RPS' 166th International Photography Exhibition

166th Edition Awards given to Lydia Goldblatt and Keerthana Kunnath for outstanding contributions

51 photographers chosen to exhibit work in the 166th International Photography Exhibition - Exhibition to open at Saatchi Gallery, London on Tuesday 5th August until Thursday 18th September.

The exhibiting artists for the 166th edition of the Royal Photographic Society’s International Photography Exhibition (IPE), the world’s longest-running photography exhibition, have been announced. Renowned for showcasing the diversity of contemporary photography from around the world, the works will be on display at London’s Saatchi Gallery from Tuesday 5th August to Thursday 18th September 2025.

More than 4000 photographers, both amateur and professional, submitted work for consideration in the 166th IPE open call. 113 prints from 51 photographers were selected by a guest panel for inclusion in the exhibition.

The IPE has always reflected the times and this year’s submissions are no exception with many photographers focussing on themes that include environmental issues; identity; community; family; and culture, showing how contemporary photographers engage with and capture aspects of the world that are not only visually compelling but also socially and culturally significant.

With this edition showing at Saatchi Gallery, London, more people than ever will be able to view the work and appreciate the broad range of photography and themes captured in the final selection.

Bone, from the series Fugue © Lydia Goldblatt. Courtesy of The Royal Photographic Society

Victoria Humphries, CEO of the RPS comments: “This is another edition of the RPS International Photography Exhibition that pushes the boundaries of creative expression and celebrates the diversity and evolution of photography. When you view this exhibition and see the same themes evolving from every corner of the world you can't underestimate the importance of the RPS International Photography Exhibition in bringing these works together.”

The selection panel of experts consisted of Yuxing Chen, a Chinese artist and researcher based in the UK and previous recipient of the IPE 165 award; Kalpesh Lathigra, a British Indian artist occupying documentary and art practise and senior lecturer at London College of Communication/ University of the Arts London; Anne Nwakalor, a British Nigerian Photo Editor and Communications Officer and founding editor of No! Wahala Magazine; Nicola Shipley, Curator, Producer, Mentor and co-founder and Director of GRAIN projects; and photography consultant and long-term member of the IPE selection panel, Dr Michael Pritchard.

The two award recipients for the 166th edition of the International Photography Exhibition have been announced, with Lydia Goldblatt, and Keerthana Kunnath receiving the honours. Lydia Goldblatt received the IPE Award for her series Fugue, which explores motherhood as a central theme, considering love and grief, mothering and losing a mother, as well as intimacy and distance. The Under 30s Award was presented to Keerthana Kunnath for her series Not What You Saw, which centres on South Indian female bodybuilders who challenge entrenched gender and beauty norms by embracing physical strength, a trait often considered as masculine.

Flame, from the series Fugue © Lydia Goldblatt. Courtesy of The Royal Photographic Society

On receiving the IPE award Lydia Goldblatt said: “It is a huge honour to have my work selected for the RPS IPE 166. I am deeply humbled and very grateful to receive the IPE Award, and so excited to exhibit Fugue in the company of wonderful photographers. I am profoundly moved to know that this project, which began so quietly and privately, has resonated with the esteemed jury, and that it will have the opportunity to be seen by others who might also connect to its themes. To have my work recognised and seen within the rich context and history of the RPS is a very great privilege.''

On receiving the Under 30s IPE Award Keerthana Kunnath said: “I am honoured to be named one of the two award winners at this year’s RPS International Photography Exhibition. This recognition from such a prestigious institution marks a significant milestone in my photographic journey. It’s a joy to see the series being appreciated and celebrated. Thanks to all the judges.”

Simon Hill HonFRPS, RPS President, comments: ''The RPS is proud to champion a dynamic and inclusive international photographic community. The International Photography Exhibition, with its unique legacy and global reputation, continues to be a vital platform for celebrating the richness and significance of contemporary photography. This 166th edition showcases an extraordinary collection of work from some of the most innovative and talented photographers worldwide. It is a testament to the power of photography to inspire, challenge, and connect us, and we are confident that this carefully curated exhibition will captivate and resonate with audiences through its diverse subjects, themes, techniques, and aesthetics.''

Boomika from the series Not What You Saw © Keerthana Kunnath. Courtesy of The Royal Photographic Society

Boomika 2 from the series Not What You Saw © Keerthana Kunnath. Courtesy of The Royal Photographic Society

About The Royal Photographic Society:
The Royal Photographic Society (The RPS) is an educational charity with an international membership. Founded in 1853, when photography was in its infancy, the objective of The RPS is to make the art and science of photography more widely available and is committed to bringing photography to everyone. Today, The RPS is a world-leading photographic community, made up of accomplished artists, dedicated academics, hobbyists, and seasoned professionals The RPS aims to inspire people through its innovative exhibitions, its award-winning RPS Journal, and its highly respected awards and events. The RPS helps photographers create images through its educational programmes, qualifications, and its public initiatives; and it seeks to connect photographers through its UK and international community groups. Membership is open to everyone.
rps.org

About Saatchi Gallery:
Since 1985, Saatchi Gallery has provided an innovative platform for contemporary art. Exhibitions have presented works by largely unseen young artists, or by international artists whose work has been rarely or never exhibited in the UK. This approach has made the Gallery one of the most recognised names in contemporary art. Since moving to its current 70,000 square feet space in the Duke of York’s Headquarters in Chelsea, London, the Gallery has welcomed over 10 million visitors. The Gallery hosts thousands of school visits annually and has over 6 million followers on social media. In 2019 Saatchi Gallery became a registered charity, beginning a new chapter in its history.
www.saatchigallery.com

About to Leave © Timon Benson. Courtesy of The Royal Photographic Society

Our Lady of Fatima From the series Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet © Ana Paganini. Courtesy of The Royal Photographic Society

Kalle, military conscript. Helsinki, 2023 © Peter Holliday. Courtesy of The Royal Photographic Society

Todd Hido: Intimate Distance, Over Thirty Years of Photographs, A Chronological Album

By Todd Hido

Publisher : Aperture

2025 | 320 pages

An expanded chronology charting Todd Hido's career, with ten years of new work.

Well known for his photography of landscapes and suburban housing, and for his use of detail and luminous color, acclaimed American photographer Todd Hido casts a distinctly cinematic eye across all that he photographs, digging deep into his memory and imagination for inspiration. Newly revised and expanded, Intimate Distance: Over Thirty Years of Photographs, A Chronological Album includes ten years of new work since the book's first publication, including breathtaking new images from his travels to Iceland, Norway, and Japan, where he brings both a familiar eye and an expansive new vision.

Though Hido has published many smaller monographs of individual bodies of work, this gathers his most iconic images, along with many unpublished works to provide the most complete and comprehensive monograph charting his career. The book is organized chronologically, showing how his series overlap in exciting ways. David Campany introduces the work and looks at the kind of cinematic spectatorship the work demands. And Katya Tylevich muses on the making of each of Hido's major monographs, "The photographs lead as far as human-made roads go. They reach the periphery of utility wires, footprints, and paths already taken." From exterior to interior, surface observations to subconscious investigations, from landscapes to nudes, from America and beyond, this midcareer collection reveals how his unique focus has developed and shifted over time, yet the tension between distance and intimacy remains.

All About Todd Hido

Stephen Shames: A Lifetime in Photography

By Stephen Shames

Publisher : Kehrer Verlag

2025 | 228 pages

The life’s work of one of the most important photojournalists of our time, covering major events in American history from the 1960s to present

Stephen Shames is an American photojournalist for more than five decades. In his award-winning photo essays, he draws attention to social issues such as child poverty and racism. During his career Shames authored numerous books, among others Power to the People: The World of the Black Panthers and Outside the Dream: Child Poverty in America. Kehrer Verlag is now publishing a comprehensive book containing many unpublished photos. Although Shames photographed many diverse subjects including presidents from Kennedy to Obama, activists and visionaries like Martin Luther King or Stephen Hawking, and people from countless cultures, there is a thread connecting his pictures: Shames’ photos of children and families focus on what tears us apart and binds us together: violence and abuse, but also love, hope, and transcendence. The images come from his heart and soul.

Ralph Gibson: Photographs 1960-2024

By Ralph Gibson

Publisher : Taschen

2025 | 552 pages

Travelling widely, Ralph Gibson works primarily in inspired series, associated image reveries in both monochrome and colour, whose titles―The Somnambulist, Déjà-Vu, Days at Sea, and Chiaroscuro―underline the particular poetic sensibility that informs his work. Starting out in 1960 with Dorothea Lange, he made his way to New York in 1967 and was soon considered in the same light as the likes of Larry Clark and Diane Arbus. The photographs and series can of course speak for themselves. But for Gibson there is a philosophy at play behind the image, and in the included short texts he proposes his thesis. Nudes, portraits, still lives, narratives―loyal to his Leica, Gibson ranges between genres and creates new categories of vision. He gets closer to things and meditates on them in a way that only the silence of the image can attempt.Produced in close collaboration with the artist, this book offers the fruit of more than six decades of image-making. From Gibson’s first photographs in San Francisco, Hollywood, and New York in the 1960s right up to the present day, this is the most comprehensive collection of this highly acclaimed photographer.

All About Ralph Gibson

Richard Avedon Immortal: Portraits of Aging, 1951-2004

By Richard Avedon

Publisher : Phaidon Press

2025 | 208 pages

An unflinching exploration of aging from one of the twentieth century’s most influential photographers

For more than half a century, Richard Avedon sought to represent advancing age in the faces of the people he photographed. From his earliest years at Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue through to the twenty-first century, Avedon routinely and audaciously broke the rule of flattering public personalities in his portraits. Instead, he chose to highlight the onslaught of what he called the “avalanche of age,” dramatizing the universal experience of getting older.

Accompanying a groundbreaking exhibition at The Image Centre at Toronto Metropolitan University and The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Immortal is the first book to delve into Avedon’s unflinching representation of aging throughout his career.

This elegant hardcover volume features nearly 100 portraits of cultural luminaries, each printed in striking tritone, such as Michelangelo Antonioni, Truman Capote, Marcel Duchamp, Duke Ellington, Toni Morrison, Patti Smith, and Stephen Sondheim, as well as one of Avedon’s last self-portraits. Texts by a star-studded cohort of authors, including Vince Aletti, Adam Gopnik, Paul Roth, and Gaëlle Morel, shed new light on an under-represented element of Avedon’s practice.

Thoughtfully edited and beautifully produced, Immortal testifies emphatically to the determination with which people confront the relentless advance of mortality.

RPS' 166th International Photography Exhibition

166th Edition Awards given to Lydia Goldblatt and Keerthana Kunnath for outstanding contributions

51 photographers chosen to exhibit work in the 166th International Photography Exhibition - Exhibition to open at Saatchi Gallery, London on Tuesday 5th August until Thursday 18th September.

More information about the exhibition

Selected Books