Photofusion needs our help. After 25 years, they are gravely threatened by a combination of falling funding and rising rent. Please help them to move, survive, and carry on doing great work!
Project Aim
Photofusion means something special both to creativity in London, and to the community in Brixton. We are gravely threatened by a combination of falling funding and rising rent. Please help us to move, survive, and carry on doing great work!
Project Owner
Photofusion is a hub for photography that has been based in the heart of Brixton since 1991. We are a non-profit resource helping people of all types express themselves through photography, with a community outreach programme that helps hundreds of young people in Brixton every year.
Why we need help.
In 2014 Photofusion lost its Arts Council funding, which had been an important source of financial support for many years. Since then, we have been working extremely hard to refocus the business so that it can continue to operate without that cushion. This has been quite successful, with some departments up 44% on where they were last year. So although it’s a struggle, we were on the way to reaching financial equilibrium.
However, we now face another massive hurdle, in the form of a rent review. We have been based in Brixton for twenty-five years, with our premises forming part of historic Brixton Market. Rents in Brixton have been increasing and now our landlords have given us notice that they intend to double ours. We need to move to different and smaller premises that are in some ways better suited to our type of enterprise, but inevitably a move will be expensive in the short term and our reserves won’t cover these costs.
We are therefore appealing for help so that we can move to a new smaller space, at the same time making the necessary upgrades to the resources we offer so that we can provide high quality services to photographers.
Helping others with their future.
An important part of Photofusion’s work is its community outreach programme. Young people who face challenges can find great value in learning more about photography and creating their own images. Over the years, Photofusion has helped many people in Lambeth and beyond. Each year we work with 60 young offenders, and run free summer schools for children in young people in our borough. Although this aspect of our work is helped by charitable grants, it still depends on the existence of Photofusion as an organisation.
Here you can see details of the crowdfunding Photofusion have launched: KEEP PHOTOFUSION MOVING
And here’s a short video of me discussing the importance of the institution-
To coincide with the upcoming General Election, Photofusion are pleased to present The Election Project by Simon Roberts.
9 April – 22 May 2015
LAUNCH PARTY
Thursday 16 April, 18.30 – 21.00
In 2010, Roberts was selected as the official British Election Artist, an appointment made by the House of Commons and commissioned by the Speaker’s Advisory Committee on Works of Art, to create an historic record of the UK General Election. Simon was the first photographic artist to be chosen.
Roberts’ exhibition at Photofusion will feature a selection of the large-format colour tableaux photographs from the final 25 images that form the project in its entirety, each having represented a day spent on the campaign (plus a final image capturing an extra day focused on the coalition talks).
As an antithetic yet complementary accompaniment to the work, Roberts also encouraged public participation in the project. He invited people to visually express their opinions on the campaign by uploading their own photographs to a special website created for the purpose (www.theelectionproject.co.uk).
A selection of the 1,696 images submitted will be presented on a monitor within the gallery and Photofusion will set up a live twitter feed for the public to add their 2015 election photographs under the hashtag #theelectionproject.
Simon will be doing an in-conversation at the gallery with Paul Halliday on Tuesday 12 May, 19.00
Download a press release here
Image: ‘Penri James, Plaid Cymru, Aberwyswyth, 24th April 2010’ from The Election Project by Simon Roberts/ courtesy of Parliamentary Art Collection
Photofusion is grateful to the Parliamentary Art Collection who kindly loaned the works for exhibition.
I recently did an interview for Photofusion talking about my practice and role as patron of the organisation. You can view it here: https://vimeo.com/95971786
I’m delighted to be joining Peter Kennard and Jenny Matthews as a patron of Photofusion.
You can read the official announcement here.
Originally founded as the Photo Co-op in 1979 in Wandsworth, South London, Photofusion has metamorphosed from a small collective of documentary photographers to becoming London’s largest independent photography resource centre, moving to new premises in the vibrant heart of Brixton in 1991
Tuesday 15 April 2014, from 19.00
Free & exclusive to Photofusion Members
Until 31st March we are running a special half-price discount on Membership.
Click here to join.
We are pleased to announce that renowned British photographer and Photofusion Patron Simon Roberts will be giving an artist talk to Photofusion Members.
More information about
the talk here.