Photography Specialist, Curator and Advisor Brandei Estes shares five highlights from Photo London with The Cultivist. Returning to Somerset House from 15–18 May 2025, Photo London brings together standout photography from around the world: from historic prints to emerging talent. With nearly a decade at the helm of Sotheby’s photography department, Brandei has handled works by some of the most significant names in the field, from Man Ray to Helmut Newton. She now advises collectors globally, drawing on over two decades of experience in both auction houses and galleries. Here, she shares her picks from this year’s edition.

1 -  Rose Gallery

From Santa Monica, CA, Rose Gallery is one of the most respected art galleries with a strong focus on contemporary photography, and after a few years' absence in London is back for this edition with a solo booth of work by Mexican artist Tania Franco Klein, who for me is one of the most exciting and refreshing artists working in photography right now. Her work has a psychological intensity and colour palette that echoes the films of David Lynch and Alfred Hitchcock.

TANIA FRANCO KLEIN, Mercado de Sonora. 2020, Mercado de Sonora. 300 x 75 centimeters. Archival Pigment Print, Mercado de Sonora by Tania Franco Klein courtesy ROSEGALLERY. 

2 -  The Discovery Section

This is where I gravitate first when I arrive at the fair as there are always so many interesting works to see and connect with; this year I cannot wait to see the solo booth of Lucia Pizzani that is presented by Victoria Law Projects. Pizzani is a Venezuelan artist with a practice rooted in photography alongside sculpture and works on paper through which she explores ideas of ancestrality, ritual, communication and ecofeminism.

LUCÍA PIZZANI, Colibri Deity, 2024, Amate Series, 80 x 60 cm. Hand-cut collage on Amate paper. Victoria Law Projects x Lucía Pizzani. 

3 - Positions 

For the first time, a new section of the fair will debut: Positions, which will showcase unrepresented artists and aims to extend Photo London's role as a champion of emerging talent (Tania Franco Klein was also the recipient of the fair's Emerging Photographer award in 2018) and is curated by art world powerhouse and patron Maria Sukkar (also a Cultivist member!) I'm excited to see all of the artists exhibiting but in particular, Kalpesh Lathigra's work that sits between the documentary and art practice which I have been following for a while.

KALPESH LATHIGR, A Democratic Portrait. © Kalpesh Lathigra.

4 -  Lee Miller Archives

I am a die-hard Lee Miller fan (and make no secret of it!) and cannot wait to see the works that the Lee Miller Archives will be bringing to the fair. This will be the biggest group of lifetime prints ever offered which is immensely significant as such prints are rare and hard to come by (I am also leading a Cultivist visit to Lee Miller's home, Farleys, at the end of May).

LEE MILLER, Self-portrait with sphinxes, Vogue Studio, London, England, 1940. 38.5 x 28.0cm. Platinum Palladium print. © Lee Miller Archives, England 2025. All rights reserved.

5 - Thames & Hudson Presents: Zofia Kulik: The Splendour Of Myself

This year's talks programme promises another stellar lineup (as one would expect given that Thames & Hudson are curating it again) and my top pick is the Zofia Kulik conversation with Fiona Rogers of the Parasol Foundation at the V&A. Inspired by eroticism, feminism, and the political and social developments of post-war Poland, Kulik’s work offers a radical critique of not only what it means to be an artist and a woman, but of what it means to be human.

KULIK LIGHT ROSE I (Smokes) 2000. Courtesy of Photo London.