Carrie’s Top Picks from the 10th Anniversary of Photo London
Photo London returned to Somerset House this May for its tenth edition—its first under new director Sophie Parker and it did not disappoint! While it’s not on the level of a Paris Photo, and indeed the city doesn’t get all photo focused (liked what I did there) like Turin or Arles, there were a few standout booths and discoveries. But mostly it was just good to be reminded why we keep showing up. I loved crossing paths with so many thoughtful artists, curators and collectors.
Here are a few of my highlights, in case you missed them in our Collector WhatsApp Group. If any of these works spark your interest, get in touch.
-Carrie
P.S. want these picks and insights first? Become a Seen Collector.
Kathy Shorr
At David Hill Gallery
This selection of work was standout. I loved this series. All unique, vintage prints. And the story is great. Kathy was a limousine driver in NYC in the 1980s so she could use the back of the limos as her studio.
These works blur the lines of documentary, portraiture, studio work and street photography. I love that the prints are unique and love that they are printed with the full negative showing.
Kristoffer Axén
At Albumnen
This work is so totally painterly that it makes all the sense in the world that the photographer is also a painter . I fell for how moody, and atmospheric they are.
And I wasn’t alone. Kristoffer was shortlisted for the Nikon Emerging Photographer Prize. Take a look at the whole series and you’ll see why.
THE VISITOR, 2023
90 cm x 70 cm
Archival pigment print
Edition of 5 / 2 AP
£2,200
Bee Gats
Mortal Machine Gallery
All unique prints.
“It doesn’t matter what you go through it’s how the story is told.” - Beegats
I first saw this work in Miami, so it’s not exactly a new discovery. But the more time I spend with it, the more it floors me. Seeing it again now, I’m convinced: this artist is destined for the canon. Think Weegee meets Mary Ellen Mark. Think Ryan McGinley meets Carrie Mae Weems. Faces obscured, stories respected.
This isn’t someone standing on the outside, documenting. He’s in the frame. This is lived experience turned visual language. Rough, immediate, and so real. And importantly recording his experience, not visiting a world as an outsider.
Aikaterini Gegisian
In Positions curated by Maria Sukkar
Let me begin by saying that The Positions section was so very, very strong. If you’re curious about underrepresented voices and viewpoints, take a look at the work showing across this presentation.
I was specifically and immediately drawn to these works by Aikaterini. It takes a moment to know why. She’s offering a feminist re-reading of photography—less about nostalgia, more about disrupting the dominance of the technological image. Through found imagery, she interrogates how visual culture builds identities and delivers pleasure. And I was so into them.
Baldwin Lee
At David Hill Gallery
Baldwin isn’t a new photographer to me - I worked on a show of his at David Hill Gallery in 2024 - but this photograph is newly printed. And wow.
It’s reminiscent of Walker Evans - which makes sense as Baldwin studied under him - in the power of the narrative arch that builds in this one man’s face. But it was also the quality of the print - so many dark, darks (you can see so much detail through the door behind the central figure) and the composition - it’s as if the figure is holding up that threshold himself. It’s a masterpiece.
O Winston Link
At Peter Fetterman
I knew this work but hadn’t seen prints in AGES. And wow. O. Winston Link was an American photographer who captured the last days of the steam train in the U.S. Between 1955 and 1960, he staged night-time scenes along the Norfolk & Western Railway, lighting entire towns with dozens of flashbulbs. I was looking at this image with a photographer at the fair and asking all the questions about how it was made, how on earth Link could have possibly made it so cinamatic.
I’m not sure these images are really about trains—they’re about transition, memory, and the quiet drama of American life on the brink of change.
Mona Kuhn
There is one single image that Mona created in her series Evidence that I so wish I’d bought but I didn’t. And I regret it. A lot. Honestly, I think about it every time I see her work. And now that print is long sold out - or priced too high for it to be accessible to me.
So when Mona’s work is on view anywhere, I am always on high alert. I was excited to see this image from Kings Road. This series of seven solarized photographs were made in response to Rudolph Schindler’s iconic modernist home in Los Angeles. The work hovers somewhere between homage and apparition—bending light, space, and history into something harder to name.
The images are beautiful, undeniably. Sexy AF - of course, Mona’s work always is. They shimmer between memory and myth, architecture and image.
Grey Crawford
Blatz. 2025
Persons Projects
Grey Crawford’s CHROMA series began in 1978, using hand-cut masks and filters in the darkroom to layer color and shape over black-and-white images. The result is striking—formal, vibrant, and full of intent.
I’m still working to untangle the layers and the references: the nod to Barragán, the echoes of 1970s LA, the shifts in time and space. It feels like a language I’m just starting to learn. And I like it. Lots.
Nanna Hänninen
Persons Projects
Nanna Hänninen has been making photographs since the late 1990s. Her images rarely show people, but they’re always about them—about how we act, what we want, and how we make sense of the world around us.
Lately, she’s started painting directly onto her photographs, turning each one into a unique object. It’s a simple gesture, but it changes how you look—slowing you down, pulling you closer. And there’s an aesthetic here that feels really new - almost like spray paint, rather an controlled. I enjoyed it.
Lucia Pizzani x Victoria Law Projects
Not an entirely photo based practice - but I was blown away by this presentation and learning about Lucia’s whole practice.
Lucia’s work looks at the link between bodies and nature—what connects us, what breaks us down. She uses her own body, clay, and plants to push those questions. ‘Of Roots and Vessels’ brings together 15 years of work: photography, collage, sculpture, performance. It’s about fragility. Survival. The stories we carry and that weigh us down
I think this artist is one to acquire now. There’s a rigour to her work that gets me buzzing. Curators are working with her. And there are some huge projects coming up.
Kasia Wozniak
At Sarabande
Kasia is a thinking woman’s artist. She works in wet plate collodion to slow things down. Her images are layered with myth and reference and kind of pull at the idea of truth, time, and what a photograph really holds.
Every flaw is left in. Nothing polished. Nothing fake. Just light, chemistry, and time.
She’s keeping the craft alive—across personal work, collabs, and commissions. There’s so much grace here.
Mariano Vivanco
At Fru Tholstrup
Sometimes the classics just hit. I loved the purity of this image. The elegance.
Mariano was born in Peru, raised in New Zealand, and built his career in London. He shoots fashion and portraiture with power and precision—always bold. And that’s represented here, with this image. And while it’s different from much of the work I’ve seen of his, I think it’s standout.
And in case this kind of thing turns you on, Mariano has photographed everyone from Rihanna to Rinaldo, and worked with Vogue, GQ, i-D and D&G. His images are in the National Portrait Gallery. Books, campaigns, covers—he’s done it all. Which means, that I think this is a great price for an image that could become iconic.
About Photo London (According to Photo London)
Photo London brings the finest international photography to the British capital every year. The Fair presents the best historic and vintage works while also spotlighting fresh perspectives in photography. Along with a selection of the world’s leading photography dealers and galleries, Photo London’s Discovery section is dedicated to the most exciting emerging galleries and artists. In addition, each edition sees a unique Public Programme including special exhibitions and installations; and several Awards announced, headlined by the Photo London Master of Photography Award.
Beyond the Fair, Photo London regularly hosts Pre-Fair Talks engaging with the craft, market and knowledge of photography and acts as a catalyst for London’s dynamic photography community, with major institutions, auction houses, galleries and the burgeoning creative communities in the East End and South London presenting a series of Satellite Events.