EXHIBITIONS

Opening days and times vary - please check individual exhibition details

Exhibition
A New Power:
Photography in Britain 1800 - 1850

1 Feb - 7 May 2023
Weston Library, Bodleian Libraries

Can you imagine a world without photography? Explore how the world changed forever in the early days of this incredible invention.

Exhibition
Natural Magic: Experiments in Photography

17 March – 4 June 2023

Transept, Weston Library, Bodleian Libraries

Discover the processes of the chemical experimenters responsible for the invention of photography. Using everything from gold and iron to ground-up vegetables, explore how artists have experimented with a surprising array of things to create a photograph.

Exhibition
Bright Sparks: Photography and the Talbot Archive

17 March – 18th June 2023

Treasury Gallery, Weston Library, Bodleian Libraries

Explore the legacy of the British inventor of photography, William Henry Fox Talbot, and how his images still influence photographers today. This exhibition puts this 180-year-old archive in conversation with contemporary artists from around the world.

Exhibition & Events
Aliki Braine: Into The Woods

14 April – 6 May 2023

Tues – Fri 10:00 – 18:00, Sat 10:00 – 16:00

Meakin + Parsons x Hannah Payne ♿
16 North Parade Ave, OX2 6LX

Curated by Rodrgio Orrantia. Contemporary artist Aliki Braine considers the portrayal of woods throughout art history, from the depiction of forests in historical painting as a space for battle or confrontation, to a space for memory, and representation of landscape in contemporary photography.


Events

20 & 27 April, 4 May: Artist’s tours and talks - find out more

Exhibition & Events
Ania Ready: I Also Fight Windmills

Exhibition: 13 April - 29 April 2023

Tues - Sat 11:00 - 18:00

Rona Painting Gallery  ♿
34 Walton St, OX2 6AA


A visual response to the literary archive of the feminist writer Sophie Gaudier-Brzeska (1872-1925). Through enactment and staging Ready brings to life a story about displacement in the West, loss, creativity, loneliness, a disempowering sense of guilt and social exclusion. She explores human fragility through the performative aspect of photography. 


Events

13 April: Exhibition opening

15 April: Artist talk, 10:00 (early opening)
Meet the Artist in the gallery: 18 April afternoon, 20 April morning, 26 April lunchtime; all day 29 April

Exhibition & Event
Anne Howeson: Feet of Angels

18 March – 29 April 

Wed - Sat 12:00 - 17:00

Carey Blyth Gallery  ♿
8 Woodstock Rd, OX2 6HT

Anne Howeson uses Fox Talbot photography as a springboard to other worlds, transcending time and dimension. Whether pastoral and quiet, or politically charged and pithy, her drawings are complex, laced with moments from beyond that soften the grit of reality.  The overall effect is unsettling, suggesting an unearthly presence.


 Events

25 March: Talk (free) 15:00 - 16:15 at Friends House, St Giles followed by drinks at CBG.
Sacha Craddock, art critic and journalist of 30 years in conversation with Anne Howeson

21 April: Talk (free) 17:00 - 18:15 at Friends House, St Giles followed by drinks at CBG
Q & A with Anne Howeson (guest speaker TBC).

RSVP: jennyblythart@gmail.com

Exhibition & Event
Bernice Mulenga: The Makings Of You

4 April - 14 May 2023

Tues - Sat 10.00 - 17.00, Sun 12.00 - 17.00

Modern Art Oxford cafe space ♿
30 Pembroke St, OX1 1BP

Event

27 April: 18.30 - 22.00, MAO Late

A peak inside Bernice Mulenga’s life - a vitrine display of retrospective works varying from hand made prints from #friendsonfilm to club posters, records, letters and more. This presentation takes a very intimate and personal look into the bonds, thoughts and feelings the artists shares with themselves and others.

Exhibition
Diverse Oxford

13 April - 6 May 2023 (excludes 1 May)

Mon - Fri, 9.00 - 17.00
The Glass Tank Gallery ♿
Abercrombie Building, Oxford Brookes University, Gipsy Lane, OX3 0BP


Oxford Brookes University students aim to capture and celebrate Oxford’s diversity, as well as diverse forms of telling these stories. The exhibition explores ways to re-create the archive by providing a space for marginalised (hi)stories. Students worked with archival artefacts and in collaboration with participants to develop and curate the exhibition.

Exhibition
Jenny Matthews: Losing Freedom - A tribute to Afghan Women

14 April - 6 May 2023

Daily 9.00 - 12.00, for other times please call Gees 01865 553540

Gees Gallery by The Oxford Collection,

61-63 Banbury Rd, OX2 6PE

Entrance through Gees Restaurant and Bar


Jenny has since 1982 been documenting social issues in Britain and abroad. Her archive portraits of Afghan Women are printed on linen with added embroidery to hide their faces in recognition of their recent loss of freedom. Exhibition and associated community workshop supported by The Arts Society Oxford.

Exhibition & Event
Jermaine Francis: A Pleasant Land

14 - 30 April 2023
Fri, Sat, Sun 14.00 - 16.00

Pembroke College JCR Art Gallery 5 Brewer St, OX1 1QN

Wheelchair accessible. Not accessible for mobility scooters


Private view & artists talk


In this newly commissioned body of work, photographer and artist, Jermaine Francis has worked with the Pembroke College JCR Art Collection and the Pembroke College archives to address the absence of the Black  voice in the traditional representations of the English Pastoral.


Francis interrogates the idea of the Pastoral Landscape as a space of neutrality - politically & ideologically - where the relationship to the Black presence is alien due to its historical absence.

Exhibition & Event
Kazem Hakimi & Henry Underhill: Portraits from Oxford - Archives old and new

14 April - 6 May 2023 (Excl 1 May) 

Mon - Thurs 15.00 - 19.00,
Sat 10.00 - 16.00

Pegasus Theatre ♿
 Magdalen Road, OX4 1RE


Event
15 April: 16.00 - 18.00, opening

Portraits of Oxford citizens, taken a century apart. Henry Underhill, a grocer on the High Street, photographed people at leisure in Oxford c1900. Kazem Hakimi, owner of the well-loved chip shop on Iffley Road, takes similarly candid photos of his customers c2000. Exhibition created in partnership with the Museum of Oxford. Exhibition at Pegasus curated by Sarah Mossop.

Exhibition & Event
Latent: From our archives

16 April - 23 April 

Open daily, 12.00 - 18.00

Magdalen Art Space  ♿
74 Magdalen Road, OX4 1RE


Event
 15 April: 17.00-19.00, opening


10 Magdalen Road Studio artists explore the latent power of archives activated and transformed through making art. Themes embrace family, language, landscape, disability and secrets; art-transformations feature photography, lithography, painting, sculpture, moving image and 3D printing.

Exhibition & Events

Live from the Moon, curated by Geoffrey Batchen and Carys Owen

14 April - 6 May 2023
Thurs - Sun 12.00 - 17.00
The Barn, St John’s College ♿
St Giles, OX1 3JP (opposite St Giles war memorial)

A  selection from a personal archive of gelatin silver photographs sent out as press prints by NASA in the 1960s and ‘70s to publicise the American agency’s efforts to land men on the moon.

Events
14 April: public opening: 16:00 - 18:00
26 April: Public talk (Geoffrey Batchen with Daniel Molland) 17:00-18:00
3 May: Public talk (Carys Owen with Sarah Hill) 17:00-18:00

Exhibition
Marilyn Stafford: Street Stories

14 April – 23 April 2023

Mon - Sat 10:00 - 17:00, Sun 11:00 - 16:00 

Zuleika Gallery ♿
6 Park St, Woodstock, OX20 1SP
Bus from Oxford to Woodstock (35 mins): Stage Coach 7 or S3. When alighting at Woodstock make your way towards the museum. Zuleika Gallery is between the post office and the museum; opposite The Bear Hotel.


Celebrating the life and work of an extraordinary 20th century photographer. Marilyn (1925 – 2023) brought the energy and truth of daily life into her practice encompassing street photography, fashion, portraiture, and social reportage. With a special focus on her representation of women and children, this exhibition reveals the joy she found sharing the stories of others, often in the context of life on the street.

Exhibition & Events
Mirja Maria Thiel: Portrait of an Artist as an Old Man

14 April - 6 May 2023 (Excl. 1 May)

Mon - Thurs 9.00 - 20.00, Fri & Sat 9.00 - 17.30

Oxfordshire County Library ♿
Westgate, Queen's Street, OX1 1DJ (Also at JR Hospital exhibition space from 13 May 2023)

Events
15 April 14.00: artist’s tour (drop-in); 

13.00 - 15.45: Dementia Oxfordshire advisors available with information and advice;

26 April, 10.30 - 12.00 Dementia Cafe with Dementia Oxfordshire (drop-in)

Mirja Maria Thiel tells the life of Fritz Dressler (1937-2020), a professional photographer and university professor, who suffered from Alzheimer’s in the final years of his life. Photographed over more than two years, the black and white series is committed to the emotional reality of the charismatic protagonist, including  images taken by Fritz himself. Supported by The Arts Society Oxford.

Exhibition
Photo Oxford 2023 Open Call

Winners’ exhibition

4 April - 14 May

Tuesday to Saturday 10.00 - 17.00,

Sunday 12.00 - 17.00

The Yard, Modern Art Oxford ♿
30 Pembroke St, OX1 1BP

Following a three month global search for the best new photography, the Photo Oxford 2023 Open Call generated over 800 entries from all over the world. We asked photographers to address the Festival theme of the ‘Archive’ by curating ‘personal inventories of experience.’

Exhibition & Events
Pictures from the Garden

19 April - 6 May

Monday – Friday: 10:00-16:00, Saturday: 12:00-16:00. Closed on 1 May.

The North Wall ♿
South Parade, Oxford, OX2 7JN

Events
21 April 18:00 - 20:00 Private View: Places are limited so please RSVP to Nicola Laird lairdn@thenorthwall.com

The work of 7 photographers - Siân Davey, Matthew Finn, Nik Roche, Alex Schneideman, Jem Southam, Alys Tomlinson and Vanessa Winship -in response to Paddy Summerfield’s seminal 2014 book, ‘Mother and Father’. Accompanied by a new book published by Dewi Lewis.

A special edition signed print from the 7 exhibiting photographers can be purchased here to support the work of Photography Oxford (charity no. 1154142).

Exhibition
Reflecting Oxford - A Transient Catalogue

14 April – 27 May
Tues – Sat 10:00 – 16:00
The Café at the Old Fire Station ♿
40 George St, OX1 2AQ

Crisis artists with lived experience of homelessness worked with staff at Crisis Skylight Oxford to observe and catalogue personal views of the city we live in.

Exhibition & Event
Rory Carnegie in partnership with Fusion Arts: Autoportraits 1992-1996

Exhibition: 20 April - 28 April (Excl. 23 April)

Daily 11:00 - 17:00

Fusion Arts Creative Space ♿
95 Gloucester Green, OX1 2BU

A selection of images from the artist’s ongoing Autoportrait project. The images made between 1992 and 1994 explore authorship, power and the perception of power.


Events

20 April, 18:00 - 20:00
Private view

Exhibition
Shane Balkowitsch: Collaborating with the Past - Native American Portraiture

31 March 2023 - 3 March 2024
Mon 12.00 - 17.00, Tues - Sun & Bank Holiday Mon 10.00 - 17.00
Pitt Rivers Museum ♿
Parks Rd, OX1 3PW

The first UK exhibition of American ambrotypist Shane Balkowitsch's work shows a selection of photographs from a recent acquisition by the Pitt Rivers Museum. Balkowitsch set out to create one thousand portraits of Native American people using this historical wet plate photographic process, and to collaborate closely with each sitter on their photographs.

Exhibition
Wendy Aldiss: My Father’s Things

14 April - 6 May 2023
Thurs - Sun 12.00 - 17.00
Medieval Barn behind the Old Bank Hotel ♿ Magpie Lane, OX1 4BJ

A photographic archive of Wendy Aldiss’s father’s possessions taken after his death. Brian Aldiss was a famous author living in Oxford.  The exhibition features his desk and bookcase strewn with photographs, and other images of his belongings both everyday and unique. Curated by Laura Noble.

Event
 21 April, 2.30pm, curator’s talk

Exhibition & Event
Ye Bing: Archiving the Archive: a Photographic Record

6 April – 17 June (Excl. 1 May)
Mon - Fri, 9:00 - 17:00
Maison Française d’Oxford ♿
2-10 Norham Rd, OX2 6UD

Inspired by the Encyclopédie and Que sais-je?, two radically different and important editorial collections in France, this photographic project uses photographs, books, documents, and objects of daily use in the Maison Française d’Oxford archives to reveal the circulation of knowledge.

Event
 25 April: 17.30 - 19.00, Private view

Getting there

Walking: The Maison Française d’Oxford is half an hour’s walk from the train station.

Bus: From Oxford train station (bus stop R4): line 14 and get off at Park Town and walk for 3 minutes.

(bus stop R5): line S3 gold to Chipping Norton. Get off at Plantation Road and walk for 5 minutes.

(bus stop R1): line 500. Get off at St Margarets Road East Oxford (101 Banbury Road) and walk for 6 minutes.

From the town centre (Magdalen Street)

Stop C1: take line 2, 2A or 2B, and get off at Park Town.

Stop C3: take line 7 gold (and get off at Old Woodstock), line 7, S4 gold or S5 gold and get off at Park Town.

Outdoor Exhibition
YouthLab: Camera Club: Look a Little Closer 

17 – 30 April
Outdoor exhibition, Broad Street (East End). Use what3words for an exact location: sound.pushed.hill.

Access: Level paved area

Budding young photographers aged 12 – 17  worked with artist Elina Medley to create and curate their first exhibition. Inspired by the Festival theme and their own digital archives, their work echoes their online stories and seeks to capture overlooked and undiscovered moments in real life.

All buses to Oxford city centre stop on Magdalen Street - 1 minute’s walk from the exhibition. Cycle parking nearby.

Projections
Road to Karabakh by Rowan J Curtis & Kirk Ellingham

20 - 23 April

Garden Room, Trinity College ♿
Broad St, OX1 3BH
Getting there


Projection of images by Kirk Ellingham accompanied by story & words from writer Rowan J Curtis


20 April 11:00 - 17:00
Exhibition, projection & prints

20 April 18:00: Presentation & private view
RSVP: kirk.ellingham@gmail / julia.paolitto@trinity.ox.ac.uk


23 April from 11:00 - 18:00

All day viewing at the Garden Room. Enter via the college Lodge.

ONLINE EXHIBITIONS

Online Exhibition
In the blink of an eye – photography’s chronicle of the world

From 14 April 2023
Coming soon to the Alamy website

Since the invention of photography we’ve seen its unstoppable rise and use in news reporting and photojournalism. This exhibition showcases some of Alamy’s most iconic photos of the last 150 years whilst exploring the importance of how the news photos of today will become the archive of tomorrow.

Online Exhibition
Schultüte: A German (Photographic) Tradition

Coming soon to the Photo Oxford website


Collector and curator Philip Grover presents a photographic record of an enduring German tradition, the presentation of a paper cone or Schultüte to mark a child’s first day at school. From cartes de visite to personal prints, this is a record of a century of German and photographic history.

Online Exhibition
A Life in Colour: The Autochromes of Sir Robert Bland Bird Bt.

Coming soon to the Photo Oxford website


Oxford has a long history with colour photography and photographers using colour processes. The rediscovered archive of Robert Bland Bird (1876-1960) of autochrome plates is held by the Royal Photographic Society (RPS). This exhibition presents and discusses his colour photography between c.1915 and 1917.  Selected by Dr Michael Pritchard, RPS Director of Programmes.