Best Photography Exhibitions to Watch Out in 2025
A number of photography exhibitions scheduled in 2025 have already taken place in the last couple of months. However, the bulk of photography conventions have yet to occur in different parts of the world.
In this write-up, we incorporated some of the best and long-awaited photography exhibitions of the year. Most of these exhibitions happen once a year at a scheduled date and attract a massive audience globally.
17 Best Photography Exhibitions to Participate in 2025
Countless photography exhibitions, each focusing on different photography genres, are slated to kick off from March to December 2025.
Below, we have listed 18 photography exhibitions priding themselves on having world-class photographers and artists who will showcase their works in these exhibitions —
1. Linder: Danger Came Smiling
Place: Hayward Gallery, London
Date: 11 Feb – 5 May 2025
Entry Fee: £19, Free for Members & under-12s
In a world full of surface, ‘Linder: Danger Came Smiling’ invites you to look deeper. This is Linder’s first major London retrospective. The exhibition covers five decades of her bold, boundary-breaking work.
It offers a radical visual journey that challenges traditional views on gender, sexuality, and the body. Linder is a British artist who emerged from Manchester’s punk scene.
She thrives on contradiction in her work. It critiques and celebrates femininity, artifice, and the complex space between personal and political.
2. Somerset Women in the Second World War
Place: Somerset Rural Life Museum, Glastonbury
Date: 8th March–8th June 2025
Time: 10.00 am – 5.00 pm
Entry Fee: FREE with Museum Unlimited/normal admission applies
Adult: £10.00
Concessions: £8.00
Child (under 5): FREE
Child (aged 5-17) £4.75
Commemorating courage on the 80th anniversary of VE Day
Britain will celebrate 80 years since Victory in Europe Day (VE Day) on 8 May 2025. A new exhibition encourages us to explore the lives of women who bravely supported the nation beyond the battlefields.
“Strength and Resilience: Somerset Women in the Second World War” shares the powerful stories of four remarkable Somerset women. They played key roles in the war and helped rebuild afterward.
3. Shutterfest
Place: St. Louis, Missouri
Date: 7th – 9th April 2026
Shutterfest is a photography convention that is a little different from most photography conferences. It focuses more on first-hand classes and interactive experiences, rather than conventional lecture-style presentations.
You can anticipate plenty of experiences where you will be the one pressing the shutter, instead of writing down notes. Similar to most other exhibitions, you can hope for industry leaders to help guide you through the entire process to let you refine your skills.
If you’re more eager to sharpen your business skills, you can spend your time attending classes on business. Wanna network with vendors and ambassadors at your favorite brand? You will get that on the trade show floor.
Irrespective of what you anticipate getting out of the convention, Shutterfest will provide you moldable experience to help you get whatever you are pursuing.
4. Shape 2025
Place: 279–281 High Street, Glasgow
Date: 4th – 28th September 2025
How do ‘Shapes’ influence how we see the world? This September, the Glasgow Gallery of Photography invites artists and viewers to explore a big question in its new exhibition: Shape 2025.
Shape 2025 is open to all photographers. This includes seasoned pros, emerging talents, and passionate hobbyists. The gallery believes “photography is for everyone”. This show aims to showcase that belief.
Participants can submit up to 8 images related to the theme of Shape. These images might be minimalistic studies of negative space, dramatic silhouettes at golden hour, or detailed compositions based on geometry and architecture.
5. Photo London
Place: Somerset House, London
Date: 15–18 May 2025 (VIP Preview 14 May)
Photo London is known for bringing the best-in-class international photography to the British capital every year. The conference presents the finest historic and vintage works while highlighting fresh photography perspectives.
It also aims to select the world’s leading photography dealers and galleries. Photo London 2025 will display 125 exhibitors from 56 cities globally, including Brighton, London, New York, Atlanta, Berlin, Paris, Mexico City, Tehran, and Melbourne.
There will be exhibitions spotlighting the recent work by this year’s Master of Photography Martin Parr. Also, there will be a display of photographs by pioneering women photographers operating in Britain over the last 100 years, curated by the Centre for British Photography.
6. THE 80s: PHOTOGRAPHING BRITAIN
Place: Tate Modern, London
Date: 21 November 2024 – 5 May 2025
Time: Monday to Sunday 10 AM – 6 PM
Entry Fee: £20, concessions available
Step into a decade that shook Britain. Experience it through the eyes of those who documented it. “The 80s: Photographing Britain” is more than an exhibition. It’s a time capsule of resistance, resilience, and creative rebellion.
Amid the political and social changes of Thatcher’s Britain, this impactful show unites a range of photographers, collectives, and publications. They used their cameras not just to see, but to take action.
This exhibition does more than display photos; it takes you behind the lens. You’ll see how this era changed photography in Britain. It transformed photography not just as art, but also as activism and cultural change.
7. Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize 2025
Date: 07 Mar 2025 – 15 Jun 2025
Price: £10 (£7 concession). Advance: £8.50 (£6 concession).
Since its start in 1996, the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize has grown into a top international award in contemporary photography. Now in its 2025 edition, the prize highlights the most daring and insightful photographers from the past year.
These artists push the medium beyond looks and explore themes of memory, identity, and transformation. The 2025 shortlist showcases the many forms photography can take.
This year’s artists include:
- Cristina De Middel
- Rahim Fortune
- Tarrah Krajnak
- Lindokuhle Sobekwa
8. Getxophoto 2025
Global voices. Local streets. One bold festival of photography.
Date: 29 May – 22 June 2025
Place: Basque Country, Spain
From May 29 to June 22, 2025, Getxo, Spain, will host the 19th Getxophoto International Image Festival. This year, the focus is on powerful visual storytelling. It’s time to press REC.
In its 8th Open Call, Getxophoto invited visual artists and photographers worldwide to respond to this year’s theme. It focuses on documentation, transformation, and reclaiming the narrative in real time.
An all-women jury composed of:
- Verónica Fieiras (Buenos Aires)
- Carla Bacelar (Braga)
- María Wills (Bogotá)
- María Ptqk (Bilbao)
9. Second Nature: Photography in the Age of the Anthropocene
Date: February 26–August 3, 2025
Place: Cantor Arts Center (Stanford University)
Second Nature, a collaboration between Duke University’s Nasher Museum of Art and deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, showcases 44 artists using photography to explore the Anthropocene’s impact on the planet.
The exhibition covers themes like climate change, colonial legacies, forced migration, and ecological trauma. It is divided into four sections:
- Reconfiguring Nature
- Toxic Sublime
- Inhumane Geographies
- Envisioning Tomorrow
These works suggest that the Anthropocene is not just one story. Instead, it is a complex web of environmental, social, and industrial forces. The exhibition showcases melting ice and polluted landscapes. It captures a world in change and raises the question: what comes next?
10. Photo Creators Conference
Place: Tucson, Arizona, USA
Date: May 5-8, 2025
It’s an opportunity to connect with fellow creators at the Photo Creators Conference in the mind-blowing setting of Tucson at a gorgeous working Dude Ranch.
This convention renders a unique educational and social experience where you’ll pick up how to refine your photography skills, delve into diverse topics from headshots to underwater photography, and rejoice in unrestricted shooting with agency models.
11. Tokyo International Art Fair 2025
Place: Tokyo, Japan
Date: 28 – 29 November 2025
It’s the 8th edition of the fantastic fair mounted by Sakura Group. The event attracts 15,000+ visitors that are pro buyers, collectors, and investors over the 2-day convention in the heart of Roppongi.
Prominently known for Tokyo’s most affluent and high-end areas, featuring world-class art museums, Michelin-starred eateries, and scads of luxury shopping destinations.
12. IL RITIRO
Place: Tuscany, Italy
Date: August 25-29, 2025
Kick off a transformative journey at IL RITIRO, hosted by super-talented shutterbugs and Aftershoot Ambassador Gary Evans.
With a group of amazing attendees, you can enjoy individualized coaching, luxury-styled shoots, and profound business portfolio reviews.
The location promises to be a remarkable photography retreat where you can feast on dining, off-site excursions, and make memorable connections.
13. Forbidden Territories: 100 Years of Surreal Landscapes
Place: Wakefield, UK
Date: 23 Nov 2024 – 21 April 2025
Entry Fee: £13 / £11 / Free for members, Wakefield District dwellers and under 18s
‘Surrealism’ originated in 1924, and Forbidden Territories will mark 100 years of this phenomenon.
Surrealism continues to motivate artists operating today and has become one of the most influential artistic, intellectual, and literary movements of the 20th Century.
This event will let you explore the terrains of surrealism over 100 years. It will let you fathom how surreal ideas can transform the landscape into a metaphor for the unconscious and extend means to express political concerns, gender constraints, and freedoms.
Trans-historical, thematic groupings of artwork will bring together artists of Breton’s circle from the 1920s. Salvador Dalí, Man Ray, Eileen Agar, Lee Miller, and Max Ernst are the noteworthy ones who will show their smashing works.
Other artists include surrealists like Leonora Carrington, Edith Rimmington, Marion Adnams, Conroy Maddox, and Desmond Morris. Contemporary ones operating within the legacy of surrealism include Michael Dean, Helen Marten, and Portia Zvavahera.
14. Evolve Workshops
Place: Milan & Lake Como, Italy
Date: September 22-25, 2025
Jamie Findlay and Noella Andres have over 30 years of combined experience. They offer 4 days and 4 nights of hands-on photography training. Enjoy stunning high-end shoots and transform your business.
Day 1-2: Shoot with couples and portrait models in unique vignettes. Jamie and Noella guide you every step of the way, from posing to portfolio curation. No models are left unattended. You’ll receive full-time mentorship to boost your shooting skills.
Day 3-4: Join business coaching sessions to expand your artistic portfolio and enhance your brand and client experience.
Expect many styled shoots, real-time support, and great access to our styling teams. All this is designed to match the quality you want to achieve.
15. Paz Errázuriz: Dare to Look
Place: MK Gallery, UK
Date: 19 July – 5 October 2025
This exhibition features over 170 photos by Paz Errázuriz, a well-known Chilean photographer. Her work, from the 1970s to today, is all about capturing the lives of people on the fringes with a lot of heart.
Errázuriz’s photos defy convention, documenting psychiatric patients, Trans communities, and more. Her fearless storytelling earned her international recognition and prestigious awards.
16. Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Place: East Pavilion Gallery, South Kensington, London
Date: 11 October 2024 to 29 June 2025 (Monday – Sunday, 10 AM – 5:50 PM)
Entry Fee: From £15.50
Wildlife photography reflects the lives and habitats of different wild animals. In this exhibition, you will get to explore the planet’s habitats. They are in sprawling cities and the deep polar seas. You will explore them through wildlife photos.
You can observe the creatures that bank on these places and meet face to face with species at risk of extinction, as well as those we’ve brought back from the brink. Take a look at first-hand human activities, both good and vile, that are shaping the natural world we rely on.
The videos have expert insights and striking photography. They will inspire awe at nature’s beauty and diversity. Besides, they will renew your drive to protect the wildlife.
Continue your journey online. Find the planet-friendly steps you can take to protect the places and species you encounter.
17. Identity 2025
Place: 279–281 High Street, Glasgow
Date: 3rd – 31st October 2025
The submission deadline: 23rd May 2025
Participation Fee: £48.00
This October, the Glasgow Gallery of Photography invites photographers to explore the theme of Identity. Identity comes in many forms, from religion and culture to national pride. Hobbies and personal passions also shape who we are. Every perspective matters.
‘Identity’ is an open call for emerging and established photographers. Submit up to 8 images that reflect personal or collective identity. Selected works will be shown in the gallery and online. Participants will receive a digital certificate and a chance to be named Photographer of the Month.
No matter where you are, in Scotland or beyond, this exhibition invites you to share your story. Photography is for everyone!
Ready to Participate?
Now that you know the all-important photography exhibitions that will take place in the running and upcoming months of 2025. The exhibition venues, as mentioned above, spread across various countries, depending on the history, genre, artists, and other key factors.
You won’t take part in all the exhibitions listed here, as some of them clash with one another. All you should do is find your passion. Then, figure out your needs and understand your access. Finally, book your ticket in no time.
