate photobooks, zines, and independent publishing. We welcome individuals to join us on select Monday evenings. These sessions offer a relaxed and engaging space for creators to share the stories, processes, and ideas behind their work. This will be an opportunity to share knowledge and build relationships with those interested in publishing.
Talks take place on select Monday evenings between 18:00–21:00.
Guests can RSVP. Please also note that our basement gallery does not have step-free access and involves 25 steps.
Talks begin at 18:30, with an opportunity to meet the photographer and view their publication during the event. There will also be time to ask the photographer questions during the second half of the Talk.
In Search of Amnesia by Barry Falk
I am a UK based photographer exploring a range of subjects related to the psychological sense of self. I have documented places that have undergone collective trauma, focussing on Eastern Europe to consider my own personal history and explore the loss related to the Jewish narrative and collective memory. I have explored nostalgia, linked to the fascination with the former GDR, documenting and interrogating this ‘ostalgie’ for a system of surveillance that was a balance of fear, the price paid during the Cold War for rival paradigms of thought. This is nostalgia akin to Stockholm Syndrome.
My work moves between the remembered, the honoured, the erased and the reimagined. This is the landscape of the uncanny: the isolated tree becomes personified, the upended boat represents the unfulfilled escape route, the homely caravan, set in the bleak snowscape, simultaneously enticing and threatening, the island the symbol for the unconscious.
I have exhibited within the UK and internationally, featured in a wide range of photographic magazines, given public talks about my work and been interviewed by Arte TV for a documentary on trans-generational trauma.
I have recently published my first book: In Search of Amnesia, published by Kehrer Verlag Publishers, Heidelberg, Germany.
Book Launch: Where the fire went by Sana Badri
Sana Badri is a British-Tunisian photographer. Her work is primarily focused on place making and marginalised communities, with the intention to foster a visual dialogue that speaks to those inside those communities. Where the fire Went documents the amateur boxing scene in Greater London. This body of work explores how communities create spaces of care, joy, and resilience in a city that too often pushes them to the margins. Against a backdrop of displacement and erasure, I photograph the places where people gather, train and repair. Places that foster connection without transaction.
Social Media Handles
@sanabadri_ with essay by @pelumi.odubanjo
Kiss me quick, Squeeze me slow. Photobook launch. Marcus Haslam
I work with photography to explore landscape and the everyday built environment in Britain. Influenced by the New Topographics movement, my work examines how places are shaped by use, neglect, and time, and how these spaces reflect broader social change. I am drawn to ordinary and overlooked locations, where traces of the past remain visible in the present.
This project takes its title from an old seaside slogan once printed on souvenir hats and T-shirts — a small reference to Blackpool’s past. The work itself is not about nostalgia. It is an intimate portrait of the town where I grew up, made after returning following my mother’s death. What began as a personal attempt to reconnect with place gradually became a wider reflection on Blackpool’s changing identity: its harder edges, its quieter moments, and the dry humour that continues alongside visible decline.
The series sits between documentary and personal narrative. It examines the overlap between memory and present-day reality in the everyday — in traders and seasonal workers, faded signage, leftover illuminations, and the worn fabric of a once-glamorous resort. The photographs are quietly observed, leaning into melancholy while retaining the affection and wit that shape the town’s character. Seascapes appear throughout as pauses — moments of stillness between arcades and empty streets.
Social Media Handles
marcushaslam2023
Book Launch - Scribbled: The First Year
Scribbled is an independent creative writing platform and publishing company celebrating new creative talent. Established in December 2024, we have garnered a wonderful network of writers from over 100 countries, organised live events in London and New York and even put on a sold-out variety show featuring music, comedy and live readings from members of our community.
In an age where the overwhelming ubiquity of AI is threatening creative fields, it is more vital than ever to foster community and support for emerging artists; this is the founding tenet of Scribbled. Compiling the best of the best of our first year of existence, Scribbled: The First Year w a celebration of writing in all its forms: from prose to poetry, articles and essays to short stories, and more. By platforming new and emerging writers in this print publication, we hope to make the world of writing more accessible, as well as shine a light on how the spirit of creativity and imagination lives on in humanity, in spite of a zeitgeist which asserts such things have been lost.
We are thrilled to be partnering with the Photobook cafe to launch our book, Scribbled: The First Year! A handpicked selection of the best submissions we received in 2025, Scribbled: The First Year is a beautiful anthology of exciting, fresh and diverse writing from new writers all over the world.
Social Media Handles
@Scribbled.online @mollydewardesign @poppy.scales @jemima.lf
Please RSVP Here
Mini Zine workshop
Our Zine Workshops take place biweekly on Mondays in our Gallery from 18:00–20:00. They’re free to attend, and you can drop in at any time during the session. The only cost is printing, which starts at £12 per zine. During the workshop, you can create and print black-and-white mini zines up to A4 size, with a maximum of 16 pages. We supply paper and staples, however if you wish you can bring your own paper with you!
Come experiment, fold, cut, copy, and share your voice in zine form. All materials provided — just bring your ideas!
EC2 Group Exhibition: Layers
We’re delighted to announce that artists have now been selected for EC2 Layers, our community exhibition celebrating local talent from the EC2 postcode area.
Everyone is warmly invited to join us for the opening night at The Photobook Café on Thursday 15 January 2026, 6pm–late. Come along to celebrate the creativity of our local community and see a diverse range of work across mediums, all created by artists who live or work in EC2.
Exhibition dates: 16–18 January 2026
Thank you to all who submitted work and helped make this open call such a success. We look forward to welcoming artists, friends, neighbours, and supporters to celebrate EC2’s vibrant creative scene together.
Poster Image Courtesy of: Zinuo
Exhibiting Artists;
Vicky Polak, Xianzhuyue Li, Tomás Dettmar, Adrian Tache, Lee Fulmer, Lili Shen, Niki Stevens, Julian Bramley Burgess, Joles Wong, Olivia Kuehne, Yoni Chepisheva, Evie Hall, Allison Gretchko, Rocco Gimondi, Zinuo, Thea Jeffery Sands, Ciaran and Viktoriia Chernykh.
Mini Zine workshop
Our Zine Workshops take place biweekly on Mondays in our Gallery from 18:00–20:00. They’re free to attend, and you can drop in at any time during the session. The only cost is printing, which starts at £12 per zine. During the workshop, you can create and print black-and-white mini zines up to A4 size, with a maximum of 16 pages. We supply paper and staples, however if you wish you can bring your own paper with you!
Come experiment, fold, cut, copy, and share your voice in zine form. All materials provided — just bring your ideas!
A solo photo exhibition: The City, Between Shadows by Sandeep Gupta
“The City, Between Shadows” is a quiet look at London’s everyday pulse its movement, its stillness, and the small human moments that often slip past unnoticed. In this exhibition, photographer Sandeep Gupta aka "The Shooting Buddha" asks viewers to slow down with him, to stand inside the city’s rush and notice the fragments of life that pause just long enough to be seen.
Originally from Nepal, and having photographed the busy streets of Delhi and Kathmandu, Gupta now walks through London with both familiarity and distance. He sees the city as something alive never still, always shifting and made up of gestures, stories, and subtle signals that reveal themselves only to those willing to look.
In these photographs, people and architecture share the same stage. A passing figure becomes part of a line of shadow; a brief glance becomes a moment of connection. Presence meets absence. Intimacy touches isolation. London’s contradictions feel clearer, and somehow more human.
This collection isn’t meant to document the city. It’s a series of encounters small truths caught in the middle of movement, held still for a moment before they disappear again.
“The City, Between Shadows” is an invitation to pause, look closely, and notice the traces of life that flicker through London every day.
Social Media Handles
@theshootingbuddha @curlminati @bitsof_mylife @vijita.sa @aidapakzadafshar
Ravensbourne Photography: Winter Showcase
Join us for a celebration of our emerging photographic talent as all years of Ravensbourne University's BA and MA/MFA Digital Photography come together for one night only.
On 18th December, from 6pm-10pm, Photo Book Cafe opens its doors to showcase one image from each student, marking the halfway point of their creative journeys. This exhibition captures the breadth and energy of our photography community at a pivotal moment in the academic year.
Come and experience the diverse voices and visions of Ravensbourne's next generation of image-makers in one of London's most established photography spaces.
Free entry: All welcome
@ravensbourne_photography
@ravensbourneUK
Walking Through Clear Water…” by Dani d’Ingeo
Dani d’Ingeo presents “Walking through clear water…”, a first preview of their forthcoming body of work. Drawn from a vast archive complied over the years, the images move between fragments of clarity and shadows at once. Using the lens as a mirror on the everyday, the work traces the terrain of oscillating internal landscapes while interrogating the present value of vernacular documentation.
The series of photographs will be exhibited in the gallery of Photobook Café, and it will be accompanied on the evening by a special sound performance by artist Malou Van Der Veld.
Dani d’Ingeo (b.1994) is an Italian artist based in London. Mainly using 35mm compact film cameras, d’Ingeo’s photography captures the rich fabric of the queer experience from an insider point of view. Since moving to England they have chronicled the overlaps of simple mundanity, tender intimacy, activism and nightlife, from the underground clubs to broad daylight.
They published their first photography book “New Order” in 2022 via SMUT Press and their work has been featured on i-D, Vice, Dazed, British Vogue, Paper Magazine among others.
Social Media Handles
remainsofd
Short film screening and photo exhibition by Charlie Key and Leon Foggitt
5pm - 10pm
Film screenings from 7pm
The 4 minute short film follows devoted pilgrims - on horseback, in wagons, and on foot - as they travel the dusty trails toward El Rocío, one of Spain’s most cherished holy sites.
The film will be shown a few times during the evening so there will be a few chances to see it.
KOVER by BARAKI photography exibithion
BARAKI is a filmmaker and visual artist working across fiction, music videos, and cinematography for YouTube entertainment. For the past eight years, he has also been a resident DJ at Piñata Radio. Through KOVER, I present 8 years of monthly covers : photography, collage, painting, graffiti and sound... BARAKI explores the endless possibilities of artistic expression, blending disciplines to craft unique narratives and immersive experiences.
Social Media Handles
@princebaraki @nacho @v2fofficiel @latelierbaryte @pinataradio @reformradio @simelodessin
Zine Launch: RUMBLE by Tom Ringsby
Tom Ringsby is a documentary based photographer and filmmaker who explores and collaborates with communities, revealing new truths and perspectives with the aim of making audiences re-evaluate their assumptions about people and places they think they know.
RUMBLE is an exploration into the UK Pro Wrestling scene seeking to show the talent, passion, sweat, tears and humanity that goes into a truly grass-roots community built on talents ranging from stunts and acrobatics to pantomime and stand-up comedy.
Social Media Handles
@tomringsby
Mini Zine Club
Join us for a relaxed drop-in Mini Zine Workshop at the Photobook Café! Explore the art of DIY publishing using Shrimp Zine Technology in our gallery space. Whether you're a zine newbie or a seasoned self-publisher, come create your own black-and-white mini zine (A5 or smaller).
No booking required — just drop in!
Only pay for what you print at the bar!
Come experiment, fold, cut, copy, and share your voice in zine form. All materials provided — just bring your ideas!
Zine Club
Join us for our bi-weekly Zine Club in the Gallery, led by photographer and bookmaker Felix. This relaxed, creative session is ideal for beginners aged 16 and over, and no previous zine-making experience is required. Over two hours, you’ll explore the art of handmade publishing and create your own unique zine to take home. Tickets are £28 per person.
Please note: our basement gallery is not step-free and is accessible via 25 steps.
The Photobook Cafe Zine Reading Room
ZINE POP‑UP READING ROOM
Welcome to our Zine Pop‑Up Reading Room.
What’s Happening:
On the days of our zine workshops, we transform our basement gallery into a vibrant zine reading room. Seeing a selection of curated titles from our onsite collection. Admission is free and open to all. Come by to browse, flip through, and get inspired by a curated selection of independent zines.
Zine Workshops (6 PM – 8 PM):
After exploring the reading room, join our hands-on zine-making workshop. Whether you're new to zines or a seasoned maker, booking is required to secure your spot.
Oxymoron Book Launch
Untitled publishing presents book Oxymoron by Linda Zhengová, a haunting exploration of intimacy power and self-reconstruction. Emerging from the artist’s personal history, the series forms a visual archive of red flags, fleeting escapes, and the subtle violence of self-sabotage. Created in the aftermath of an abusive relationship, the work was shaped through a nocturnal alter ego, a shadow self that became both a refuge and a lens. In this liminal space, Zhengová sought out intensity as a way to pierce emotional numbness. Drawn to acts of raw exposure and extremity, she confronted the boundaries of vulnerability and control. These encounters became a stage on which desire, obsession, and empowerment collided, offering fragments of reclamation and fragile self-love. The resulting body of work is an oxymoron in itself: tender yet confrontational, destructive yet redemptive. It stands as both a testimony to endurance and a dedication to those who, like the artist, have found a way to step beyond their cages.
Social Media Handles
@untitled_publishing
@lindazhengova
@lucie_cerna
Book Launch: Esto Es España (Spain, Unveiled)
Join photographer Sergio Pontier and stylist Juanjose Mouko Nsue for the launch of Esto es España, a powerful new photobook and exhibition that reimagines what it means to be Black and Spanish today.
Through striking visuals and fashion-driven storytelling, Esto es España reframes Spain’s national identity by centering its Afro-descendant communities — reclaiming cultural icons from flamenco to football and presenting Blackness as an integral part of Spanish heritage.
The evening will feature a selection of photographs from the book, offering an intimate glimpse into Pontier and Mouko Nsue’s creative process. Visitors can explore how traditional and contemporary aesthetics merge seamlessly in their vision of belonging, pride, and representation.
Introduced by Tosin Adeosun, this event is both a celebration, a conversation and a fitting tribute — an invitation to reflect on visibility, culture, and the power of image-making in rewriting spanish cultural history.
Social Media Handles
@juanjosemoukonsue @nicocarmandaye @concordecasting @lauragrantevans @motown_gal @sofirub @hairbysussie @unoartists @martaserras @cap_dept @antonio.porteiro @giuliabona_mmezhou @esparzart @marioval_ @martinvaquero @c_vizcayno @xvstrange @rapideye.darkroom @photobookcafe @chriscookehandprints @soukoking @anss.coly @troublesomesss @babaakeitaa @brocki.e @mrdevins @sky.division @mrytas @tobbias___ @francinamodels @unomodels @maroemanagement @fifthmodels @isla_management @next @towandamodels @chriscookehandprints @sissoko_266 @fabxdne @imibrahimakone @mollyrosebaker @toniengonga @soyechi @luquee_martin @aswanrosamarie @wekafore @oseka.4 @papemoundor @ndongluis @miichellecc @agpograf_impressors @armada.ms @gamalata
(pie) film screening & talking event
✸ a genuine creative exchange for people in and around film ✸
(pie) is recurring screening and talking event where film people show short-format work made by someone they know — making space for appreciation and genuine exchange of works, stories, and thoughts.
For every edition, we invite a small circle of filmmakers and creatives to present a work made by a person they’re personally or professionally connected to. After the screening, we have a chat about the film and their connection, plus some general film/work talk.
We prioritise personal or independently produced pieces — film and photography as expression, not content — works that spark curiosity and conversation, and highlight how creative connections shape what we make.
Social Media Handles
organised by @alinaiine & @f.atcheeks
Pip Jukes: ‘Lost + Found’ Solo Exhibition
Pip Jukes is a self-taught photographer and creative director, who delves into the art of visual storytelling, exploring themes of identity, vulnerability, memory and transformation through a female gaze. Pip’s work invites her audience to engage with the narratives behind each photograph, often reflecting personal experiences and universal truths. By embracing the rawness of human emotions, she crafts compelling visual tales, encouraging introspection and connection. Pip’s latest project ‘Lost and Found’ brings together her photography, props and a short film (starring herself), to explore what it means to lose and rediscover oneself through image-making.
Social Media Handles
@pipjukesstudios
Exhibition & Event: Sonnet Soirée
Sonnet Soirée reimagines Shakespeare’s sonnets through film, performance, and visual art. Structured around ‘Sonnet Shorts’, three short films bringing Shakespeare's verse to life, the daytime open exhibition displays a curated showcase of visual works inspired by the same themes, offering a dialogue between Shakespeare’s language and contemporary expression. As evening falls, the space transforms into an intimate screening and performance event, where performers are invited to respond to Shakespeare’s sonnets as film and live presentations unfold in dialogue with one another, with a theme certainly all of us can relate to -- oh sweet, love!
Sonnet Soirée is a collaborative project directed by Izzy Fisher Turner and created in partnership with Memento Pictures and the Edinburgh University Shakespeare Society. Inspired by ‘Sonnet Shorts’, a series of three short films bringing Shakespeare’s verse to life, this night not only celebrates these films, but invites and showcases other creatives to interpret the dialogue between classical text and contemporary voice.
20/11/2025 11:00-18:00 (open exhibition), 18:00-22:00 (evening screening event)
Social Media Handles
@iiizft @lolaprdesign @joeyylawson @eushakespearecompany @mementopicturesltd
Book Launch: Flower(s) Vol. I by Teresa Freitas
Flower(s) explores the cultural and emotional connections between a single flower and the community that surrounds it — one flower, one place, one book. The first volume, photographed in rural Japan, follows the safflower, once used extensively to dye ceremonial garments in shades of red. Completed in 2024, this story reflects on colour, tradition, and a balance between observation and belonging. The book itself extends the narrative beyond the image, conceived as an object of sight, touch, and scent, mirroring the sensory and material qualities of the safflower. Each detail invites a slower, more intimate encounter with the work, connecting the reader to the story by reflecting the life it portrays.
Teresa Freitas (b. 1990) is a Lisbon-based photographer whose work explores colour and the poetry of everyday life. Moving between fine art, street and documentary, her practice often examines how colour shapes our perception of an image. She has exhibited internationally, and her work has been featured in numerous publications and campaigns. Freitas has collaborated with brands such as Netflix, Pantone, Porsche, Leica, and Adobe. Flower(s) is her first long-term body of work, expanding across multiple volumes that explore the cultural and symbolic meaning of flowers around the world.
Social Media Handles
@teresacfreitas @foureyeseditions
Book Launch: Ballad of the Olive Trees
Ballad of the Olive Trees functions as a proposal and investigatory work into contemporary themes of post-conflict memory and the multi-faceted influences that the memory might succumb to. It follows the stories of former war prisoners and individuals who lost family members during the Cyprus 1974 invasion. The work questions the scale at which a local history is blown out of its contexts and how it becomes disembodied to fit selective narratives of socio-political interests. It explores the ways in which traumatic memories form narratives and how they are distributed upon their distinction from organic memories.
The project’s processes scrutinise the processes of elimination memories suffer when infused into institutionalised spheres of collective memories. The work is a continuation of the artist’s greater practise, investigating the intersection of memory, history and trauma in the aftermath of the Cypriot conflict. A series of previous projects examine themes related to traces of conflict on childhood memories and the Cypriot landscape, and the social status of Turkish-Cypriots in South Cyprus. Ballad of the Olive Trees harvests nature as a symbol of prevalence and perseverance, beyond bordering practises and against segregation and cultural division.
Alexis Andreou (born Limassol 1995) is a documentary photographer, curator, and visual artist who studied MA Photojournalism and Documentary Photography and BA (Hons) Photography in the London College of Communication, University of the Arts London. He experiments with a wide range of photographic genres, both in analogue and digital photography and his work mainly focuses on the visual documentation and investigation of sociopolitical affairs and their impact on contemporary society through the changing landscape.
Andreou’s current work is focusing on conducting a visual investigation on the aftermath of the Cypriot conflict events between 1964 and 1974, exploring how memory is recollected when oppressed by trauma in a bordered landscape alongside the impact that a four decade long cultural segregation has had upon displaced families and the identity of the island.
His previous work and experience has focused on experimenting with darkroom techniques and experimental photography alongside architectural photography and documentary work. Andreou’s current practise started after conducting theoretical research in war as archival image and its semiotic translation, and how documented imagery registers experienced violence and hardship in 2014.
Andreou’s practise has expanded in the curatorial sector in the last few years, having curated exhibitions at the London College of Communication and at the FUJIFILM House of Photography in 2023.
Social Media Handles
www.andreoualexis.com
@alexisandreou
Made possible by the support of Maria Artool from International Body of Art
The Photobook Cafe Zine Reading Room
ZINE POP‑UP READING ROOM
Welcome to our Zine Pop‑Up Reading Room.
What’s Happening:
On the days of our zine workshops, we transform our basement gallery into a vibrant zine reading room. Seeing a selection of curated titles from our onsite collection. Admission is free and open to all. Come by to browse, flip through, and get inspired by a curated selection of independent zines.
Zine Workshops (6 PM – 8 PM):
After exploring the reading room, join our hands-on zine-making workshop. Whether you're new to zines or a seasoned maker, booking is required to secure your spot.
Open Crits with Zinnia Collective
Zinnia Collective’s FREE Open Crit
Join us for a series of photo based crits open to all - any age and any stage of their career!
How to join?
Grab your ticket through the link in our bio or visit @eventbrite website and type in Zinnia Collective Open Crits.
A series of informal critical reviews aimed at building a photographic community, collaborating with one-another and sharing work!
We love looking at prints, however we understand not everyone can prints so please don’t hesitate to bring a laptop for the group to gather around and look at your work.
These will be held monthy at the fabulous Photobook Cáfe.
Please note that our basement gallery has no step free access and 25 steps.
Book Launch: Wanderer By Luca Bailey
Luca Bailey is a multidisciplinary artist working across visual art, photography, moving image and sound. His practice drifts between mediums, exploring the boundaries between documentation and introspection.
Bailey’s photographic work often focuses on narratives of journeying, both physical and emotional, reflecting on themes of memory, time and the instability of place. Many of his prints are produced through Xerox and other reprographic processes, embracing imperfection and repetition as integral to meaning.
He views the photograph not as a sacred or untouchable object, but as a mutable file, something to be reworked, copied, degraded and reimagined. This attitude speaks to a broader concern in his practice: how images survive, erode and transform as they move through time and technology.
Bailey’s aesthetic and conceptual sensibilities are heavily informed by the Provoke movement of post-war Japan, whose artists sought to challenge the notion of photographic truth through raw, grainy and gestural imagery. Like them, Bailey treats the photograph as an act of perception rather than documentation, a fragment of experience charged with ambiguity and emotion.
He also draws inspiration from Duane Michals, particularly his reflection: “It is a melancholy truth that I will never be able to photograph reality and can only fail. I am a reflection photographing other reflections within a reflection. To photograph reality is to photograph nothing.” This sense of futility runs throughout Bailey’s work.
Originally from Birmingham, UK, he now lives and works in London. His debut monograph, Wanderer, will be released in 2025, marking the culmination of several years of photographic experimentation.
Project statement For Wanderer
Wanderer is a photographic series born from a period of emotional dislocation, a time when walking became less about joy and more about searching for something lost. Created during two separate periods in Japan, the work began unintentionally. The images emerged from long, aimless walks that became quiet acts of escape and reflection in the midst of growing personal tribulations.
What began as purposeless movement gradually revealed itself as a deeper search: for belonging, for stillness, for a sense of home - for all the things that felt missing.
During these solitary walks, one recurring figure kept reappearing: a lone raven. It crossed my path again and again, like a shadow or a witness,. At the time, I often found myself daydreaming about seeing the world from another perspective. Much of my view was from above, through the window five floors up, from the balcony overlooking the trees in the park.
In Japanese postwar photographic culture, the raven holds layered symbolism: a messenger, a mystery. The Japanese term for “wanderer” (旅烏) can also be interpreted as “bird of passage,” a phrase that seemed to describe both the raven and myself, two separate beings drifting through the same landscapes, unseen and searching.
This book is about that search, a quiet journey shaped by absence, longing, and the effort to see through another’s eyes.
Social Media Handles
@luca_c_bailey @tiedoverpress @emi.taka.hasi