Opening Week: Full Schedule

The opening week is packed full of talks, tours and special music events.

Here’s a cheat sheet to help you plan your week and share with friends: DOWNLOAD SCHEDULE

WEDNESDAY 14 OCTOBER

6-9pm | Launch Night | The Welcome Building
Free / PWYC | Booking required |

Join us from 6-9pm at the Welcome Building (Avon Street BS2 0QF) where we will be launching 5 exhibitions:

– One of Many: An Alternative History of Photography (Group exhibition)
– Stray Sod by Maria Lax
– Photo Kegham by Kegham Djeghalian Jr
– Common Sense by Martin Parr: Festival Tribute
– HEAT (Group exhibition in collaboration with the Magnum Foundation)

To mark the launch, we have organised two special in-conversation events, including musical contributions:

First, Christine Eyene (Curator of George Hallett: Home & Exile) will be unpacking the legacy of South African jazz musicians who lived in exile during the apartheid years, sharing rare recordings alongside portraits taken by George Hallett. Following this, Maria Lax will be in-conversation with the festival’s curator, unpacking the Irish folk tales behind her exhibition Stray Sod. Music programmer David McKeown will join Maria, playing rare folk songs to accompany her images. 

THURSDAY 15 OCTOBER

4–6pm | Exhibition Tour | Martin Parr Foundation → Arnos Vale Cemetery
Free | Booking required |
At Martin Parr Foundation, curator Isaac Blease will lead a tour of the exhibition Dark Tales, exploring the relationship between British documentary photography and the gothic tradition. Following this, we will head to Arnos Vale Cemetery where artist Michel Campeau will introduce his exhibition Darkroom, which is staged in the Anglican Chapel Crypt. 

FRIDAY 16 OCTOBER

10am-4pm | Festival Symposium | Arnolfini, BS1 4QA
£20–25 + student discounts | Booking required

A full day of artist talks and in-conversations bringing together leading voices from across the festival programme. Speakers include Natasha Christia, Kegham Djeghalian Jr, Joy Gregory, Anna Jornet, Akshay Mahajan, Liu Hsing Yu and Annie Wang, with conversations ranging from Palestinian history to queer representation in East Asia.

4.30-6.30pm | Exhibition Opening | Redcliffe Caves, BS1 6SR
Free | No booking required
Join us for the opening of No Pasarán by Natasha Christia, Julián Barón and Anna Jornet. Marking the 90th anniversary of the Spanish Civil War, the exhibition brings together three Spanish artists whose work explores how histories and symbols of the past continue to shape contemporary Spain.

5-8pm | Exhibition Opening | Arnolfini, BS1 4QA
Free | RSVP
Celebrate the opening of Joy Gregory’s landmark exhibition at Arnolfini, bringing together more than 150 works from across her career. Since the early 1980s, Gregory has challenged expectations of photography and explored questions around Black British and feminist representation.

8-11pm | Opening Music | Arnolfini, BS1 4QA
£10–15 + student discounts | Booking required

We have invited three of Bristol’s most compelling live artists to develop new performances for the opening of the festival. The line-up includes: Jabu + Memotone, Dan Johnson & Anushiye Yarnell, and Regina Collage. The night will also feature projections of photography from across the festival programme.

SATURDAY 17 OCTOBER

10am-5pm | Exhibition Walking Tours | Multiple venues
£6-12 + student discounts | Booking required

Explore the festival with our curators, visiting a selection of exhibitions across Bristol and hearing directly from some of the artists involved. Two separate tours are available, covering different venues and exhibitions. You can attend the morning, afternoon or both.

Morning Tour | 10am–12.45pm | Bristol Museum & Art Gallery → Bristol Cathedral → Arnolfini
Meet at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery to explore Persistence Studies by Sheida Soleimani and People of Clay by Akshay Mahajan. Continue on to Bristol Cathedral for Holly Lynton’s Beyond the Bounds, including an artist conversation with Christiane Monarchi and Gordon Macdonald, the editors of Hapax Magazine. From the cathedral, we will head to Arnolfini to view Joy Gregory’s Catching Flies with Honey.

Afternoon Tour | 2–5pm | Centrespace → Kit Form → IC Visual Lab → The Welcome Building
Starting at Centrespace with Family Times by Annie Wang and Liu Hsing Yu, the tour continues to Kit Form for Inherited by Yuko Edwards and Kelly O’Brien, then IC Visual Lab for George Hallett’s Home & Exile. Finish at The Welcome Building where there will be 5 exhibitions. 

SUNDAY 18 OCTOBER

2–4pm | Exhibition Opening | Kit Form
Free | No Booking Required
Join us at Kit Form for an informal Sunday gathering celebrating the opening of Inherited by Yuko Edwards and Kelly O’Brien. 

BOP Bristol – Books on Photography | Martin Parr Foundation
Taking place across the opening weekend, BOP Bristol is the city’s annual photobook festival, organised by Martin Parr Foundation. Discover photography books, publishers and artists from Bristol and beyond.

ELSEWHERE IN THE CITY

BOP BOOKFAIR
17 & 18 Oct 2026
Paintworks

The book fair is held across the Paintworks Event Space and Martin Parr Foundation. Publishers, photographers and photobook sellers join us from across the UK, Europe and further afield to showcase the latest work happening in the photobook community.

DOWNLOAD OPENING WEEK CHEAT SHEET

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