Photoworks and Eidolon Centre celebrate all photographs vernacular
In Collaboration with the University of Westminster
Location: Fyvie Hall, University of Westminster
Ground floor, 309 Regent Street, London, W1B 2HW
Date: 27 March, 2026
1pm – 6pm
Photoworks and Eidolon Centre for Everyday Photography invite you to an afternoon of talks celebrating vernacular photography and the importance of everyday image-making, developed in collaboration with the University of Westminster and in conjunction with Photoworks' Photography+.
Vernacular photography captures the ordinary, the personal, and the overlooked moments of daily existence – the vast, largely unexamined world of banal imaging that exists beyond the professional or artistic sphere. The event brings together Eidolon’s community of vernacular photography aficionados with Photoworks’ contemporary photography audience, creating a shared space for exchange. The programme is photography-forward, prioritising conversation and engagement over long-form presentations.
Programme
Parallel Pictures: Everyday Images, Circulation and the Archive
A panel convened by Photoworks bringing together Photography+ contributors Laura Havlin and Carolina Semprucci to explore how vernacular photography exposes gaps and silences in photographic archives, and how digital images are reshaping authorship, amateurism, and memory, moderated by Amin Yousefi, assistant curator and editor of Photography+.
Finders, Keepers? The Role of Collectors and the Preservation of Everyday Photography
A panel convened by Eidolon Centre examining the under-acknowledged role of vernacular photography collectors as stewards of photographic history with panelists Marta Weiss, curator of photography at the Victoria and Albert Museum and Pelumi Odubanjo, curator, writer, and researcher, moderated by Róza Tekla Szilágyi, director of Eidolon Centre for Everyday Photography.
Collector Perspectives: Archive of Modern Conflict – represented by Timothy Prus, visual artist and curator of Archive of Modern Conflict,
and the Photobooth Technicians Project – represented by Jen Grasso, photobooth technician and archivist at the University of Brighton Design Archives, co-creator of the analogue photobooth community archive and the Photobooth Technicians Project
Two collecting entities have been invited to bring a single photograph of particular significance to them and speak for ten minutes about their personal connection with it. More than a showcase, this is a rare opportunity to hear directly from those who collect about what it actually feels like to encounter and hold on to an image.
Biscuit Tins and Everyday Collage
David Bate, Professor of Photography, and Susan Ribeiro, artist and practice-based researcher, both at the University of Westminster, will discuss the practice of collage in everyday photography. Their conversation will focus on Susan's research project, Biscuit Tins, which centres on fourteen biscuit tins assembled by her mother between 1974 and 2020, containing vernacular photographs and documents relating to migration from the Iberian Peninsula to Britain and the formation of family life across Spanish, Portuguese and British contexts. The project explores themes of collecting, memory and social identity, examining how migration is remembered and transmitted through domestic photographic archives from a second-generation perspective.
12:30 Doors open
13:00–13:30 Opening remarks
13:30–14:30 Parallel Pictures: Everyday Images, Circulation and the Archive + Q&A
A panel convened by Photoworks bringing together Photography+ contributors Laura Havlin and Carolina Semprucci.
14:30–15:00 Lunch Break
15:00 – 15:15 Collector Perspectives: Archive of Modern Conflict, represented by Timothy Prus
15:15 – 16:15 Finders, Keepers? The Role of Collectors and the Preservation of Everyday Photography + Q&A
A panel convened by Eidolon Centre with panelists Marta Weiss, curator of photography at the Victoria and Albert Museum and Pelumi Odubanjo, curator, writer, and researcher.
16:15 – 16:30 Short Break
16:30–16:45 Collector Perspectives: Photobooth Technicians Project, represented by Jen Grasso
16:45–17:30 Biscuit Tins and Everyday Collage
David Bate, Professor of Photography, and Susan Ribeiro, artist and practice-based researcher, both at the University of Westminster in conversation.
17:30–18:00 Networking & Informal Close
How to attend:
This is a ticketed event, grab your tickets here.
Photoworks Friends and students of the University of Westminster can attend free of charge, on a first-come, first-served basis. Friends can RSVP by emailing friends@photoworks.org.uk. University of Westminster students will receive a discount code directly from the University.
We are also offering five bursary tickets for those who would benefit from free access. To request one, please email friends@photoworks.org.uk.
Cover image: © Vicki Couchman / British Culture Archive (@britishculturearchive)
