How to stage your first photography exhibition
Want to exhibit your work? Here's what a handful of gallerists, curators, and photographers think you should know first.
The following piece is part of our series on how to make it as a photographer in 2025. Check out how to publish a photo book, curators and critics on what they look for, seasoned photographers on their best advice, learned wisdom on signing contracts, and photography prizes to apply for.
By Orla Brennan
Anyone trying to make it as a photographer will know that it's a strange time to start out – one marked by both access and overload. Compared to their pre-internet counterparts, it’s never been easier for image-makers to be discovered by the world, brands and magazines are increasingly coveting new talent, and artists have more agency over how they present themselves than ever before. On the other hand, work is seldom given the attention it deserves before disappearing into the digital wasteland, and back-to-back recessions have shrunk budgets and institution-led opportunities for young artists.
Despite this, in cities like London and New York, underground art scenes seem to be more alive than they have been in decades. The surge of emerging galleries, upstart poetry collectives, and niche literary nights popping up every week signal a desire to share experiences more meaningful than our screens – proving that you don’t need the endorsement of a blue-chip gallery to put on a great show. If it's true that creativity thrives in times of downturn, then there’s no better time to put yourself out there than now.
But if the prospect of staging your first exhibition feels terrifying, fear not: we’ve asked a handful of leading gallerists, curators, and photographers exactly how to go about it – from how to get a gallery’s attention, commandeering your own space, and original ways to approach curating a show.
Arielle Bobb-Willis, Photographer
What’s the best debut photography exhibition you’ve ever been to? Why does it stand out in your memory?
I don't think this is a debut exhibition, but Harley Weir and George Rouy’s room in Transformer: A Rebirth Of Wonder [180 Strand, 2019]. In the fully red-carpeted room, the prints felt heavy. It just made me feel engulfed by the world they created.
What advice would you give to someone wanting to stage their first show?
I would say it's best to focus on the work you're producing more than anything. I was 17, going to galleries on the Lower East Side, and never got a show. Once I stopped focusing on getting into a show and focused solely on my work and putting it online, galleries came to me. Focus on how you're feeling and build your world.
What was the experience of your debut show like?
I had my first show in this beautiful brownstone in Brooklyn with Medium Tings [Ever Lucid, 2018]. It reminded me of New Orleans, where a lot of my work is shot. Use what you have and let the work speak for itself – no matter where you show.
What makes a really great exhibition, in your opinion?
Honesty, innovation with framing, putting your work in places where exhibitions don't usually take place (like the parking lot of a Chinese restaurant!) and using every inch of the space. Every wall can be transformed.