Brighton Photo Biennial

Brighton Photo Biennial (BPB), now known as Photoworks Festival, is a month-long festival of photography in Brighton, England, produced by Photoworks. The festival began in 2003 and is often held in October. It plays host to curated exhibitions across the city of Brighton and Hove in gallery and public spaces. Previous editions have been curated by Jeremy Millar (2003), Gilane Tawadros (2006), Julian Stallabrass (2008), Martin Parr (2010) and Photoworks (2012). Brighton Photo Biennial announced its merger with Photoworks in 2006 and in 2020 its name was changed to Photoworks Festival.

Brighton Photo Fringe (BPF) runs in parallel to the Biennial, providing a complimentary series of exhibitions and talks.

The festival began in 2003. It announced its merger with Photoworks in 2006 following a successful Arts Council England National Portfolio funding application that secured the future of the newly merged organisation for three years. The first edition of the Biennial produced under new leadership was BPB12 Agents of Change: Photography and the Politics of Space produced and curated by Photoworks.

In 2003 Jeremy Miller became the inaugural curator of the Brighton Photo Biennial. This edition of the festival included exhibitions, Make Life Beautiful! The Dandy in Photography at Brighton Museum & Art Gallery, Parade by Mark Leckey at Fabrica (formerly the Holy Trinity Church, Brighton), The Inconsiderable Things by Rachel Harrison and Peter Fraser at the University of Brighton Gallery, To Be Honest an open submission exhibition at Phoenix Gallery and Untitled by Boris Mikhailov at the Gardner Arts Centre.

In addition to the exhibitions, Brighton Photo Biennial 2003 included projects outside of the gallery context. These included a collaboration with Swiss artist Beat Streuli and local newspaper, The Argus, where images by the artist of the city's inhabitants were distributed as a pull-out in the paper over three consecutive Saturdays. Other projects from the festival included Wind Blown Cloud by Alec Finlay, Insight by Patrick Killoran and The London to Brighton Art Car Rally and Boot Sale in collaboration with Vauxhall Motors.

The Art Car Rally and Boot Sale has continued to beyond the Brighton Photo Biennial festival and has now been running annually since 2004.

Curated by Gilane Tawadros (now a Trustee of Photoworks). Gilane's vision of the BPB presented a mix of historic and contemporary photography through exhibitions of artworks and shows from Adel Abdessemed, Richard Avedon, Phyllis Baldino, David Claerbout, William Eggleston, Walker Evans, Paul Fusco, Alfredo Jaar, Gabriel Kuri, Van Leo, Glenn Ligon, Steve McQueen, Lee Miller, Richard Misrach, Henna Nadeem, Mitra Tabrizian, Fiona Tan, Kara Walker, Andy Warhol and Orson Welles.

The Henna Nadeem exhibition, A Picture Book of Britain led to the Photoworks publication of the same name with text by David Chandler and Dr Benedict Burbridge.