Copiously illustrated, Queer Lens explores the transformative role of photography in LGBTQ+ communities from the nineteenth century to the present day.
Photography’s power to capture a subject—representing reality, or a close approximation—has inherently been linked with the construction and practice of identity. Since the camera’s invention in 1839, and despite periods of severe homophobia, the photographic art form has been used by and for individuals belonging to dynamic LGBTQ+ communities, helping shape and affirm queer culture and identity across its many intersections.
Queer Lens explores this transformative force of photography, which has played a pivotal role in increasing queer visibility. Lively essays by scholars and artists explore myriad manifestations of queer culture, both celebrating complex interpretations of people and relationships and resisting rigid definitions. Featuring a rich selection of images—including portraits of queer individuals, visual records of queer kinship, and documentary photographs of early queer groups and protests—this volume investigates the medium’s profound role in illuminating the vibrant tapestry of LGBTQ+ communities.
Calling the Shots: LGBTQIA+ Photography from the Victoria and Albert Museum is an engaging and accessible exploration of LGBTQIA+ representation in photography, offering a groundbreaking survey of queer history through one of the world’s largest photography collections. Drawing from the mid-nineteenth century to the present, the book showcases a rich array of global LGBTQIA+ photographers, subjects, and communities.
Through six thematic chapters—Icons, Staged, Body, Liberty, Making a Scene, and Beyond the Frame—the volume highlights the vital role of photography in expressing, documenting, and celebrating queer life. Each chapter opens with a concise essay, followed by a visually stunning collection of photographs. Expanded captions and "artist in focus" features spotlight key works and moments in queer history, drawing attention to the intersection of photography with activism, performance, nightlife, and subcultures.
The book thoughtfully juxtaposes bold proclamations of queer identity with personal explorations of self, documenting moments of struggle, joy, and everyday life alongside staged performances and photographic fictions that challenge traditional notions of gender and sexuality.
Curated by Zorian Clayton, Calling the Shots serves as both an inspiring visual archive and a vital resource for anyone interested in the history of photography, as well as those passionate about LGBTQIA+ history. Through its inclusive lens, it offers a powerful and expansive appraisal of how photography has shaped and continues to reflect queer communities and culture.
"Another Time, Another Place" is an homage to New York City in the 1980s, when it was raw, chaotic, and alive with possibility. Downtown Manhattan was a place where art, music, performance, and nightlife collided—igniting a cultural revolution that still echoes today.
Where Do I Go? is the newest photobook by Rania Matar, bringing together approximately 128 color portraits of young women living in Lebanon today. Released in the shadow of the fiftieth anniversary of the Lebanese Civil War, the book offers a meditation on life shaped by prolonged instability, without allowing conflict to dominate the narrative. Instead of foregrounding destruction, Matar centers creativity, dignity, and resilience, crafting a body of work that quietly insists on the complexity of everyday existence amid uncertainty.
Award-winning Palestinian photographer Ahmad Al-Bazz presents a groundbreaking new work, The Erasure of Palestine, the result of a three-year journey documenting the remnants of hundreds of Palestinian villages and towns depopulated and destroyed from 1948 to the present. Through his lens, Al-Bazz confronts history, memory, and contemporary occupation, offering a stark counter-narrative to the dominant historical record.
With Cockaigne, Austrian photographer Gregor Sailer directs his gaze toward the largely unseen machinery of contemporary food production. Drawing inspiration from the medieval legend of the “Land of Cockaigne” — a fantasy of limitless abundance — Sailer examines the very real systems, technologies, and infrastructures that underpin how food is produced, distributed, and controlled today. The book challenges readers to rethink ideas of nourishment, consumption, and collective responsibility.
In 1998, the Good Friday Agreement was signed in Belfast, signaling peace following 30 years of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland known as The Troubles. Photographer Julie McCarthy photographed annually for five years on Shankill Road, a one-mile Protestant/Loyalist enclave running parallel to the Catholic/Republican area. A wall called the “Peace Wall” divides the two communities.
For the first time, Jo Spence: The Unknown Recordings brings together the full transcripts of key historic recordings made with and by the acclaimed British photographer, writer, and feminist Jo Spence (1934–1992), alongside a wealth of unpublished photographs and documents. This landmark book offers an intimate window into the life, work, and politics of one of the most influential figures in British documentary photography.
For more than thirty years, Photoworks has been at the heart of photography culture in the UK and beyond, nurturing artists, commissioning new work, and creating opportunities for people to engage deeply with the medium. Founded in 1995 from the Cross Channel Photographic Mission, Photoworks has grown into a nationally and internationally recognised charity that supports photographers and visual thinkers at every stage of their careers.
In October, when we were down in Bristol for the Foundation’s BOP event, Martin, Caroline and I got together to select the edit for this new 2026 edition of Small World.
It had become almost a tradition that with every reprint of the book we would change the cover and add in a number of new photos that Martin had rediscovered or taken recently. Over the years, Martin and I made six different editions of the book – each subtly different and each with a new cover. For this edition we added in eight new images, five taken in 2025 and three earlier images. Back in Stockport over the following weeks I adjusted the sequence to accommodate these new images, sent it over to Martin for his approval and then sent it off to EBS, our printers in Italy.
SNAP COLLECTIVE presents the first book by photographer Asako Naruto, who has received numerous international awards. Through her lens, the artist explores the contours of “what is present” while
tracing the silent echoes of “what is absent.” Divided into ten chapters, the
book gathers fragments of “untold stories” that float through the streets of
Madrid, reflecting the fleeting nature of memory and the delicate fragility of
existence.
