Carrie’s Top 10 Picks from The Phair, 2025
I got to go to Torino for the first time last week. I was there specifically for The Phair Art Fair, which is a boutique, beautifully curated art fair centered around photography.
But it wasn’t just the fair that impressed me, it was the city as a whole. The Foto Festival is in its second year and the quality of the exhibitors and exhibitions was HIGH. The museums were filled with beautiful, strong shows (Cartier-Bresson, Carrie Mae Weems, more to come on them). And the temporary spaces were just so perfect - the Accademia Albertina di Belle Arti gave over arched catacombs to exhibitors.
Here are the top ten things I saw in Torino, in case you missed them in our Collector WhatsApp Group.
-Carrie
Best in Show at Phair Photo Fair
Lilly Lulay: "Time Travellers" (Series) on display at Kuckei + Kuckei Gallery
I love the handmadedness (not a word!) of this work and the way the past bumps into the present in Lilly Lulay's Time Travellers (Series). She's exploring the way personal memory and digital archives intertwine, using intricately layered photographs sourced from smartphone data, flea markets and social media. The digital and the real crash into one another here, gracefully and ultimately help us consider how technology reshapes our perception of time, identity, and the act of remembering.
At EXPOSED Torino Foto Festival
This series uncovers a forgotten chapter of Congo's mining history. It's an education.
Between 1968 and 1982, Japanese workers were brought to Katanga by the Zairean government to work for a mining company.
When their contracts were abruptly ended in 1983, they left-many without their children.
Senga spent a decade tracing the lives of those left behind. His portraits, inspired by classic African studio photography, spotlight the Japanese-Lamba community and raise deeper questions about identity, memory, and the human cost of global industry.
on display at Jaeger Art at Phair Photo Fair
Woudt is known for his striking black-and-white portraits and nudes, blending classical elegance with contemporary edge.
This new selection of work pops yet again.
Loved the new Al images. All unique and talked about like they are Bastiaan's creative sketchbook-where he pushes the edges of photography by merging his archive with Al to see what new worlds can emerge. It's part experiment, part reflection, shaped by everything from his thoughts to psychedelic experiences. This isn't about replacing photography, but expanding it— asking what else it can be in this new era.
At EXPOSED Torino Foto Festival
"White Bear" examines the lives of polar bears in artificial en-closures worldwide, highlighting the dilemmas of ex-situ conservation and zoo management.
Through photographs and videos, Lo juxtaposes images of sentient creatures with the artificial settings to which they are confined, highlighting the ethological implications of captivity. I admit to feeling at first that this was too research based, but then the photo and video work got me good!
On display at Die Mauer at Phair Photo Fair
I studied this work once. Left it. And then came back again. I loved the immediately obvious gradiant of color. The change in frames. The move from dark to light, but then when I returned to the work - having stepped out of the booth for a second - I loved how I started to search for the familiar. Started to do what brains do best - tried to find connections. And I did. Andrea shot this work over a period of ten years.
These are spots he frequents, passes by, and so the familiarity is part of the point. I love the celebration of olour, symmetry, and mid-century aesthetics.
On display at Galleria Brescia at Phair Photo Fair
Serrano's Morgue series got slammed by critics-too slick, too self-important, more fashion shoot than meditation on death. And sure, some of that lands. But I couldn't stop looking at this blown-out, burnt image of a watch. There's something haunting in its ruin—a strange, quiet beauty in the way it decays. It sits right on that fine line between life and death, presence and absence. For all the noise around the series, that image whispered something much more powerful. And frankly, I don't get why Serrano isn't a more celebrated photographer. Piss Christ might be the best photo ever taken. Yeah. I said it.
The Role of Italian Photography in the Global Context
(Aka the panel I was on at the fair)
Sorry for the self promo but this was epic!
The legendary artist Silvio Wolf, the magnanimous collector Lucia Bonanni, and my new favourite journalist Chiara Massimello, all moderated by the remarkably quick witted Francesca Pinto. I loved our lively, honest discussion about Italian Photography and what more the country can do to export its genius!
At Phair Photo Fair
I love New York. I love street photography.
So it makes sense that I was drawn to this series. They were familiar. I kept looking for people I knew. People I loved. They capture a New York I was a part of but the large scale work shifts to something else. I like its melancholy. The way the woman is lost in her music, her mind, and the city is her backdrop not consuming her. Maybe I see myself somewhere.
Food: Have lunch at Adelaide and sweets at Stratta!
If you go to Turin, go to these two spots.
At Adelaide! you’ll find small plates of perfect Italian food. Get the Vitello Tonnato, and the “Plin du ugo" a type of small, filled pasta from the Piedmont region of Italy. Both the meat option and veg were mind blowingly good. Tiramisu also a must.
Most important! Swing by Stratta, a candy, chocolate and coffee house in Piazza San Carlo, that has been there since 1832. It’s so Italian, and so perfect. Trust me.
About The Phair (According to The Phair)
The Phair – a neologism that is a manifesto, synthesis of Photography and Fair – is an annual event dedicated to photography.
The Phair is addressed to some of the leading contemporary art galleries – and not necessarily only to those already specialized in photography – that, on the occasion of the fair, showcase an artistic project related to the theme of the image and art works created with photographic or video material.
A careful curatorial choice guarantees the selection of an organic proposal not divided into themes and sections but as a whole exhibiting experience; equal spaces for all ensure a “tailor-made” setting, innovating the traditional fair structure and suggesting new methods of understanding and analysis of the artworks proposed.