A Guide To June 2026 Photography Festivals & Exhibitions

Lodz Fotofestiwal, GU.PHO, Copenhagen Photo Festival, Triennial Of Photography Hamburg, Pour tout faire, il faut une fleur at MBAL, Athens Photo Festival, and Photo Basel are among the photography events to visit next month.

Lodz Fotofestiwal 2026

Lodz, Poland / 18 June - 28 June

This festival's 25th anniversary centers around the main exhibition We, Animals, which explores the historical and evolving dual relationship between humans and non-human animals through the works of artists like Feng Li and Maija Tammi. The broader festival program features a diverse array of projects addressing American propaganda, the climate emergency, and social conflict – most notably highlighted by Philip Montgomery’s stark visual map of a decade of American socio-political unrest. Beyond traditional gallery spaces, the 2026 festival extends into open urban environments, historic venues, and multidisciplinary showcases. Attendees can expect a rich lineup that includes Augustin Rebetez’s chaotic multimedia installations at the Biedermann Palace, Tanya Habjouqa’s documentation of the Palestinian struggle, and Luke Stephenson’s large-scale outdoor portraits.

The wide program also includes photobook events, guided tours, musical and audiovisual performances, Photo-Match, and more. Plus, PhMuseum will screen the shortlisted projects from the PhMuseum 2026 Photography Grant and a special screening of artist Dimitri Stefanov, selected by Krzysztof Candrowicz and Mafalda Ruao through the grant.

Check the full program on Lodz Fotofestiwal's website.

GU.PHO 2026

Guiglia, Italy / 18 June - 26 June

The 5th edition of the GU.PHO. Festival, themed On Ethics, offers a collective inquiry into the legitimacy, authorship, and power dynamics of using visual materials created by others. Set against a backdrop of hyper-accelerated image circulation, the festival interrogates how vernacular photography, digital flows, and institutional archives often dissolve original consent and reinforce Eurocentric, colonial structures of classification and control. Rather than providing definitive answers, the event champions counter-archives and virtuous artistic practices that deconstruct the dominant Western gaze, restore agency to marginalized subjects through co-narration, and responsibly inhabit the ambiguities of recontextualizing orphaned images.

The wide program consists of exhibitions, guided tours, talks, and a book circle with publishers and bookshops such as Artphilein Editions, Fraglich Publishing, Leporello Photobooks et al., Momoe, S.T. Foto Libreria Galleria. Exhibiting artists include Matteo Ferrari, Martina Bacigalupo, Archivio Vivo, Salome Erni, Jean-Marie Donat, Manuela Nebuloni with PostBox Ghana, Joachim Schmid, Marco Lanza, Hoda Afshar, Enrico Fagiani and Francesco Scarfone.

Copenhagen Photo Festival 2026

Copenhagen, Denmark / 11 June - 21 June

Centering on the theme Forestillinger | Scenarios, the 17th edition of the Copenhagen Photo Festival explores the deeply human driving force of imagination and its power to create new worlds, utopian visions, or dystopian nightmares through photography. Playing on the dual meaning of the Danish word forestillinger – which encompasses both theatrical performance and the internal ability to dream and fantasize – the festival examines how images can stage realities, spark political change, and traverse unknown terrains.

Through a dynamic program of exhibitions, workshops, talks, and events, this edition highlights photography's unique role in embracing playfulness, imperfection, and serendipity to uncover alternative narratives and break conventional boundaries. Exhibiting artists include Adam Rouhana, Ana María Arévelo Gosen, Antone Dolezal and Lara Shipley, Cassandra Klos, Helge Skodvin, Maja Daniels, Mohamed Hassan, Rhiannon Adam, Roger Ballen, and Sasha Velichko.

Find out more on the festival's website.

Triennial Of Photography Hamburg 2026

Hamburg, Germany / 5 June - 22 September

Under the artistic direction of Mark Sealy, Triennial of Photography Hamburg presents eleven exhibitions across eight major local institutions centered on the theme Alliance, Infinity, Love – In The Face Of The Other. Drawing theoretical and poetic inspiration from Emmanuel Levinas's philosophy on the recognition of the Other and the radical human message of the 1948 song Nature Boy, the festival frames photography not as a neutral tool, but as an active space for community, cultural reparation, and critical reflection.

By exploring Alliance through the coexistence of diverse and marginalized voices, Infinity as the boundless potential for human kindness and new visual paradigms, and Love as a deliberate, politically transformative act against oppression, the international festival challenges dominant narratives and invites viewers to become active participants in a shared responsibility toward humanity.

Explore the full program on their website.

Pour tout faire, il faut une fleur at MBAL

Le Locle, Switzerland / 28 March - 6 September

Curated by Nicolas Polli, Pour tout faire, il faut une fleur (To Do Everything, You Need A Flower) is an exploration of the blurred boundaries between photography, graphic design, and hybrid artistic practices. It explores the ambivalence of our time, an era defined both by professional hyper-specialization and by an increasing demand for versatility. The featured artists explore the lifecycle of creation, where tools and behind-the-scenes processes become central works themselves. Through a focus on upcycling, design elements from past exhibitions are transformed into new structures to host current works, illustrating how repetition and reaction drive artistic evolution.

Artists include Jeanne Jacob, Olga Prader, Aldo Mozzini, Enzo Mari, Ayed Arafah, Peter Fischli & David Weiss, Linus Bill & Adrien Horni, Nicolas Polli, Alina Frieske, Ruth van Beek, Erin O’Keefe, Sabine Hess. Conceived as a space for dialogue, the exhibition showcases photographic works, publications, graphic installations, editorial objects, and personal archives. It also includes a participatory installation for children in the Salle Marie-Anne Calame and the adjacent space.

Further information is available on their website.

Athens Photo Festival 2026

Athens, Greece / 10 June - 26 July

The Athens Photo Festival is an international biennial platform that explores the societal impact of photography and contemporary visual culture by transforming images into catalysts for public conversation. The event takes place in the exhibition spaces of the Benaki Museum / Pireos 138 for its Main Program, while simultaneously embedding satellite exhibitions throughout the city to foster community engagement.

Beyond showcasing works from both emerging and established global artists, the comprehensive program features portfolio reviews, a talent lab, a photobook program, artist talks, guided tours with interactive, participatory sessions, and a series of live performances inspired by the exhibited art.

The festival program will be announced soon. Keep an eye on their website for updates.

Static Motion by Carl Ander at CFF Centrum För Fotografi

Stockholm, Sweden / 19 April - 6 June

The exhibition showcases approximately 350 images from 1940–1980 sports and health manuals collected by Carl Ander. Stripped of their original instructional context, these photographs shift from functional guides to ambiguous visual artifacts, inviting viewers to find new meaning in them through humor, wonder, or nostalgia. Despite this displacement, their informative logic remains visible through simple compositions and neutral expressions, highlighting the inherent paradox of using a still medium to portray motion.

Beyond the historical imagery, the exhibition explores the fluid nature of collecting through a flexible four-section layout. By contrasting a dynamic magnetic board of easily rearranged images with strictly framed prints that match their original book-page dimensions, the display demonstrates that the collection is never definitive. Ultimately, it thrives on endless combinations, navigating the captivating tension between the documentary, the instructive, the artistic, and the fictional.

Learn more on Centrum För Fotografi's website.

Why Don't You Dance? by Hannah Darabi at Photo Elysée

Lausanne, Switzerland / 26 June - 1 November

Iranian artist and 2025 Prix Elysée laureate Hannah Darabi’s series Why Don’t You Dance? uses photographs, videos, and archival collages to explore popular dance as a form of identity-based resistance inspired by Iran's "Woman, Life, Freedom" movement. The project is structured around three pivotal figures – 1950s cabaret icon Mahvash, belly dancer Jamileh, and exiled choreographer Mohammad Khordadjan – to trace how dance and performance have evolved from traditional entertainment into profound political acts.

Moving across time and geographic borders between Iran and its Los Angeles diaspora, Darabi weaves together personal narratives, historic control over women's bodies, and contemporary choreography to demonstrate how marginalized archives can be weaponized as tools of joyful resilience and political defiance.

Mesnographies 2026

Les Mesnuls, France / 6 June - 19 July

Les Mesnographies is an open-air international photography festival held annually in the natural setting of Parc des Mesnuls, France, designed to make contemporary art accessible to all while fostering deep cultural and community engagement. By blending public art with social reflection on topics like identity, ecology, and gender, the festival encourages critical dialogue while actively involving the local populace, who host the selected artists during the opening weekend to create a unique bond between the community and global visual storytellers.

Under the artistic direction of Claire Pathé, supported by Annaka Stretta, the 6th edition features 22 photographers from 15 nationalities, including Jay Ng Yun Ki, Miia Autio, Edoardo de Ruggiero, Hashim Nasr, John Pallis, Tamara Eckhardt, Rie Yamada, Sasha Mongin, Joan Alvado, and the collective Les Week-ends.

Further information is available on their website.

Upstate Photography Biennial

New York, United States / 30 May - 6 September

Organized by CPW curators Adam G. Ryan and Marina Chao, the inaugural Upstate Photography Biennial is a landmark exhibition series that celebrates the diversity and vitality of contemporary photographic practices across upstate New York and the Hudson Valley. Coinciding with Upstate Art Weekend, the event showcases the work of thirty-nine artists who use the medium to explore critical modern themes such as identity, healthcare, climate change, and the spaces we inhabit. For these artists, "upstate" represents both a geographic location and a condition of transition between the public and private, the past and present, and the city and countryside.

A defining feature of the Biennial is its emphasis on the photograph as a physical object, with many artists utilizing historic and archaic processes like tintypes, pinhole cameras, collages, and cyanotypes as a deliberate political act of resistance against fleeting digital screens.

Learn more on their website.

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Also open this month:

Photo Basel 2026 / Basel, Switzerland / 16 June - 21 June

Photo Basel brings together a diverse mix of Swiss and international galleries, fostering active dialogue across the photography community. The fair seamlessly bridges the historic and the contemporary by combining young, bold spaces with renowned exhibitors. By showcasing galleries that excel at both honoring momentous photographic traditions and uncovering distinct talent, the event offers collectors and visitors the ultimate platform to connect and discover.

ZeroNegativo Festival 2026 / Santeramo in Colle, Italy / 18 June - 21 June

ZeroNegativo is a nomadic festival with the next edition to be held at the Stabilimento De Laurentis in Santeramo in Colle, Southern Italy, serving as a dynamic intersection where nature and photography converge through exploration, experimentation, and dialogue. The festival integrates uninhabited landscapes and designed environments directly into its curatorial approach, allowing each exhibition to organically adapt to and amplify the rhythms of its surroundings.

Focus. Desire. by Paul Mpagi Sepuya at Fotomuseum Winterthur / Winterthur, Switzerland / 28 February - 26 June

Curated by Doris Gassert and Christopher A. Nixon, Paul Mpagi Sepuya’s first major Swiss solo exhibition spans three core spaces of his practice: Studio, Dark Room, and Archive. Through a careful orchestration of mirrors, fabrics, and studio props, the US artist blends sensual intimacy with visual precision, bringing together early and recent works alongside personal ephemera. Ultimately, Sepuya’s carefully constructed compositions lay bare the act of photographing, pulling viewers into complex dynamics of looking and desire while firmly insisting on a queer and Black subject position in photography.