PhotoMonth - Photography Festival

PhotoMonth returns in 2025 with renewed energy and a broader vision, transforming London’s “E” postcodes into a month-long celebration of photography. Explore our programme of exhibitions, film screenings, portfolio reviews and workshops.

Running from 2 October to 3 November, the relaunched festival spans neighbourhoods from EC1 to SE15— from Kennington to Mile End, Clerkenwell to Deptford and Hackney—embracing traditional galleries, alternative spac- es, and unusual venues to showcase the full spectrum of photographic practice.

In 2025, PhotoMonth will collaborate with major institutions including Tate Modern, Whitechapel Gallery, and Autograph ABP, alongside independent venues like Four Corners, Roman Road, and Danielle Arnaud. A host of local studios, shops, restaurants, and cafes will show photography. From analogue techniques to digital, the programme reflects photography’s evolving forms and enduring relevance.

The festival’s central Hub will be based at the Art Pavilion in Mile End, where the group exhibition entitled “Longing”—selected via Open Call by the festival’s Curatorial Advisory Board—will anchor the programme. Alongside this, acclaimed photographer Zed Nelson will present “The Anthropocene Illusion,” a solo exhibition exploring humanity’s uneasy relationship with the environment. The Pavilion will also host new work from recent graduates and staff of academic institutions, offering insight into the next generation of photographic talent.

About 50 pop-up exhibitions will emerge across Central, East, and Southeast London, turning neighbourhoods into living galleries. To help audiences explore the full programme, an interactive QR-coded map will guide visitors to every exhibition. Weekend and walking tours, some night photography tours too —led by photographers, curators, and the PhotoMonth team—will bring the area’s photographic landscape to life with local insights and artist-led narratives.

A parallel film programme will run throughout the month at The Source Stratford and Hackney PictureHouse, with screenings that intersect with photographic themes, each followed by live Q&A sessions with directors, photographers, and special guests (full program here).

PhotoMonth will run a PhotoBooth Competition in association with AutoFoto, celebrating 100 years of the photo booth. People are invited to create portraits using the photo booths installed at three different locations (Yorkton Workshops, the Whitechaple Gallery and The Photographers’ Gallery) and share them on Instagram. Winners will be announced on Saturday 25 October.

The festival was originally founded in 2001 by Maggie Pinhorn, Director of Alternative Arts, whose pioneering work in the East End helped establish PhotoMonth as a vital, democratic space for photographic practice until it paused in 2018. The 2025 relaunch builds on that legacy—reimagined and expanded by a new team committed to platforming photography’s relevance across today’s social, artistic, and technological landscapes.