LONDON.- Photo London today announces its eighth edition with the legendary British photographer Martin Parr named Photo London Master of Photography 2023 and an impressive global group of exhibitors already confirmed.

Commenting on their plans for the 2023 edition, Photo London Founders Michael Benson and Fariba Farshad say: “Looking at the amazing global response to Photo London, and on the back of the announcement of our partnership with Creo to establish a new Fair in New York, we thought this was the right moment to turn the spotlight on Britain. And where better to start than with Martin Parr — the godfather of British photography. Martin is not only a towering figure in the UK photography scene but the British in all their eccentric glory have been his great theme for over half a century. Shot in the brand of heightened colour that Parr has made his own, his photographs are not only individually brilliant, but cumulatively amount to nothing less than a dazzling hymn to the brilliant, slightly bonkers nation that we call home and to the people with whom we live, work and play. More than that though, without Martin Parr’s exemplary practice today’s British photography scene would be much impoverished — and certainly a great deal less fun. So, it is with considerable delight that we will award Martin Parr this year’s Master of Photography. We very much look forward to the exhibition of his recent work for Photo London.”

Martin Parr is the eighth recipient of the award, which is presented every year to a living artist who has made an exceptional contribution to photography. He comments: “It's a great honour to be named Master of Photography at Photo London. I relish the opportunity to show a totally new exhibition of work of images taken in the UK, a project that I have been working on for the last 50 years!”

The spotlight on British photography continues with a survey of outstanding works by British women photographers: ‘ Writing her own Script. Women Photographers from the Hyman Collection’. Curated by the newly opened Centre for British Photography and taking its name from a large-scale photograph by Susan Hiller, the exhibition charts a course from the 1930s to the present, providing an overview of photography in Britain that focuses on two strands: a humanistic documentary tradition and a more personal, performative, practice. It will include work by Heather Agyepong, Shirley Baker, Dorothy Bohm, Sonia Boyce, Juno Calypso, Helen Chadwick, Hannah Collins, Caroline Coon, Maisie Cousins, Eliza Hatch, Rose Finn-Kelcey, Susan Hiller, Anna Fox, Sarah Jones, Karen Knorr, Marketa Luskacova, Sarah Maple, Rosy Martin, Linda McCartney, Polly Penrose, Grace Robertson, Jo Spence, Edith Tudor-Hart and Bindi Vora.

James Hyman, Founding Director, Centre for British Photography comments: “For many years the Hyman Collection has been committed to supporting women working in photography, so we were pleased to be asked by Photo London to curate an exhibition that focuses on this important aspect of the collection.”

The full list of exhibitors for the eighth edition will be announced in February 2023, yet it is already clear that when Photo London 2023 returns to Somerset House in May the gallery line up will be its strongest yet.

The eighth edition will have a wider global reach than ever before, with new exhibitors coming from as far afield as China, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Finland and Iran; and several major galleries welcomed back from Canada, Taiwan and the USA for the first time post-pandemic. The internationalism of the exhibiting galleries is matched by an increasing internationalism of the Publishers’ Section, which returns bigger than ever with publishers coming from France, Germany, China, Poland, the Netherlands and the UK.

Among the exhibitors already confirmed are several galleries supporting photographers from Iran. LS10 gallery (London) is presenting a focus on Iranian contemporary photography; Roya Khadjavi Projects (New York) brings together the works of five Iranian photographers — Tahmineh Monzavi, Ali Tahayor, Dariush Nehdaran, Maryam Palizgir and Mo Jahangir— whose practice is based on a documentary engagement that intertwines socially conscious and environmental works from urban communities to the rural landscape; and first-time exhibitor O Gallery (Tehran) presenting works by the contemporary photographer Mohammedreza Mirzaei alongside rare prints by Kaveh Kaemi, whose photographs of the 1979 revolution and its aftermath represent one of the most important archives of this period.

There will also be a special exhibition on Mexican photography presented by Maroma, a Belmond Hotel, Riviera Maya and co-curated by Photo London co-founder Fariba Farshad and Mexican gallerist Patricia Conde who takes part at the Fair as an exhibitor for the first time. ‘Fotografia Maroma: a living gallery of Mexican photography’ will present works by four prominent Mexican photographers: Patricia Lagarde, Javier Hinojosa, Ilán Rabchinskey and Margot Kalach.

Furthermore, Photo London’s partnership with Creo, organisers of PHOTOFAIRS Shanghai, has helped support an increase in galleries coming from Asia Pacific, including Gaotai Gallery (Urumqui, China), Up Gallery (Taiwan) and first time exhibitors Zen Foto Gallery (Tokyo) and Blue Lotus Gallery (Hong Kong) who will bring rare prints by Fan Ho (1931 – 2016), arguably one of the most important street photographers of the C20th known especially for the remarkable images he captured of Hong Kong during the 1950s and ’60s.

It is also already clear that the 2023 edition will continue the Fair’s commitment to vintage and modern photography with exhibitors including: Camera Work Gallery (Berlin), Catherine Edelman (Chicago), Patricia Conde (Mexico) Grob Gallery (Genéve, Exeter), Iconic Images (London), James Hyman Gallery (London), Lee Miller Archives (East Sussex), Magnum Gallery (London, Paris), Messums (London, Tisbury), OstLicht. Gallery for Photography (Vienna), Peter Fetterman (Santa Monica), Roland Belgrave Vintage Photography Ltd (Hove), and Sophie Scheidecker (Paris); while contemporary galleries such as Bildhalle (Zürich), Duran Mashaal (Montreal), Flowers Gallery (London and Hong Kong), Galerie–Peter–Sillim (Frankfurt), Olivier Waltman (Paris, Miami), Fish Eye (Paris) NIL Gallery (Paris) Ira Stehmann (Munich), Robert Morat Galerie (Berlin) and The Gallery of Everything (London) to name but a few, continue to make Photo London the destination to find the best new photographers working today.

THE BEST OF THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE OF PHOTOGRAPHY

Photo London’s mission has always been to show the best of the past, present and future of photography and the Fair plays an important role in supporting and investing in emerging artists.

The Fair’s renowned Discovery section will once again present works from the frontiers of photography as selected by Discovery Ambassador Tim Clark; while the PHOTO LONDON X NIKON EMERGING PHOTOGRAPHER AWARD will continue to highlight works of outstanding young photographers with a special display dedicated those shortlisted in the previous edition. This year’s winner will be announced on the preview day, Wednesday 10th May 2023.

This year the Fair is delighted to announce a further prize to support students enrolled in photography degrees at UK universities: the Photo London X Hahnemühle Student Award with a valuable residency awarded to each year’s winner. The experts making up the 2023 jury are: Paul Belford, Founder, Paul Belford Ltd; Tim Clark, Editor/Curator, 1000 Words; Tracy Marshall-Grant, Deputy Director, Centre for British Photography; Fiona Shields, Head of Photography, The Guardian; and Lisa Springer, Curator of Photography Touring Exhibitions, Victoria and Albert Museum.

The 2023 Talks Programme will be curated by Aperture ; while the Photo London Academy offers a year-round and free of charge programme, featuring the Talks Archive, Book Club and a digital Magazine in the spirit of an artist’s photo book, with the current issue on Yasuhrio Ogawa.

Looking ahead to the eighth edition, Michael Benson and Fariba Farshad comment: “We are looking forward to next year’s Fair with huge excitement. The 2023 Fair takes the success of this year’s edition and builds impressively from there. The exhibitors’ list is already strong and we are thrilled to be able to add new partnerships with Aperture, Belmond and Hahnemühle to our long term associations with Nikon and FT Weekend. Furthermore our partnership with Creo has extended the Fair’s reach to important galleries and collector groups in East Asia. These partnerships underline the considerable strength that Photo London has achieved since the difficult years of the pandemic and point to a truly exciting future for the Fair.”

Martin Parr is one of the best-known documentary photographers of his generation. With over 100 books of his own published, and another 30 edited by Parr, his photographic legacy is already established. Parr also acts as a curator and editor. He has curated two photography festivals, Arles in 2004 and Brighton Biennial in 2010. More recently Parr curated the Barbican exhibition, ‘Strange and Familiar’. Parr has been a member of the Magnum Photos agency since 1994 and was President from 2013 – 2017. In 2013 Parr was appointed the visiting professor of photography at the University of Ulster. Parr’s work has been collected by many of the major museums, from the Tate, the Pompidou and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Martin Parr established the Martin Parr Foundation in 2017. He was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s birthday honours in June, 2021.

The Photo London Master of Photography is presented every year to a living artist who has made an exceptional contribution to photography. The previous recipients are: Sebastiao Salgado (2015), Don McCullin (2016), Taryn Simon (2017) Edward Burtynsky (2018), Stephen Shore (2019), Shirin Neshat (2021) and Nick Knight (2022).

Photo London
11–14 May 2023, Somerset House
Preview 10 May 2023