Photoworks Festival ran in Brighton & Hove from 2 October to 1 November 2026: 13 exhibitions on the theme Un/Stable at galleries, museums and Jubilee Library.

Photoworks Festival returns to Brighton & Hove from Friday 2 October to Sunday 1 November, with 13 exhibitions spread across galleries, museums, the University of Brighton and Jubilee Library. The theme for 2026 is Un/Stable: Lands, Anxieties, Dreams, and the programme looks at climate change, belonging, resilience and social change (Photoworks Festival 2026).

Updated 3 November: the festival closed on Sunday 1 November; the listings below are kept as a record of the 2026 programme.

Updated 27 October: Photoworks has added A Welcome Table: Fragile Language at POST on Thursday 29 October, 6pm to 8.30pm, a long-table conversation led by the artist Becky Warnock with the festival artist Jermaine Francis (booking).

Updated 6 October: the opening weekend is over and the exhibitions are open. Photoworks has added a Tessa Boffin symposium at Phoenix Art Space on Friday 9 October, 11am to 5pm, and a Through the Viewfinder session at Jubilee Library on 24 October, 2pm to 4pm.

Updated 29 September: Photoworks has published the opening-night speech times, 6.30pm at the University of Brighton galleries and 7.45pm at Phoenix Art Space.

Photoworks is a photography charity (registered charity 1053208) with three decades of publishing and exhibition-making behind it. This edition is directed by Louise Fedotov-Clements and supported by Arts Council England. Each venue sets its own opening times, so check the exhibitions listings before you set out.

The opening weekend

The festival front-loaded its first three days, now past:

  • Friday 2 October: a full-day conference on the festival theme at the University of Brighton’s School of Art and Media, 9.30am to 6pm; exhibition openings across the venues, 6pm to 8pm, with speeches at the University of Brighton galleries at 6.30pm and at Phoenix Art Space, where Tessa Boffin: Where We Touch The Archive, Draft 3 opens, at 7.45pm (Photoworks); and Queer History Clubbing, a late event at The Oculist in central Brighton, 8pm to 1am.
  • Saturday 3 October: Open Portfolios at POST in Hove, 5.30pm to 7pm, and Mini Photographers, a day for families at Hove Museum of Creativity with sessions at 11am, 1pm and 2.30pm.
  • Sunday 4 October: a guided tour of the festival venues with talks, and a photocopy zine-making workshop with Matt Martin at POST.

Booking details for each are on the events page.

The exhibitions

Exhibition Venue Dates
Antinomies of Remembrance Dorset Place Gallery, Kemptown 2 Oct to 1 Nov
Tessa Boffin: Where We Touch The Archive, Draft 3 Phoenix Art Space 2 to 18 Oct
Pseudomorphs and Fighting Fish Regency Town House, Brunswick Square 2 to 18 Oct
Bones of Our Land Gallery Lock In 2 to 25 Oct
Playing With Your Eyes Hove Museum of Creativity 2 Oct to 18 Jan 2027
And So I Watch You From Afar / The Most Beautiful Anthropocene Brighton Museum & Art Gallery 2 Oct to 18 Jan 2027
Putting Ourselves in the Picture University of Brighton, Edward Street 2 Oct to 1 Nov
Bridges University of Brighton, Wilmot Gallery 2 Oct to 1 Nov
The Weight of the Earth University of Brighton, room 101 2 Oct to 1 Nov
Where We Meet Jubilee Library 2 Oct to 1 Nov
When the Earth Gives Birth POST, Hove 2 and 4 Oct
Photobook Table: Un/Stable Pages POST, Hove 2 and 4 Oct
Ukraine: Life Un/Broken see listing 16 to 18 Oct

Two shows outlast the festival by months: the Hove Museum of Creativity and Brighton Museum & Art Gallery exhibitions both run until 18 January 2027.

Later in the month

The programme keeps going after the opening weekend. The Holly Birtles talk (6 October), the Tessa Boffin symposium (9 October), the Creatives social at POST (14 October), the Black is Beautiful film night (15 October) and the Ukraine: Life Un/Broken fundraising night (16 October) have now taken place, and Boffin’s exhibition closed on 18 October. The photobook club with Amin Yousefi (20 October), the second family day at Hove Museum of Creativity and Through the Viewfinder at Jubilee Library (both 24 October), and the POST workshops on 24 and 25 October have also taken place. Still to come at POST: A Welcome Table: Fragile Language on 29 October, 6pm to 8.30pm, and an introduction to digital photography on 31 October, 10am to 4pm.

What it means for you

The festival lands across the whole city, so some of it will be on your doorstep: Jubilee Library in the centre, POST and the Regency Town House in Hove, Dorset Place in Kemptown. Some events carry charges: Photoworks says its Friends members receive free or discounted entry to all festival exhibitions and events, so check the individual listing for prices and booking before travelling.

The organisation is also recruiting volunteers for the festival; register interest by emailing volunteer@photoworks.org.uk. And if a month of photography is not enough, Photoworks points visitors to the separate Photo Fringe programme, which also runs through October.

Getting there: most venues are central, and parking near the seafront and North Laine is tight on weekends, so the parking in Brighton page covers the car parks and zones, and things to do in Brighton has the rest of the month’s options.

Sources