Bristol Photo Festival 2026 Travels Through Its Time Machine

Bristol Photo Festival returns on 14 October 2026 with its third edition, themed Time Machine, running city-wide until 15 November. Festival director Alejandro Acín describes the programme as "a palindromic" proposition — in his words, a "palimpsest of past, present and future" in which photography articulates our non-linear experience of time rather than simply recording what has been.

The starting point is local and political. In Castle Park, central Bristol, a plaque pays tribute to men from the city who joined the fight against fascism in the Spanish Civil War. "It's always been in my mind," says Acín. This year marks 90 years since the Spanish Civil War, and with authoritarian governments and far-right activism rising across the globe, that moment now feels uncomfortably close.

One exhibition takes place in a cave not far from the park, featuring three artists exploring the contemporary resonance of the Spanish Civil War: Anna Jorné, Julián Barón and Natasha Christia. "Often the works that we bring explore historical events but from contemporary approaches, or vice versa, so there's always this kind of entanglement of time that happens," Acín notes. Time Machine follows two previous editions focusing on movement (2024) and place (2021). "We can look at the three editions as almost a trilogy," he explains.

The programme spans colonial history, speculative futures and intimate autobiography. Goa-based artist Akshay Mahajan responds to the British Empire and Commonwealth Collection held in Bristol, drawing on Indian folklore to consider how the ghosts of colonialism still haunt the border between India and Pakistan. Italian photojournalist Giulio Di Sturco's Anthropocosmos invites viewers into constructed spaces designed by scientists and engineers to test out space conditions, showing how humans are preparing for a potential — as yet unrealised — future beyond Earth.

Kegham Djeghalian presents the work of his late father, Kegham Avedis Garabet Djeghalian, an Armenian-Palestinian photographer who set up Gaza's first photographic studio. Djeghalian Senior's images are a portal to a flourishing pre-Nakba Palestine, standing in stark contrast to the horrifying images of destruction of recent years. Elsewhere, Taiwanese artist Annie Wang's Mother as a Creator charts her journey into pregnancy, through motherhood, and on to the shifting, overlapping terrain she now occupies between her maternal and creative roles.

This edition is Acín's second as director, after serving as director of education and engagement for the first. He runs the festival alongside IC Visual Lab, with co-director Ben GJ Thomas and designer/producer Safia Belhaj. ICVL is based in the one-time home of the South African Resource Centre, and curator Christine Eyene draws on the building's radical history for an exhibition there, featuring work by George Hallett — the award-winning South African photographer exiled to London in the 1970s, who made portraits of anti-apartheid creatives, writers, artists and musicians.

The festival opens with a busy week from 14 to 18 October, featuring parties, openings and a symposium, plus an 'education weekend' with masterclasses led by photographers and industry insiders during its five-week run. "It's about building relationships where participants can continue developing their work," says Acín.

The 2024 edition set a high bar. Amak Mahmoodian's exhibition One Hundred and Twenty Minutes went on to earn a Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize nomination, while some 40 per cent of visitors to Bristol Museum and Art Gallery during its run were visiting the institution for the first time. "We had visitors from every postcode in Bristol, so on a local level we had pretty good engagement," says Acín.

Since then, the funding landscape has hardened. Bristol Photo Festival consists of curated exhibitions rather than an open call, which provides an income for some participants but puts more financial pressure on the festival and more onus on partnership. The closure of the Royal Photographic Society's gallery, previously a key venue, has also had an impact, although new spaces have come on board.

The photography community is also still mourning Martin Parr, who died in December 2025. The long-term Bristol resident sat on the festival's board. "It was very sad," says Acín. "Martin was part of the board and he was always helpful with contacts, interested and supportive of the festival." The festival maintains close ties with the Martin Parr Foundation, whose group exhibition Dark Tales: British Documentary Photography and the Gothic will be on show during its run. The popular Bristol on Photobooks returns to MPF on 17 and 18 October.

Acín is open about the difficulties, believing organisations should speak up about the impact of cuts to public arts funding in the UK and the loss of access to EU funding post-Brexit. "It's a reality that's very palpable, very tangible," he says. "Culture this year is more political than ever. We are fighting to keep spaces that allow people to think, talk and look at the world differently."