Bristol Photo Festival is a new biennial festival with a year-round programme of commissions, collaborations, and exhibitions by both local and international artists. The first edition encompasses a summer showcase of photography exhibitions across the city followed by a full autumn programme of festival exhibitions and events including a book fair, film programme, talks series and symposiums.

Laia Abril – Hoda Afshar – Widline Cadet – Adama Jalloh – Alba Zari is a collection of solo exhibitions by five of the most innovative photographers and photo-based artists working today. The exhibition is commissioned by the Royal Photographic Society and curated by Aaron Schuman, featuring in the Bristol Photo Festival.

On Menstruation Myths, explores these cycles of thought creating a non-fixed and open-ended narrative that forms part of Laia Abril’s larger body of work, A History of Misogyny. With this series, Abril questions what it means to be a woman within a society that ignores the menstrual calendar. The chapter explores myths and its cultural origins, alongside contemporary data and its consequences. Displaying both the research and the visual metaphors, the installation weaves a greater comprehension around the politics of pain and the repercussions of miseducation and silence.

Dear Truth

Documentary Strategies in Contemporary Photography

Curator : Kerstin Hamilton,

Participating artists: Laia Abril, Mathieu Asselin, Lara Baladi, Kerstin Hamilton, Karlsson Rixon, Bouchra Khalili, Frida Orupabo, Trevor Paglen, Taryn Simon

This exhibition explores how nine contemporary artists approach ideas of truth, facts, and objectivity, and how they – guided by ethical reflections – make urgent matters visible. Their work portrays some of the most challenging issues of our time: human rights, the environment, democracy, migration, technology, and violence. The projects are rooted in social realities – but they do not attempt to represent reality. The artists step into the world, turn to archives, and nuance established views. Here, the truth plays a central part – not as an authoritarian or neutral vision, but as a starting point for socially engaged contemporary art.

Collective show : Reproductive: Health, Fertility, Agency

Curated by Karen Irvine and Kristin Taylor

Reproductive: Health, Fertility, Agency explores the psychological, physical, and emotional realities people encounter in the years leading up to, during, and after fertility. The exhibition features eight artists who consider a range of topics including birth, miscarriage, pleasure, the lack of access to abortion, trauma, and the loss of fertility. The term “reproductive” is twofold. It implies the characteristics of a photograph, bringing attention to a notable lack of visual representation of the experiences of the female body. Additionally, the term is a reference to a common patriarchal, capitalist view of women’s bodies as vehicles for reproduction. This exhibition aims to add visual presence and a deeper understanding of the precarious nature of female rights and freedoms in a time where the future of these rights is uncertain.