Programme Announcement

FORMAT International Photography Festival announces programme for Spring 2025

Derby QUAD, in partnership with the University of Derby, presents FORMAT International Photography Festival 2025, the latest edition is under the theme ‘Conflicted’. FORMAT25 returns to Derby City Centre from 13 – 30 March 2025 to showcase the very best photography and lens-based media being created today alongside thought-provoking archive material from across the globe. Set more as a guide rather than a rule, ‘Conflicted’ prompts responses from artists across the globe, via the FORMAT25 Open Call, to propose work that reflects multiple facets, factions, hopes and fears of our world today. Exhibitions continue until 31 May 2025 at all major venues and some until June 15 2025.

Photographers set to take part in new exhibitions include Felicity Hammond, five Open Call artists selected by international juries and the FORMAT curatorial team including Sujata Setia, Lo Lai Lai Natalie, Thero Makepe, Christopher Gregory-Rivera and Jenna Garrett. Further artists include John Blakemore, Thana Faroq, Xueyi Huang (Snow), Alicia Bruce and Michael Ormerod and many more. FORMAT25 marks the culmination of the two-year National Lottery Heritage Fund project Dancing Through Time which includes artist commissions by Francis Augusto and Jordan Baseman. Exhibitions explore contemporary conflicts within image culture, through AI and image manipulation; and historic narratives including a recently uncovered archive of photographs depicting civil resistance in Italy during the Second World War, shown here for the first time. Personal stories of refugees, the rise of populism explored through photographs taken at Trump’s Scottish golf course, an interrogation of the 19th-century vigilante group from the American Ozark Mountains that inspired the Congress storming Proud Boys- all are part of Conflicted. Visitors will also experience work by John Blakemore, widely regarded as one of the leading photographers and darkroom printers of the 20th century and works by Michael Ormerod (1947-1991), a British photographer with a distinctive and powerful voice, known for striking and evocative images capturing American landscapes and urban scenes. Artist Christopher Gregory-Rivera interrogates and re-presents police archives from the Puerto Rican Police, to uncover how between the years of 1940-1987, in collaboration with the FBI and CIA, they watched, intimidated, and in some cases murdered political activists in the Caribbean U.S. Territory. Meanwhile, a group show explores Derby punk subcultures and Nathan Orchard’s work is a plea to the people outside the LGBT community, think before you speak.

The biennale festival incorporates Derby QUAD, University of Derby, Museum of Making, 19 Chapel Street, Dubrek, The Smallprint Company, Electric Daisy, Banks Mill Studio, W. W. Winter and temporary spaces across the city and beyond. The festival also includes satellite venues including LCB Depot in Leicester.

Jodi Kwok, QUAD and FORMAT Curator says, “The theme of ‘Conflicted’ not only embodies conflict itself but also offers a timely, thought-provoking lens through which to view the world. Society is full of contradictions, yet photography has the unique power to give us a voice. Through its curated programme, this edition of FORMAT Festival uses both the lens and archives to reflect these truths with clarity, raising awareness about issues unfolding both close to home and in distant corners of the globe.”

FORMAT25 – Festival Opening Weekend events

13 – 16 March 2025

Thursday 13 March – Press day and launch night events from 6pm at 19 Chapel Street, 7pm at Museum of Making, at 8pm QUAD will be hosting exhibitions launch and afterparty.

Friday 14 – Sunday 16 March – FORMAT Photobook Market taking place at QUAD. This three day event will bring together publishers, bookshops, artists and photographers from across the globe.

Friday 14 March – FORMAT25 Conference at QUAD – organised by University of Derby and QUAD/FORMAT. An all-day event, inspired by the festival theme ‘Conflicted’ featuring a keynote address by David Bate, plus artists and curators exhibiting as part of the festival. Followed by

FORMAT25 exhibition launches at the University of Derby, Markeaton Street Campus and an afterparty at Derby’s Dubrek.

Saturday 15 March – FORMAT25 Portfolio Review at QUAD – the UK’s largest gathering of experts with international photography professionals offering help and advice to photographers.

Jenna Garrett, Fires, (2019 – ongoing)

ENDS