Photo London today announces its eighth edition with the legendary British photographer Martin Parr named Photo London Master of Photography 2023 and an impressive global group of exhibitors already confirmed. Commenting on their plans for the 2023 edition, Photo London Founders Michael Benson and Fariba Farshad say: “Looking at the amazing global response to Photo London, and on the back of the announcement of our partnership with Creo to establish a new Fair in New York, we thought this was the right moment to turn the spotlight on Britain. And where better to start than with Martin Parr — the godfather of British photography. Martin is not only a towering figure in the UK photography scene but the British in all their eccentric glory have been his great theme for over half a century.

Shot in the brand of heightened colour that Parr has made his own, his photographs are not only individually brilliant, but cumulatively amount to nothing less than a dazzling hymn to the brilliant, slightly bonkers nation that we call home and to the people with whom we live, work and play. More than that though, without Martin Parr’s exemplary practice today’s British photography scene would be much impoverished — and certainly a great deal less fun. So, it is with considerable delight that we will award Martin Parr this year’s Master of Photography. We very much look forward to the exhibition of his recent work for Photo London.”

Martin Parr is the eighth recipient of the award, which is presented every year to a living artist who has made an exceptional contribution to photography. He comments: “It's a great honour to be named Master of Photography at Photo London. I relish the opportunity to show a totally new exhibition of work of images taken in the UK, a project that I have been working on for the last 50 years!”

The spotlight on British photography continues with a survey of outstanding works by British women photographers: ‘From Welfare to Wellbeing. Women Photographers from the Hyman Collection’. Curated by the Centre for British Photography, which opens its doors in the new year, the exhibition provides an overview of British photography by exploring two strands: a humanistic documentary tradition and a more personal, performative, practice. It will include work by Heather Agyepong, Shirley Baker, Dorothy Bohm, Sonia Boyce, Juno Calypso, Maisie Cousins, Eliza Hatch, Susan Hiller, Rose Finn-Kelcey, Anna Fox, Alexis Hunter, Marketa Luskacova, Rosy Martin, Laura Pannack, Polly Penrose, Grace Robertson, Jo Spence, Paloma Tendero, and Edith Tudor-Hart.

James Hyman, Founding Director, Centre for British Photography comments: “For many years the Hyman Collection has been committed to supporting women working in photography, so we were pleased to be asked by Photo London to curate an exhibition that focuses on this important aspect of the collection.”

The full list of exhibitors for the eighth edition will be announced in February 2023, yet it is already clear that when Photo London 2023 returns to Somerset House in May the gallery line up will be its strongest yet.

The eighth edition will have a wider global reach than ever before, with new exhibitors coming from as far afield as China, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Finland and Iran; and several major galleries welcomed back from Canada,Taiwan and the USA the first time post-pandemic. The internationalism of the exhibiting galleries is matched by an increasing internationalism of the Publishers’ Section, which returns bigger than ever with publishers coming from France, Germany, China, Poland, the Netherlands and the UK.

Among the exhibitors already confirmed are several galleries supporting photographers from Iran. LS10 gallery (London) is presenting a focus on Iranian contemporary photography; Roya Khadjavi Projects (New York) brings together the works of five Iranian photographers — Tahmineh Monzavi, Ali Tahayor, Dariush Nehdaran, Maryam Palizgir and Mo Jahangir— whose practice is based on a documentary engagement that intertwine social conscious and environmental works from the urban communities to the rural landscape; and first-time exhibitor O Gallery (Tehran) presenting works the contemporary photographer Mohammedreza Mirzaei alongside rare prints by Kaveh Kaemi, whose photographs of the 1979 revolution and its aftermath represent one of the most important archives of this period.

There will also be a special exhibition on Mexican photography presented by Maroma, a Belmond Hotel, Riviera Maya and co-curated by Photo London co-founder Fariba Farshad and Mexican gallerist Patricia Conde who takes part at the Fair as an exhibitor for the first time. ‘Fotografia Maroma: a living gallery of Mexican photography’ will present works by four prominent Mexican photographers: Patricia Lagarde, Javier Hinojosa, Ilán Rabchinskey and Margot Kalach.

Furthermore, Photo London’s partnership with Creo, organisers of PHOTOFAIRS Shanghai, has seen an increase in galleries coming from Asia Pacific, including Gaotai Gallery (Urumqui, China), Up Gallery (Taiwan) and first time exhibitors Zen Foto Gallery (Tokyo) and Blue Lotus Gallery (Hong Kong) who will bring rare prints by Fan Ho (1931 – 2016), arguably one of the most important street photographers of the C20th known especially for the remarkable images he captured of Hong Kong during the 1950s and ’60s.