Amin Yousefi is an Iranian, London-based writer, researcher, and image-based artist.  His practice focuses on the implications of archival processes, methods for reversing imperial violence in Southwest Asia and how photography can conceptually mirror complex power structures. In 2024, Yousefi received the Royal Photographic Society Award for Achievement in the Art of Photography in recognition of a notable personal achievement in the art of photography. Yousefi has been working as the Assistant Curator and Editor of Photography+ for Photoworks since 2024.

Areas of expertise for reviews: Image-based practices, counter-archival and postcolonial image strategies, documentary photography, expanded photography, collaborative photography on ethics and representation, critical writing, curatorial and exhibition programming, interdisciplinary collaborations.

Danit Ariel is an artist, writer and curator, whose practice looks into how art can create new ways of meeting. She is the author of Nayah: Empathy as an Act of Resistance which explores the role of gender in practices of empathy; and All the Tables are Brown, looking more specifically at language as both a bridge and barrier between communities. As Photoworks’ curator, she mentors artists in developing new work and manages the curatorial programme and Photoworks Festival.

Areas of expertise for reviews: Conceptual and spatial curation, practice-based research, interdisciplinary research, positioning of one’s practice within the field, peer-to-peer crits and photographic community building, combining visual and textual languages, photo book editing and sequencing.

Diane Smyth is Editor of the British Journal of Photography and the Photoworks Annual. She also teaches History and Theory of Photography at the London College of Communications, University of the Arts London, and has given talks and workshops at institutions such as London School of Economics and King’s College London. Diane has written about photography for publications such as The Guardian, FT Weekend Magazine, Aperture, FOAM, Trigger, Apollo and The Art Newspaper, and contributed essays to many photography catalogues and monographs. She originally studied for a BA in English Language and Literature at the University of Birmingham, graduating with a First and the Tibbatt’s Memorial Prize. She also holds an MA in Modern Literatures in English from Birkbeck College, University of London, taken while working full time.

Area of expertise for reviews: Documentary, conceptual, and long-term work, plus practices around materiality.

Hana is Assistant Curator of Photography at the Victoria & Albert Museum. She is co-author of Calling the Shots: A Queer History of Photography, Thames and Hudson/V&A, 2024 and a contributor to Cut Out: A Feminist History of Photo Collage, Montage and Assemblage; Pandemic Objects, AA Publications, London, 2024 and Another Country: British Documentary Photography since 1945, Thames and Hudson, London, 2022. She is also a PhD candidate at the University of Liverpool studying the plurality of early colour photographic processes in Britain before the consolidation of colour photography by major industrial companies in the 1930s.

At Weltmuseum Wien, Hanin is responsible for the collections of photography, film, and sound. Her upcoming exhibition is “Raining Blood: Photography & Arms Trafficking” (Opening: 28 September 2026, Weltmuseum Wien). Since May 2025, she is executive president of European Society for the History of Photography (ESHPh) and editor-in-chief of its publication PhotoResearcher. She was head of the jury at Rotlicht Festival for Analog Photography in 2024 and 2025 (2025 edition’s call was “Life After Extinction”?). She is the editor of the first volume on interferential color photography titled “Gabriel Lippmann’s Colour Photography: Science, Media, Museums” (Amsterdam University Press, 2022) and has guest-curated the exhibition “Slow Colour Photography” about it at Preus Museum: National Museum of Photography (Norway). Moreover, she is the guest-editor of the journal PhotoResearcher Nr. 37 “Three-Colour Photography around 1900: Technologies, Expeditions, Empires”.

Helen is a Trinidadian worldbuilding curator, producer and writer specialising in Indigenous Carib cosmotechnics. She founded The Mechatronic Library, an independent commissioning platform, in 2010, and in 2026 co-founded the curatorial agency A-GEN-C with Nimrod Vardi, based in central London.

Her widely published research examines how interactive animation, immersive technologies and AI are reshaping artistic practice through decolonial epistemologies. In 2023 she co-developed the first international Decolonising Animation symposium at the University for the Creative Arts and co-authored the accompanying editorial for Intellect’s special issue of Animation Practice, Process & Production.

She has worked with UK institutions including QUAD, Derby, Serpentine Gallery, London and FACT Liverpool. Internationally, she has served three times on the Ars Electronica Computer Animation Jury and, in 2026, was invited as a Distinguished Critic for Carnegie Mellon University’s MFA Thesis Exhibition at The Andy Warhol Museum.

She currently sits on the board of Photoworks.

Irene Lombardo is Senior Cultural Manager for EMEA & Asia at Magnum Photos, where she leads institutional partnerships and cultural strategy across these regions. She works closely with museums, festivals, publishers, and foundations to develop exhibitions, commissions, and cultural projects featuring Magnum photographers.

With over 13 years of experience in the photography sector, Irene has worked with museums, galleries, and major photography events, specialising in programme development, exhibition curation and project management. She also contributes to the field as a journalist for Il Fotografo and as a lecturer at Ca’ Foscari University (Venice) and Spéos Photography School (Paris).  Irene serves as a Jury member for the Royal Photographic Society (International Photography Exhibition 167), the Fondation Jean-Luc Lagardère Photography Fellowship, the Belfast Photo Festival, the Siena International Photo Awards. She is regularly invited as a portfolio reviewer by institutions and festivals including Les Rencontres d’Arles, FORMAT International Photography Festival Derby, Belfast Photo Festival, and Photo Days Paris.  She holds an Advanced Master’s Degree in Management of Cultural Goods & Activities from ESCP Business School and Ca’ Foscari University, as well as a Master’s Degree in Modern Philology from Sapienza University in Rome.

Area of expertise for reviews: Irene is particularly interested in long-term documentary projects, both completed and ongoing, that engage with contemporary issues.

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Magnum Photos

Image credit: Anna Hernik

Established in 2006 Jane & Jeremy are independent publishers located in Brighton.  They work with upcoming & established artists to produce limited edition books with an emphasis on creating a crafted and considered object that reflects the individual in the parameters of the book form.

They exhibit at book fairs internationally in New York, Tokyo, Paris, & London

As Assistant Curator of International Art at Tate Modern, Jess has worked on the exhibitions Tracey Emin: A Second Life (2026), Leigh Bowery! (2025) and A World in Common: Contemporary African Photography (2023). She curated the monographic displays of Samuel Fosso, Deana Lawson, Joel Meyerowitz and Francesca Woodman. Baxter sits on the Photography Acquisitions Committee within Tate to strengthen Tate’s photography holdings. As one of the British Art Network’s Emerging Curators for 2023-24, her curatorial research focusses on ideas of trans-temporality, folklore and spirituality. She has given talks at BACKLIT Gallery, UAL London College of Communication and Offprint London, and has led portfolio reviews for Les Rencontres d’Arles (2024 and 2025), De Montfort University Leicester (2024, 2025, 2026) and Belfast Photo Festival (2026). Publications include Lieko Shiga (Tate Publishing, 2023) and books on Coco Capitán, Rosie Marks and Letizia Le Fur (RVB Books, 2024). Her forthcoming projects include a major group exhibition at Tate Modern in 2028.

Jess would like to see work that feels new, exciting, urgent, made with heart – things that change how she thinks about the world, or reveals something that she does not yet know.

Image credit: Joe Gray 

John is a Visual Arts funding advisor and Relationship Manager for Arts Council England in the Southeast, bringing over 20 years of philanthropy experience across museums, galleries, and libraries. He assists regional artists and organisations with grants and strategic planning.

Collaborations: Worked with British Council, Historic England, the National Lottery Heritage Fund, community foundations, and various international cultural institutes.

Areas of expertise for reviews: Grant application tips for Arts Council England programs on existing and new project ideas. Advice for securing other regional arts funding in the Southeast.

Lillian is a writer, editor and publisher based in London and East Sussex. She is the Director of Chateau International, an independent imprint producing books, zines, editions and programming, and co-director of Bound Art Book Fair. She was previously Deputy Director of Claire de Rouen Books, and spent four years working in the book programme at Aperture. Her writing on photography, arts and publishing has appeared in a range of titles including Modern Matter, The Guardian, Dazed, Tribune, Elephant, 1000 Words, True Photo Journal and Art Monthly. She currently lectures on photography and contemporary art programmes at the University of the Arts, London, and the International Center of Photography, New York.

Areas of expertise for reviews: Series editing and sequencing; working with publishers; DIY publishing and distribution strategies; book design; synthesising image and text; art writing and criticism; politically and socially engaged practice.

Liza Faktor is an independent curator, visual artist and arts producer working on the intersection of photography, moving image, performance and emerging media.

She curated over twenty exhibitions, festival programs, lectured and taught workshops in the US, the UK, Italy, France, the Netherlands, Brazil, Spain, UAE,  Australia and Russia. Her work was featured at the Tribeca, IDFA, Sheffield Doc/Fest, Visions du Réel film festivals, and at Dutch Resistance Museum, Musée du quai Branly, Detroit Art Museum, Corcoran Gallery of Art, The Frontline Club, IFP Made in New York Media Center among other venues. As an award-winning creative producer, she has worked with photographers, filmmakers and visual artists on award-winning installations, art films, multi-platform and community engagement projects.

She was a founding member of Vessel, an international art+film production collective, co-founder of the cross-platform production Screen in New York, and the founding director of the Objective Reality Foundation in Russia, a non-profit that supported long-term visual storytelling. Currently, she is a Programming and Development Lead at Curatorial Exhibitions.

Area of expertise for reviews: Liza is working on the intersection of photography, moving image, and emerging media, and assisting institutions and artists across disciplines and markets. Her expertise lies in strategic project development, exhibition and public programming curation, arts production, and fundraising and community engagement strategy. I’m especially interested in visual projects that operate within an environmental framework—addressing the state of the natural world, our coexistence with all living beings, and climate emergency and climate justice.

Louise has been the Director of Photoworks since 2023, where she leads the strategic vision and artistic direction of the organisation. Established in 1995, Photoworks is an international platform focused on the development of photography.  She is the co-founder/former director of FORMAT Festival. Previously, she was artistic director at QUAD, a centre for contemporary art and film; national curator of contemporary art, Forestry England, and currently jury chair of Earth Photo with the Royal Geographical Society, Forestry England and Parker Harris.

As a creative director since 1998 Louise has curated commissions, festivals, publications, mass participation, film/photography programmes/exhibitions, juried and mentored worldwide.

Area of expertise for reviews: Professional creative practice for artists, photographers, curators, writers, project managers and producers, including photography portfolios, curatorial, writing, project management, editing, sequencing series, festivals, photobooks, ideas and general professional development, socially engaged, participatory, installations, performance, interdisciplinary, collaborative, worldbuilding practices and more. Open to discussing any work at any stage of development.

Dr Max Houghton is a writer, curator, and educator whose research explores the intersection of the image, law and justice. An RPS award-winning educator, she leads MA Photojournalism and Documentary Photography at London College of Communication, University of the Arts London. Her recently completed PhD thesis, Prosecutorial Aesthetics: Image Law Imagination at Nuremberg 1945-46, tracks the role of the image at the Nuremberg trial, to understand its influence at the foundational moment of international criminal law. Max is co-founder of research collective Visible Justice, which is in residence at the ICA until April 2027.

She is co-author of Firecrackers: Female Photographers Now (2017/2025), former editor at Foto8, and her writings on the ethical and political possibilities for the photographic image feature regularly in the international visual arts press.

Areas of expertise for reviews: Max is especially interested in seeing work broadly defined as ‘documentary’, i.e. that intersects with ideas of justice, politics, history, but to note this very much includes personal approaches to such subjects. Max enjoys expansive discussion on how to activate the photographic image, and how it might work with text, sound or performance.

Niamh produces and curates events, public programme activity and exhibitions for QUAD and FORMAT International Photography Festival, the UK’s leading international contemporary festival of photography and related media, based in Derby.

She has reviewed work internationally for organisations including Belfast Photo Festival, Uganda Press Photo, Triennial of Photography Hamburg, London College of Communication, and Les Rencontres d’Arles. She has also juried open calls for FORMAT, Uganda Press Photo Awards, Zealous, the United Rugby Championship, and New York Centre for Contemporary Art.

As part of the FORMAT and QUAD Derby curatorial team, Niamh has curated exhibitions both internationally and nationally, including [Re]Source at Lishui Photography Festival (2023), Radical Souls at FORMAT23, un/natural at Lishui Photography Festival (2021), Feature Shoot Emerging Photography Awards at QUAD (2021), #massisolationFORMAT at Derby Museum and Art Gallery (2021), FUTURE FOCUS at QUAD Gallery (2022), and Bruce Asbestos: Eye of Newt 2.0 at QUAD (2022).

Area of expertise for reviews: Project development, exhibition and project production, mentoring, portfolio development, funding advice, relationship and network building, applying for open calls, curation, marketing advice. Niamh is interested in seeing all types of contemporary lens based projects including socially engaged, installation, analogue, digital, archive, collage and all that falls in-between. Niamh is also particularly inspire by works that question and stretch the traditional ideas or forms of photographic technique, display and production.

Image credit: Thomas Wynne 

Ricardo is a curator, writer, researcher and creative producer working between France and the UK. His practice explores interdisciplinary contemporary practice, photography, queer visual culture and the politics of representation, with a particular interest in collaborative approaches to exhibition-making. Ricardo has worked with organisations including Aspex Portsmouth, Photoworks, Fabrica Gallery, Peckham24, Photo London and Rencontres d’Arles, supporting artists through exhibitions, commissions, residencies and professional development programmes. His writing has been published in Art Monthly, Photography+, Photomonitor, thisistomorrow, Film and Video Umbrella, Current Obsession, alongside numerous artists’ monographs and exhibition catalogues. In 2025, he received the Michael O’Pray Prize for his essay on the cinematic legacy of Nicolás Guillén Landrián.

Ricardo is also a Producer at Photo Fringe, Brighton.

Area of expertise for reviews: Queer photography, installation, moving image.

Not interested in: Traditional documentary practice

Image credit: An Nguyen 

Samia is a Curator & Arts Business Adviser with experience across the visual arts, crafts & media sector – working at the leading Photographer/Directors Agent, Bailey Wade,  UK/Europe/USA markets & Mentoring at the Crafts Council.

Having trained as an artist at UMASS & Brown University USA, Samia graduated from Central St Martins School of Art & Design & MA Museum & Gallery Management from City University. Completing a 4-year Residency at the University of Sussex, Genome Damage & Stability Centre, the research project was nominated for the Prix Pictet.

Contributing essays to publications, the research & management of exhibitions extends to curating at the Centre of the Cell, European Commission & Art Athina; artworks feature Art in America, LENSCRATCH & Financial Times. Samia leads cultural/education programmes across broadcast & universities with Thomas Joshua Cooper/University of Brighton, Kings College, University of Derby, Queen Mary University, SKY, C4, ITV & BBC.

Area of expertise for reviews: Professional creative development for emerging, mid-career and established artists, photographers and makers practice – including curating programmes of artwork, project research/management, editing, sequencing series/artworks for exhibition projects, photography portfolios, monographs and photobooks. Develop artists talks for public engagement and participation at universities, festivals, exhibitions and broadcast platforms. Plan business and marketing strategies to approach relevant national / international markets.

Simon is a visual artist based in Brighton, UK, recognised for his large-format, tableaux photographs exploring the socio-political fabric of Britain. His practice also encompasses video, text and installation, which together, interrogate notions of identity, belonging, and the complex relationship between history, place and culture. He has exhibited widely and his photographs reside in major public collections, including the George Eastman House, Deutsche Börse Art Collection and Victoria & Albert Museum. Author of several critically acclaimed monographs including Motherland (Chris Boot, 2007), We English (Chris Boot, 2009) and Merrie Albion – Landscape Studies of a Small Island (Dewi Lewis Publishing, 2017), his work has also been profiled and published widely. Most recently he established POST, a new centre for photography & film in Brighton, with his colleague Nina Emett.

Simon can offer varied support on existing and new project ideas and can support with development of projects including editing, curating as well as general feedback.