Australia’s photography community has lost one of its brightest platforms. PHOTO Australia, the organisation behind Victoria’s acclaimed PHOTO festival, has announced it will close after seven transformative years, with the 2026 edition officially cancelled.
The news is a devastating blow for a medium that was just beginning to find renewed public recognition. It also raises urgent questions about how we fund and support photography in this country – and what happens if we don’t.
Advertisement:
A Festival That Made Photography Public
When PHOTO launched in 2018, its mission was bold: bring photography into public life. Not hidden behind gallery doors, but plastered on Melbourne’s Federation Square, across laneways, gardens, and regional town centres.
The strategy worked. Across three editions – 2021, 2022, and 2024 – PHOTO showcased over 400 artists and drew more than 600,000 visitors. In 2022, it even won the prestigious Melbourne Award for Arts and Events. For a brief moment, photography wasn’t a niche pursuit – it was centre stage.
A Platform for Emerging and Established Artists
For emerging photographers, PHOTO was more than an exhibition space. It was a career-making platform – a place to be discovered, published, and mentored.
Its photobook weekend at Abbotsford Convent became a magnet for audiences, giving artists a chance to sell their work directly.
Internationally, PHOTO made sure Australian voices were heard.
The exhibition On Country: Photography from Australia was presented at the world-renowned Rencontres d’Arles in France, the first major international survey of Australian photography in over a decade.
The Warakurna Superheroes series and other works shown there proved that our photographers could stand confidently on the global stage.
Even 1EarthMedia played its part: one of publisher Mark Anning’s images was chosen to promote the 2021 Inside Out Photo Project at Melbourne’s Federation Square – proof that PHOTO really did open doors to a diverse cross-section of photographers.
Advertisement:
Who Will Fund the Future of Photography?
PHOTO’s final act, the Ideas Summit of 2024, tackled subjects as urgent as AI image-making, photography as activism, and art in the metaverse. It placed Australian voices in conversation with international leaders and positioned the festival at the heart of critical debates about the future of the medium.
That future now feels less certain. PHOTO Australia showed what was possible when photography was treated not as niche, but as central to public life. Its closure is more than the loss of an event; it’s the silencing of a platform that celebrated risk-taking, dialogue, and creative exchange.
As the Board reflected in its farewell message: “Photography has the power to change how we see the world. Thanks to PHOTO Australia, it has.” The question now is: who will carry that vision forward?
A Sector in Retreat
But now, with PHOTO’s closure, those doors are shutting. The Australian Centre for Photography in Sydney closed in 2021. State and federal funding for the arts is stretched thin. Costs for staging ambitious public events are rising.
The result? Fewer opportunities, less visibility, and a harder road for photographers who are already competing against shrinking media budgets, AI-generated content, and an oversaturated digital landscape. For emerging photographers especially, the loss of PHOTO is not just disappointing – it’s devastating.
Why Photography Matters
Photography is not a side act. It’s how we tell stories, confront injustice, celebrate identity, and imagine futures. PHOTO proved that photography can captivate entire cities, draw huge crowds, and spark international dialogue on issues from activism to AI.
Without platforms like PHOTO, those conversations risk disappearing – and with them, the next generation of photographers who should be leading them.
Time for Action
If governments, philanthropists, and cultural institutions are serious about Australia’s creative industries, then photography must not be left out in the cold. We need a renewed commitment to:
- Sustainable funding models that make ambitious festivals possible, rather than forcing them into early closure.
- Support for emerging artists, ensuring pathways to publication, exhibition, and international exposure.
- National infrastructure for photography, so that the closure of one institution does not leave a gaping hole in the cultural landscape.
PHOTO Australia showed us what was possible. Its closure shows us what’s at stake. Unless new funding and support are prioritised, Australia risks losing not just a festival, but an entire generation of photographers who deserve to be seen.
👉 Related: Australian Photographers On Show at Rencontres d’Arles 2025
👉 From the archive: Inside Out Photo Project: A Global Art Initiative
Our story was quoted in Petapixel’s coverage of the closure: Innovative Australian Photography Festival Announces Closure
Related stories
Reuters and AP Photographers Win 2024 Pulitzer Prizes
A photograph of an atom wins photo competition
Photographer Paul Dubotzki in Australia’s WWI Internment Camps
Can I make money as a freelance photographer?
Professional Photography in the Digital Era
Climate Cartoon People’s Choice Award goes to Cathy Wilcox
Solar race cars overcome head winds at World Solar Challenge
Wildlife Photographers in conversation at Australian National Maritime Museum
The fine art of Archibald winner and UNSW alumna
Head On Photo Festival ° Winner of the Portraits Awards
Advertisement:
