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Parisian sex workers, Ibiza party-goers and twins matched across continents – just some of the subjects at this year’s risk-taking photography fair
‘Experimental legacy’ … Moriyama Daido and Fuji Keiko. Photograph: Courtesy Akio Nagasawa GalleryWed 13 May 2026 08.00 CEST
Walter Rudolph, The Montesol Hotel, Ibiza, 1976
The UK capital’s leading photography fair, Photo London, launches its 11th edition in its new home at Olympia in Kensington. Photo London is at Olympia, London, 13–17 May. Use the code GUARDIAN for a 20% discount on ticketsPhotograph: United Archives
Oriol Maspons, Miss Ku, Privilege, Ibiza, c1980
Agony and Ecstasy gallery will debut at Photo London with work by Catalan-Spanish photographer Oriol Maspons and German photographer Walter Rudolph. The presentation will encompass a deep visual nostalgia of the island of Ibiza, Spain, taken between 1976 and 1985, during its most pivotal and culturally transformative era: a monumental decade after Franco, but before British-tourism boomed on the island, permanently reshaping it into what we see todayPhotograph: Arxiu Fotogràfic Oriol Maspons
Thomas Duffield, Poppy Promises, Father Cuts My Hair
Other exhibitors making their debut include local galleries such as Hackney-based Guest Editions, which is exploring home and belonging through the works of Laura McCluskey and Thomas Duffield. Reconnecting with his father after years of estrangement, Duffield’s series Poppy Promises follows the nine-year process of rebuilding a relationship that was once strained by addictionPhotograph: Guest Editions
Laura McCluskey, Close to Home
Shot over a decade on the Isle of Sheppey, where the artist was raised, McCluskey’s work is a tender interrogation of how ties to family and place may fray and contort yet never break. The project’s narrative heart is 13 Acorn Street, the home of Laura’s paternal grandparents, which was ever central to McCluskey family lifePhotograph: Guest Editions
Belen Romero Gunset, Kasser Vater (from L Form), 2024
‘Focus’ is a new element of the fair this year, and features galleries from Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe. Ungallery will show a number of artists making work in Argentina. Belén Romero Gunset presents self portraits, from her series L Form, a photo performance from 2024 in which she explores stereotypes past and present regarding the lesbian imagePhotograph: Courtesy the artist and Ungallery
Zygmunt Rytka, Coming Soon, 1985
Galeria Monopol presents work by Zygmunt Rytka (1947-2018), a multimedia artist associated with the Polish neo-avant garde of the 1970s and the independent art scene of the 1980s. His work provides an ironic and critical reflection on contemporary media, systems of representation and political realitiesPhotograph: Courtesy of the artist and Galeria Monopol
Daido Moriyama, Daido Moriyama VS Fuji Keiko
Akio Nagasawa Gallery’s presentation will include vintage prints by influential master Daido Moriyama, highlighting the enduring impact of postwar Japanese photography. Best known for his black-and-white street photography, Moriyama adopted a legacy of experimental image-making while resisting the era’s emphasis on technical precisionPhotograph: Daido Moriyama Photo Foundation, image courtesy of Akio Nagasawa Gallery.
Ketaki Sheth,
Riddhi & Siddhi, London, 1997Photoink presents Ketaki Sheth’s series Twinspotting. This series started when Sheth married Aurobind Patel and moved to London. Once there, she realised there were 30,000 registered Patels in the UK directory. Sheth began to take portraits of Patel twins in the UK, pairing them with Patel twins back in India. Sheth gradually uncovers the poetics of sameness in twins and triplets. Which features persist and carry over between bodies, and which vanish or lose recognisable form? These questions take on a deeper, postcolonial significancePhotograph: Ketaki Sheth & PHOTOINK
Issei Suda, Ueno, Tokyo, 1975
Akio Nagasawa Gallery presents photographer Issei Suda’s works from Fushikaden. The photos were taken in Tokyo, where Suda lives, and in the farther regions of Tōhoku, Hokuriku, and Kantō, where throughout the 1970s he frequented the matsuri, traditional local festivals that are half-religious and half-profanePhotograph: Akio Nagasawa Gallery
Ute Mahler, Julia Deutschland, 1981
Galerie Peter Sillem in Frankfurt presents a series of vintage prints by Ute and Werner Mahler, including a selection of their fashion photographs from behind the Berlin Wall in the days of the GDR. ‘Source’ is a new section for Photo London at Olympia, dedicated to solo presentations by artists who have significant cultural value. Curated by photography specialist Tristan Lund, Source places focus on under-represented and marginalised artists whose risk-taking approach resonates with the ethos of the fair Photograph: Courtesy Galerie Peter Sillem
Jane Evelyn Atwood, Pigalle People, 1978-79
In Camera (Paris) and L Parker Stephenson Photographs (New York) present highlights from Jane Evelyn Atwood’s 50-year career. Fuelled by an interest in illuminating the lives of those in marginalised communities, Atwood’s best-known series include Parisian sex workers on Rue des Lombards, the trans community in Pigalle, blind children, and women in prison. The Pigalle sex workers accepted everyone in the neighbourhood before Aids, and before the laws that try to keep them out of sight Photograph: Courtesy In Camera / L.Parker Stephenson PhotographsExplore more on these topics
