Holly Birtles, Fighting Fish © Holly Birtles

The Photoworks Festival, formerly known as Brighton Photo Biennial, established in 2003, is a globally renowned biennial event that highlights international contemporary photography. Photoworks’ aim is to deconstruct the format of a traditional photography festival by curating a programme that encourages input and debate.

Un/Stable: Lands, Anxieties, Dreams, the theme for Photoworks Festival 2026, considers how identity, place, memory, community and the environment are interconnected, asking what it means to live through uncertainty while imagining or creating hopeful futures. The festival addresses issues including climate change, belonging, resilience and social change.

Exhibitions presented in various locations across Brighton & Hove, from 2 October to 1 November, encourage us to question assumptions, embrace multiple perspectives and think critically about the relationships between people, histories, landscapes and technology. Featuring artworks created by a range of artists – young people, emerging and established practitioners, each exploring subjects that include ecosystems, global and personal archives, forest restoration, ecological and social renewal, including interconnections between human and non-human worlds.

From exhibitions to conferences, portfolio reviews, talks, tours, workshops and film screenings, events will take place throughout October.  To find out more and view the full festival programme please go to the direct link.