Bristol Photo Festival 2026

Entitled Time Machine, this edition of the festival explores how we inhabit layered time. It focuses on overlooked histories, shared rituals and imagined futures.

Overview

Time is never a straight line – it loops, folds, and repeats. The present is shaped by echoes of the past that continue to reverberate, often colliding with dreams of a future yet to arrive. We exist within this shared sea of memory and aspiration, which together define our coexistence.

Photography is deeply entangled in this dance of past and present. In every image, we find the past, resurfacing through moments and gestures. At the same time, photographs create spaces to imagine and dream of worlds to come. 

Throughout the programme photography will become a space where memory, fiction, and possibility coexist, allowing multiple timelines to unfold within each frame.

Highlighting photography as a space where past, present, and imagined futures intersect, the lineup features major showcases including a festival tribute to Martin Parr’s Common Sense, Joy Gregory’s Catching Flies with Honey, and The Prison Mobile Library. The program also incorporates collaborative and archival works, such as Photo Kegham by Kegham Djeghalian Jr., Magnum Foundation's HEAT, and Inherited featuring Kelly O'Brien and Yuko Edwards, offering audiences an immersive look into overlooked histories, shared rituals, and contemporary storytelling.