A fair that, after ten years, outgrows its current location and relocates to a structure that is undergoing renovations is telling. This May, Photo London held its eleventh edition at Olympia in Kensington, inside a Grand Hall that was first finished in 1885 but is currently undergoing a £1.3 billion renovation that was created by Heatherwick Studios. The hallways have construction hoardings. Just beyond them are shiny new interiors. Unintentionally, it seemed to be a metaphor for the entire event—something historic attempting to determine its future.
Photo London’s personality came from Somerset House. The Thames light, the neoclassical courtyard, and the feeling of stumbling into photography while doing other things in central London. Olympia is different; it is more western, industrial, and intentional. After one edition, it’s still unclear if that change is appropriate for the fair. However, it’s difficult to ignore the fact that the additional space in the Grand Hall has been beneficial: it has allowed the fair to breathe, and as a result, it has begun to take more definitive stances regarding the true purpose of photography.
Perhaps the most intriguing curatorial decision the fair has made in years is the new Source section, which was organized by Tristan Lund. Instead of being a segregated area, it is designed as a trail through the main hall that highlights artists who have amassed significant bodies of work without the institutional support that their peers received. Rosalind Fox Solomon’s portraits from the AIDS era, which were first displayed in New York in 1988, felt genuinely necessary when Galerie Julian Sander presented them. This type of work has aged into urgency rather than out of it. One could argue that Source reveals something that the larger market has been hesitant to acknowledge: the photography industry has historically been just as picky about whose work it approves of as any other area of the art world.
For Photo London, the dedicated film screening room is unprecedented, but it was likely the right decision. In a traditional fair booth format, collectible film work is awkward because you can’t really give it the time it needs between discussions about editions and prices. Giving it a separate room modifies the register a little. Highlights included Wu Chia-Yun’s piece and Sarah Moon’s There is Something About Lillian. Whether or not this becomes a permanent fixture will depend on how collectors react to purchasing time-based art in an equitable setting. Whether the market is prepared for that change or merely interested in it is still up for debate.
When Edward Burtynsky’s large-format documentation of industrial environmental damage was displayed at Flowers Gallery, it attracted the kind of quiet, prolonged attention that most fair booths are unable to generate. The first thing that comes to mind when you stand in front of his 2025 photo of Shell Beach in Western Australia is to stay for a while rather than look at the price list. In a fair setting, where movement and background noise typically interfere with sustained attention, that’s nothing.
Though his London portraits from the 1990s felt almost purposefully counterintuitive as a selection—intimate and graphically spare against the scale of the surrounding exhibition—Steven Meisel’s title of Master of Photography makes sense on paper. With that decision, Photo London seems to be subtly arguing that, at its best, fashion photography should be discussed alongside documentary and fine art photography. Not everyone will concur. It’s probably worth having that disagreement.
The Discovery section, which was curated by Charlotte Jansen, had a discernible bias toward South Asian and Latin American voices. This change felt more like the outcome of someone paying attention to where intriguing work is truly being produced than it did like a programming gesture. On the way home, you might find yourself thinking about Carolina Baldomá’s work from the Argentine Pampas, which was captured through a sort of magical realist lens. That is typically a fair way to assess how well a fair is performing its duties.
In its first trip to Olympia, Photo London hasn’t figured everything out. Some of the programming ambitions are a little bit more ambitious than the footprint can accommodate, and the new venue still feels a little unfinished in some areas. However, the instructions are clear. The fair is moving toward a version of itself that prioritizes curatorial risk over market validation. It will be interesting to see if that pays off over the next ten years.
FAQs
1. Where is Photo London 2026 being held?
Olympia Grand Hall in Kensington, London — its first year there.
2. Why did Photo London leave Somerset House?
The move allowed more space and a broader curatorial ambition.
3. What is the new Source section?
A curated trail spotlighting artists overlooked by mainstream institutional recognition.
4. Who is the 2026 Master of Photography?
Legendary fashion photographer Steven Meisel, known for 28 Vogue covers annually.
5. Does Photo London 2026 include film for the first time?
Yes — a dedicated screening room shows collectible artist films throughout the fair.
