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.
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.
Photobook Auction by Undisclosed Collective
We are Undisclosed Collective, a group of photography university students in our final year of our course fundraising for our graduation show in Copland’s Gallery, in Peckham on 16th-19th July. We are hosting a Photobook auction here at the photobook café where you’ll be able to bid on photobooks from great photographic minds such as Anna Fox, Giles Price and Matthew Finn. Our auction will also involve some work from students.
We hope you’ll come down on the 19th May to help support our collective in reaching our goal as well as bidding on some great photographical works!
@undisclosed.collective
Impressions A photographic exhibition by Mia Cinamon
The Photobook Café Gallery is delighted to present work by image maker Mia Cinamon. Impressions is a collection of black and white and colour portraits, created over a month last year.
Cinamon’s previous exhibitions The Royal Exchangers London [2023] and Dichroic Lab, Mexico City [2024], prompted her to deepen the connection with her subjects and she invited herself into their own spaces where she captured an intimate, sometimes awkward exchange for the image.
A handbound book Impressions self-published by Cinamon for her final year show at Central Saint Martins [BA Fashion. Communication and Promotion, 2025] is also presented.
Beyond The Counter an exhibition by past and present staff members of The Photobook Cafe and Rapid Eye Darkrooms
Beyond the Counter
A Staff Exhibition by Photobook Cafe & Rapid Eye Darkrooms
Opening: 21 May 2026, 18:00 – Late
London, UK — Photobook Cafe and Rapid Eye Darkrooms are proud to present Beyond the Counter, a multidisciplinary exhibition celebrating the creative practices of past and present staff across both spaces. Opening on 21 May from 18:00 until late, the exhibition brings together a diverse range of works that reflect the extended community behind these two interconnected hubs.
Following a lineage of staff-led exhibitions that foreground the creative voices within the organisation, Beyond the Counter builds on this legacy by shifting focus toward the often unseen or informal practices that exist alongside daily work. Previous exhibitions have explored collective heritage and personal archives, highlighting the depth of talent within the community. This new iteration expands that dialogue, embracing an open theme and a broader range of disciplines.
Spanning photography, print, moving image, installation, writing, and experimental forms, Beyond the Counter resists a singular narrative. Instead, it offers a snapshot of a living, evolving network—one shaped by shared spaces, overlapping histories, and the rhythms of working life “Beyond the Counter.”
The exhibition title gestures toward both a physical and symbolic threshold: the café counter, the darkroom reception, the point of exchange between artist and audience. It reflects the dual roles held by many contributors, as facilitators, technicians, baristas, and artists—and invites audiences to encounter these practices outside of their usual contexts.
With its open framework, Beyond the Counter encourages unexpected connections between works, allowing personal, political, and experimental approaches to sit in conversation. The result is a collective portrait of a community defined not by hierarchy, but by proximity, collaboration, and shared investment in creative practice.
The opening night will take the form of an informal gathering, welcoming friends, collaborators, and the wider public to celebrate the people who have shaped and continue to shape The Photobook Cafe and Rapid Eye Darkrooms.
With a very special evening DJ/Live performace setby Grunt Govan.
About Photobook Cafe & Rapid Eye Darkrooms
Photobook Cafe and Rapid Eye Darkrooms are longstanding spaces for photographic practice and analogue hubs in London. Together, they support artists and audiences through exhibitions, workshops, access to facilities, and an ongoing public programme dedicated to image-making and visual culture.
Beyond The Counter Zine Club in celebration of our staff exhibition
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!
Book Launch: Short Stories on a Long Theme by Edita Liessner
Edita Liessner is a Czech photographic artist based in Paris whose work investigates the nature of humanity, identity and belonging. Informed by a background in art curation and liberal arts, her practice combines intuitive observation with a considered conceptual approach.
The grammar of alienation is counterintuitive. Its forces are mysterious, yet manifestations painfully palpable. The complexity of being seen is in tandem with the anxiety of being overlooked. Culturally rooted in the fabric of our everyday lives, it finds its shape and form in crowds and behind glass. The loneliness of a large city is an emotional map with loose knots and heightened sensations. In such an environment, how do we find a connection?
Short Stories on a Long Theme ponder human disconnection in the contemporary world and our fundamental need to belong through colour theory. Combining geometric studio still-lifes and documentary photographs that have been simplified to a form, the series lyrically investigates feelings of alienation and solitariness. Although in proximity, loneliness transforms human subjects into shapes, movements, shadows, and reflections to guide the viewer‘s gaze and simultaneously support their meaning-making process. The series contemplates not only the relationships of colour and their harmonies but also social interactions. Similarly to colours, those could be deceitfully misleading.
Social Media Handles
@editaliessner, @lostlightrecordings
TWO WORLDS by Dominic Compton
This is a photographic series by Dominic Compton, documenting a particular location along the southern coastline of Sri Lanka. His attempt to bring awareness to foreign owned businesses in a country affected by Neo-colonialism and the issues this causes towards traditions and communities. The impact this has had on locals and questioning tourists on where their money is spent and what economy they are supporting. In a world where flights cost less than trains and people travel much more often, ask yourself; do we contribute to the community or to the problem?
Social Media Handles
@straightouttac_
Exhibition: Home - Annual Exhibition by UCL Photography Society
Home - UCL Photography Society Annual Exhibition What is home to you?
This year’s UCL PhotoSoc Annual Exhibition explores the theme of home through the work of its members.
As their works suggest, home is not simply a place but a relationship: between the material and the imagined, the body and the space, the present and the memory. From physical rooms to emotional landscapes, it takes many forms across the exhibition.
For some contributors, home is rooted; for others, it is carried or longed for across distance. It appears as a sanctuary, a site of negotiation, a private archive of memory, and a threshold between who we have been and who we are becoming. We invite visitors to step into these intimate interpretations of home.
Social Media Handles
@uclphotosoc
Zine Club
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!
Book Launch: This Is The Place by Katy Lane
Katy Lane is a Welsh artist living in Berlin who began working as a music photographer as a teenager, documenting life both on and offstage. She has always taken a diaristic approach, and in the past few years has self published two books of her photo diaries, dictated by intuition and mood.
This Is The Place is her personal photographic diary exploring the fragility of sobriety and mental health. The project started during a period of restless movement, as she navigated her own shifting mental landscape after becoming sober in 2016, and was completed at the end of last year.
Zine Club
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!
Zine club
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!
Music 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!
Zine Club
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!
Zine Club
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!
Photography Exhibition : I am where I am by Greta Požaricka
Greta Požaricka is a Lithuanian photographer whose practice combines portraiture, fashion, and documentary approaches. Her work explores identity, intimacy, and the relationship between people and the spaces they inhabit, while also placing herself in front of the camera to understand the power the camera and photographer can hold.
I am where I am presents an exploration of the power dynamics between personal identity and domestic space. The work investigates the relationship between the bedroom, clothing, and self-expression, examining how domestic spaces become sites of identity construction, intimacy, and memory. The project began in 2023 with self-portraiture, exploring what a bedroom can hold and the experience of waking within it. It later developed into autoethnographic research, returning to the artist’s first bedroom in Lithuania as a place of reflection and memory.
The work also considers the dynamics between photographer and subject, exploring how participants experience being photographed within their own bedrooms. Bringing together analogue and digital images, alongside self-portraits created by participants, the project emphasises collaboration, agency, and comfort. Through images made across London and Lithuania, the project explores how fashion exists within these private spaces, carrying personal and emotional significance. Clothing often embodies memories, both positive and negative, and in the context of the bedroom, reflects the freedom to experiment with identity away from external judgment.
Exhibition: Home - Annual Exhibition by UCL Photography Society
Home - UCL Photography Society Annual Exhibition What is home to you? T
his year’s UCL PhotoSoc Annual Exhibition explores the theme of home through the work of its members. As their works suggest, home is not simply a place but a relationship: between the material and the imagined, the body and the space, the present and the memory. From physical rooms to emotional landscapes, it takes many forms across the exhibition.
For some contributors, home is rooted; for others, it is carried or longed for across distance. It appears as a sanctuary, a site of negotiation, a private archive of memory, and a threshold between who we have been and who we are becoming. We invite visitors to step into these intimate interpretations of home.
Social Media Handles
@uclphotosoc
Womanhood Group Exhibition and Zine Launch presented by The Photobook Cafe & Rapid Eye Darkrooms with Francesca Allen
The Photobook Cafe is proud to present Womanhood, a group exhibition opening on April 30th, celebrating a curated selection of 35 emerging and established photographers from across the world.
Developed in collaboration with guest judge Francesca Allen, Womanhood brings together diverse visual voices to explore the lived experiences of women and those who identify with womanhood. The exhibition unfolds through intimate, personal, and emotionally resonant perspectives, reflecting on themes of friendship, sisterhood, identity, growth, vulnerability, resistance, and becoming.
In dialogue with Allen’s practice, the selected works foreground the textures of everyday life—images shaped through trust, proximity, and sustained engagement. Moving away from spectacle, the exhibition embraces subtlety and sincerity, positioning intimacy as a critical space where identity is formed, negotiated, and affirmed. Together, the artists present womanhood as plural, complex, and deeply personal, shaped as much by quiet moments of connection as by wider cultural and social structures.
The exhibition is accompanied by a printed zine featuring all 35 selected photographers, which will be available for purchase and archived as part of The Photobook Cafe’s permanent collection. Each exhibiting artist will receive a complimentary copy. Copies will be for sale on the night.
Join us for the opening night on April 30th from 18:00 until late. The event is open to all, with no RSVP required. During the evening, three exhibiting artists will be announced as recipients of a forthcoming group exhibition as part of The Photobook Cafe’s 2026 Summer Public Programme, with exhibition printing supported by Rapid Eye Darkrooms.
As part of The Photobook Cafe Public Programme
Supported by Rapid Eye Darkrooms
Many thanks to our guest judge: Francesca Allen
Poster image courtesy of Francesca Allen
Zine Launch: Terra Incognita by Karolina Burlikowska
Karolina Burlikowska is a Poland-born, London-based photographer specialising in still life. Karolina’s childhood spent surrounded by nature sparked a lifelong fascination with its magic, which continues to inspire her work today. Her new zine Terra Incognita revisits this fascination through a series of collage work.
Zine design: Salina Studio
Social Media Handles
https://www.instagram.com/karolinaburlikowska/ https://www.instagram.com/studio.salina/
Zine Club
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!
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;
Nostalgia Psyche by Keni Li an Exhibition and Book Launch
Keni Li is a China-born photographer currently based in Glasgow, where she is pursuing a PhD at the University of Glasgow. She previously earned a Master’s degree in Modern and Contemporary Art from the University of Edinburgh. Her doctoral research explores the intersections of photography, literature, and memory writing, with particular focus on photo-text practices, intermediality, women artists and photographers, and cultural memory.
In 2024, she presented the exhibition Memory Photo-booth, funded by the Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities (SGSAH). Her artwork has been exhibited in several cities across the United Kingdom, the United States and Japan. She has collaborated with art institutions including the Greek Feminist Autonomous Center and Talbot Rice Gallery in Edinburgh.
Her recent book chapter, Reinventing Contemporary Exhibition Space: Novels, Domestic Space, and Cinematic Cartography, will appear in Exhibition Matters: Contemporary Displays and Exhibition-Making Practices (Bloomsbury, 2025). Her latest photobook, Fluid Memory, is forthcoming.
This exhibition forms another fragment in my ongoing constellation of memory. Following earlier explorations, of objects, of cartographies, of scent—this work turns toward touch, tracing the quiet yet profound relationship between memory and the tactile.
I have sought out objects marked by texture, surfaces that hold, or perhaps awaken, remembrance. Butterflies, toy gem stickers, shards of metal and ceramic, reflective traces: these are the tokens through which memory flickers into being. Often invisible, yet persistently present, they accompany me like a shadow, emerging unbidden, at unexpected moments, in unforeseen places. And yet, when deliberately pursued, they recede, becoming elusive, almost untouchable. They remain fluid, travelling with me across geographies, across shifting identities.
In this project, I extend photography beyond the visual, embedding tactile fragments, ceramic, metal, glass, gemstone, into the surface of each image. These interventions invite touch as a mode of seeing, allowing memory to be encountered not only through the eye, but through the hand. Tangibility becomes a language of recollection.
Social Media Handles
@cornelialikeni
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
Book launch: Not done Yet by Mischa Haller
Think you know Glastonbury? Welcome to the early morning hours world when the TV cameras have been turned off and photographer Mischa Haller chronicles the characters that emerge when night turns to day. In this free-flowing, up-all-night realm, time is endless and the possibilities unlimited. For those who have been there, these dreamy portraits of dawn-dazzled night people will evoke visceral memories. For those who haven’t, they’re the next best thing.
‘Not Done Yet’ follows the 2025 publication of ‘Not Going Home’, Haller’s photographs of after-club culture in the late 1990s across Britain. Haller is a Swiss documentary photographer focusing on people, details and chance moments to show the larger picture of life.
FLIP magazine 'Spring' issue launch
SPRING FLIP @flipmaglondon issue launch party is on Wednesday, 15th April 2026, from 6pm at the iconic Photobook Café!
Featuring newly commissioned articles from Angela Chalmers, Bunshri Chandaria, Anusha Sugunasabesan, Eve Milner, Paul Hill and others, as well as an interview with the Japanese artist Sayuri Ichida and the winning entries from FLIP Student Competition 2026!
Let the Spring issue put a spring in your step!
Hope to see you there! London Independent Photography @london_independent_photography Cover image by ©Chloë Sastry @chloesastry
Social Media Handles
@flipmaglondon @london_independent_photography
Zine Club
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!
Book Launch: Afghanistanism by Joël van Houdt
Joël van Houdt is a Dutch documentary photographer whose work explores conflict, power and the everyday realities that persist within them. Between 2010 and 2022 he lived and worked extensively in Afghanistan, based for five years in Kabul while contributing to European and American newspapers and magazines.
Arriving in 2010 with little more than a hotel name and a phone number, he set out to document the consequences of wealthy nations, his own included, waging war in one of the poorest countries in the world. Over time his work shifted toward a more subjective exploration of the often surreal realities of daily life in a country shaped by decades of foreign intervention.
Most photographs in Afghanistanism were made away from assignments, during long walks through Kabul and other cities. They reveal moments of resilience, humour and generosity that existed alongside violence and uncertainty.
The book was designed by Sybren Kuiper and is self-published. During the launch Joël will speak about his years living in Afghanistan and the editing and design process behind the book.
Social Media Handles
@joelvanhoudt
Darkroom Socials Group Exhibition Belonging
Join @darkroomsocials in the next exhibition!
1-2nd of April, celebrating belonging and 2 years of the club existing!
Opening 1st of April (not a joke!) 6pm at @photobookcafe
We want to see everyone there, celebrate our early members and support the photography of the new members too!
Puérpera Photobook Launch and Singing by Deborah Elenter
We are thrilled to announce the UK launch of Puérpera, a powerful photobook by Uruguayan visual artist, photographer and doula, Deborah Elenter(@deborah_elenter). Since 2015, Elenter has been documenting and researching the experiences of people giving birth — work that confronts the historical invisibility of childbirth in contemporary art, reclaiming it as a vital, political and collective experience. The book is 64 pages, it is edited by Deborah Elenter and Catalina Bunge and designed by Jessica Stebniki and Martín Tarallo. Published by the Centro de Fotografía de Montevideo (@cdfmontevideo) in 2025, Puérpera has been launched at La Fábrica Bookstore in Madrid and at Kosice University in SlovakiaUnder Elenter’s lens, the birthing room becomes a political space — like the body itself — and part of the collective struggle of feminism. Photobook Cafe are honoured to co-host the UK edition in conjunction with the Birth Rites Collection (@birthritescollection) and Women’s Art Library, Goldsmiths. As part of this launch, Deborah has generously donated an edition of Puérpera alongside a framed work to the Birth Rites Collection and an edition of the book to Photocafe Library.
Join us for an evening of conversation and book signing at The Photobook Cafe on Monday 30 March, 7pm–9pm — an informal evening to meet the artist and pick up a copy. Free to attend - no booking necessary.
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!
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
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.
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!
Members Photography Exhibition. Musings. We Blossom
Musings: We Blossom
A Lakeside Darkroom members' exhibition.
The exhibition takes its title from the space between thought and image—the quiet musings that precede every photograph. Here, members of Lakeside Darkroom share work that spans process and completion, the deliberate and the instinctive.
The magnolia blooms only when ready, its buds formed months before opening. This patience underpins our practice: the hours spent in the darkroom, watching images surface, allowing each print to find its own moment.
We blossom. Not as declaration, but as simple fact. This is what happens when work is shared.
Social Media Handles
@lakeside_darkroom
Exhibition: Archive of Rot by Paige Lee Miller, Daniel Smith, and Gabriel Bowden
A collaboration by Paige Lee Miller (photographer, mixed-media artist), Daniel Smith (mixed-media artist), and Gabriel Bowden (designer), Archive of Rot exhibits the relationship of each artists’ work to rot: Miller through memory and the mind, Smith through the photographic process of decay, and Bowden through found textiles and the bygone lives they imply.
The artists’ work crosses over in more than just theme - it has become intertwined in the making, consuming and reproducing itself as they design for, photograph, and reprint one another. The cyclical process itself mirrors decay, each iteration warping the last. These iterations make up the Archive of Rot: layered photographs, found material, and hanging garments.
Perhaps to view rot as a definitive process (in which it has an end point) is reductive; is it not true that from rotting matter life grows? The same can be said of memory - a recollection of a hand on skin becomes a song, which becomes a whisper in a lover’s ear, which becomes a smile, captured on a roll of film - an echo in physical form. And yet, the film, and in turn the image, will rot as well; what once seemingly gave permanence to ephemerality is ultimately subject to the same decay.
To further indulge in rot, the viewer is invited to physically sift through the layered material, mirroring the act of sifting through disjointed memory. This interaction recontextualises the function of an ‘archive,’ sacrificing longevity for intimacy and stagnation for transience as the material deteriorates through touch.
Social Media Handles
@paigeleemiller @danlsmith_ @g.j.bowden
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;
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
Exhibition: The Mute Shall Speak by Tom Beck
Tom Beck (b.1996) is a London based artist using a photographic framework to encourage the potential for re-imagining the dormant and familiar. A conversance with objects and sites around him act as an anchor to respond to via performative and sculptural interventions. Throughout his work there is a tension between the indexical reading of photography and the other worldly. After graduating from Arts University Bournemouth (2019) with a First Class BA Hons in Photography his work has since been published in SOURCE Magazine and various online publications including It’s Nice That, Intern Mag and EMC’s British Emerging Photographers You Should Know. He has exhibited nationally and most recently had a solo-show The Mute Shall Speak exhibited in Kings Cross (2025).
Social Media Handles
@thomas.beck_
Opening RSVP Here
Exhibition walk-ins welcome
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
What Remains Open
We’re pleased to announce a collaborative project between Farago Projects, Rapid Eye and Photobook Cafe.
What Remains Open is a call for submissions from emerging photographers with the theme of celebrating everyday people, cultural traditions, community and the diversity of life within the UK. Selected artists will be invited to present their work as part of a group photography exhibition on 4th March at Photobook Cafe, Shoreditch.
Prizes also available include 2x £2,500 Rapid Eye vouchers and portfolio reviews by industry figures.
To enter, please email your application to submissions@farago-projects.com.
Check out our ‘Special Projects’ page on the Farago Projects website for more info.
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/
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.
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!
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