©Lewis Khan, From the series, Leavers
A mainstay in the UK photographic calendar, the annual festival returns to bring together artists paying homage to community in times of conflict.
In 1969, The Beatles song Come Together was released as part of the band’s new album Abbey Road. The same year, John Lennon and Yoko Ono were leading bed-ins; non-violent protests against the Vietnam War. It was a devastating war that sparked opposition worldwide, on a massive scale. It seems we have learned little from history, as brutal wars in Ukraine, Gaza and beyond, endure. Nations and their people stand divided, ‘truth’ is no longer an absolute term. It is more important than ever to create places of community, collaboration and exchange. That is exactly how we find this year’s Peckham 24 festival, running from 16 to 25 May. Centred on the theme ‘Coming together’, this edition will “focus on stories of resistance and on the work of artists that help to upend the narratives of division,” explains co-founder and co-director Vivienne Gamble. “The festival also argues for the political value of pleasure and playfulness in a time of such darkness and systemic violence,” reads the event introduction.
The programme brings together cross-disciplinary artists and photographers, displaying work in Copeland Park and participating venues in the Peckham area. They include Birmingham-based Clare Hewitt, who presents a deep and creative exploration into themes of loneliness and connection through the life-cycle of twelve 180-year-old oak trees. The project developed into a participatory series of workshops during the Covid-19 lockdown, using photography to connect a community of people local to the forest. Olga Grotova collects the overlooked stories of women from former Soviet states to counter patriarchal narratives that dominate documented history. She expresses their voices through fragmented photograms, stone and soil pigments and abstract mark-making layered on large linen canvases. And, in her project Love Story, Adama Jalloh intimately documents daily life of Black communities living in London, building an archive of images that trace cultural traditions and the city’s changing landscape and question the meaning of home. The exhibitors list also includes Rajyashri Goody, Lewis Khan, Tami Aftab, Taysir Batniji, Nicolas Polli & Sabine Hess and Jaskirt Dhaliwal-Boora. Peckham 24 will also show an image from Paul Lowe’s Bosnians series, a tribute to the late British photojournalist and educator.
For the third year, Copeland Park will host the four winners of the V&A Parasol Foundation Prize for Women in Photography; an open call award developed by the museum to platform global female photographers. This year they include American artist Morgan Levy and their collaborative series Spark of a Nail, which combines performance and documentary photography to highlight the contribution of women and non-binary people to the workforce. Spandita Malik’s Jāḷī—Meshes of Resistance was made by blending photography with hand-embroidery, building on her ongoing study of layering narratives of women’s communities in India. South African collage artist Tshepiso Moropoa splices archival imagery with her personal photographs to ruminate on memory and her cultural heritage, while also observing how those themes percolate through stories of the African diaspora. And Tanya Traboulsi’s project Beirut, Recurring Dream reads like a letter to a lost lover, exploring her home city and its contradictions, and how it has changed following the civil war.
Other things to look out for are A Bigger Book Fair (formerly A Very Small Book Fair at Biblioteka’s original Peckham space in 2022) returning to the main site. “Last year the book fair transformed our extra warehouse space at Unit 8 – it literally came alive with conversation around photo books and zines,” Gamble recalls. “The atmosphere there was buzzing and joyful all weekend, and I can’t wait for it to happen again.” There is also a packed programme of talks featuring the exhibiting artists and bringing in new voices too.
This year, there will be a particular focus on live events and participation. A Welcome Table, directed by Becky Warnock, is “simultaneously an event, engagement programme and art work”. During four events throughout the festival, the artists and audience will be invited to sit around a long table, and participate in discussions on themes stemming from ‘togetherness’ and the exhibited works. For the final iteration, Warnock will curate a special event that takes the form of a hosted dinner, celebrating and connecting directly to Peckham and its community.
“Every edition of Peckham 24 has shaped me and developed me as a curator“
Vivienne Gamble – Founder and Co-Director, Peckham 24
Gamble and her cofounder Jo Dennis’ vision and curation has been instrumental to the evolution of Peckham 24 over the last decade, growing it from a small, independent exhibition co-developed as a part of an unofficial ‘off’ programme of Photo London, to a multi-venue celebration of image-making that has added creative energy into this already vibrant and culture-rich corner of South London.
The ninth edition of the festival will be Gamble’s last as a Londoner, as she leaves the city to start a new chapter as director of Stills Gallery, Edinburgh. She remains co-director, but in future will be less hands-on. “Every edition of Peckham 24 has shaped me and developed me as a curator,” she says. “I will miss it so much, but I am also happy that I can pass the baton of Peckham 24 programming to somebody new for 2026. There aren’t enough opportunities in photography and this will bring one for someone else.The creative process is all about evolution and I am allowing myself to run with that.”
