CENTRAL is Birmingham’s annual photobook festival.
The event brings together a wide ranging group of publishers, talks and exhibits all centred around the photobook.
INFO
CENTRAL
23-24 October 2026
EH Smith Design Centre
312 – 314 Bradford St,
Birmingham, B5 6ET
CENTRAL
23-24 October 2026
EH Smith Design Centre
312 – 314 Bradford St,
Birmingham, B5 6ET
Friday 10-7pm
Saturday 10-5pm
Friday Afterparty:
[Readings by Borough Inc. & Music by Alex Astbury]
Saturday 10-5pm
Friday Afterparty:
[Readings by Borough Inc. & Music by Alex Astbury]
PUBLISHERS
Antiphon Editions
Borough Inc.
Besides Press
First Fold Books
Gulf Photo Plus
No Go press
Out of place books
Overlapse
Oval Press
Photomafia
Raft Press
Stanley/Barker
Shire Press
Silvergrass press
Surface Editions
SODA (MMU)
Yang Zhou
Village
GRAIN
Emmerson Press
Birmingham Architectural Assoc.
TALKS
12:00 - Errare: The photobook as art object
Chris Neophytou with Flora Kay
14:00 - World of Mirrors:
Photographs, texts and time travel
Lillian Wilkie
15:00 - The Blindest Man: On desire, belief and obsession
Emily Graham
16:00 - Paradise Place
Stuart Whipps
12:00 - Stutter: fragments from
a history of British photography
John Spinks
14:00 - Inanimate Sensation
Jermaine Francis
15:00 - Photobooks: community and collaboration
Hark1karan X Raj Dhunna
EXHIBITS
Island Studies: photobooks from cyprus
Curated by Gamze Sanli & Chris Neophytou
Stutter: fragments from a history
of British photography
Curated by John Spinks
Future Photobook Award
Curated by Matt Johnston & Emma Lambert
All talks & exhibits are FREE
No booking required
INSTA ←
UPCOMING EVENTS -
CENTRAL Photobook Club.
A regular informal event which will host guest speakers delving into some of their favourite photobooks
CENTRAL is an event that is not just about buying and selling photobooks but more about sharing, learning and engaging with the photobook; centring a community of makers, collectors, researchers & new audiences.
The photobook fair showcases a diverse range of publishing practices, from high-production, cloth-bound books to experimental book objects, as well as the handmade, the stapled, the photocopied —and everything in between.
The Blindest Man: On desire, belief and obsession
The Blindest Man (VOID, 2022) is a visual quest in book form. In 1993 an author buried a golden sculpture— the Chouette d’Or (Golden Owl)—and released a book with eleven allusive clues as to its whereabouts somewhere in France. Nearly 30 years later, many continue to search for the treasure which remains unfound. Over a period of three years, artist Emily Graham, photographed those pursuing the treasure in their potentially futile quest, whilst collecting research and ephemera. The resulting images, combined with documentation on the search—texts, correspondence and maps— form her book The Blindest Man.
Emily will talk about the book as artistic process; how the book form was key to the making of this work, and how this book is constructed as an open ended search: complete with hidden documents, alternate ways of reading, and dead ends.
Brad Feuerhelm (Nearest Truth) said of the work:"This is the type of book for book nerds who want to take time to holistically examine what a book could be."
Lillian Wilkie
World of Mirrors: Photographs, texts and time travel
This talk uses Petit Planete, a series of photo-text travel books edited by the French filmmaker Chris Marker between 1954 and 1964, to explore intermedial photo-texts, the rhythm of travel and time travel narratives, and the politics of book design. Using historical and contemporary examples, we'll discuss what can be learned when we collapse distinctions between photography, cinema, fiction and travel writing.
Errare: The photobook as art object
Chris will be joined by Flora Kay, Head of Learning and Engagement at The Barber institute of Fine art to discuss an ongoing photobook commision. Chris Neophytou is working with the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, engaging with the histories of the building and its surrounding context, exploring how architecture, place and access intersect. The talk will explore the the proposal of a book aobject and how it might function in a Museum/gallery context.
Stuart Whipps
Paradise Place
2026 marks the tenth anniversary of the demolition of Birmingham Central Library. In this talk, Stuart Whipps introduces Paradise Place, a new book documenting the building during its final years of use. Drawing on photographs made before its demolition, he reflects on the relationship between architecture, photography, memory and forgetting, while situating Birmingham Central Library within the wider international histories of post-war modernism and the political and cultural ideas that shaped its construction—and ultimately its destruction.
Jermaine Francis
Inanimate Sensation
Jermaine Francis is a lens based artist working primarily with photography and video. Based in London he was originally from the Black Country and is currently making new work, in response to a GRAIN Projects commission, He has also written for publications such as 1000 words, Beautypapers,and Contact sheet. Additionally he co curated ‘Notes on Native Sons’ at Peckham24photo and was part of the Judging panel for the Krazsna Kraus Book Awards 2026.
Jermaine has published four books, including recently ‘A Post Industrial Dreamscape’ Morel Books, ‘A Post Industrial Dreamscape ii’ Herepress.
Photobooks: Community & Collaboration
Hark1karan is a self-taught community photographer and photobook maker from London who documents Punjabi, Sikh, and London subcultures. The photobook is an integral part of his practice and often the vehicle by which he connects with the communities he photographs. Here he will be in conversation with long time collaborator, illustrator, image maker & designer Raj Dhunna.
Stutter: fragments from a history of British photography
John Spinks is a British photographer based in London who has built a reputation for long term documentary work exploring the British landscape. Often focusing on overlooked rural and post-industrial settings.
Drawing on his recent doctoral research, Spinks will present Fragments from a History of British Photography—an informal exploration of the histories, influences and connections that have shaped British photographic practice.
Through a selection of publications, photobooks and printed materials, rather than offering a definitive history, the presentation weaves together a web of fragments from British photographic history.
The talk explores how books, images and printed matter have shaped this history and continue to influence photographic practice today.
Each year our programme includes displays that look at Birmingham and the wider Midlands region, drawing attention to local historical and contemporary practices.
This project has been supported by
Birmingham Architectural Assoc.
Birmingham City University
Out of Place Books
© CARGO TEST 2027