From 23 August to 19 October, the Ballarat International Foto Biennale celebrates its eleventh edition, filled with events, hands-on workshops, artist talks, live podcasts, dancing, exhibitions and more – inviting everyone to engage with photography in unexpected and inspiring ways.
Attracting an average of 40,000 visitors, I ❤ Campbell – a major solo exhibition by British-Ghanaian fashion photographer and artist Campbell Addy – will headline this year’s festival. In this Australian exclusive, original paintings, a newly conceived set of photographs and a short film shot on location in Ghana will be featured, each work reflecting a personal meditation on the artist’s inspiration and roots.
Robert Mapplethorpe, Patti Smith, 1975 © Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation. Used by Permission.
ENNINFUL x MAPPLETHORPE, also an Australian exclusive, is a selection of Robert Mapplethorpe works curated by Ghanaian-born British editor and stylist Edward Enninful OBE, who was Editor in Chief of British Vogue and European editorial director for Condé Nast magazines. Mapplethorpe was known for creating tension between sacred and profane, light and dark, celebrity and underground, ripple and form; here, Enninful invites visitors to experience Mapplethorpe’s works with a fresh vision, selecting forty-six photographs in pairs.
Another highlight is Catherine Leroy: One-Way Ticket to Vietnam 1966–1968, a world premiere of the late French photojournalist’s work, presented in partnership with the Dotation Catherine Leroy. Leroy is known for her frontline Vietnam War coverage and is recognised as one of the first female photographers to embed herself within combat – challenging public perceptions of conflict through humanising, raw images.
Also part of the festival, in October, the ground floor of the new National Centre for Photography will officially open – marking stage one of the new venue’s building project, which is expected to be complete in 2026.
