The Photo London 2026 Student Award has been given to Akanksya Dahal of Ravensbourne University London from a shortlist of four artists nominated by tutors at UK universities. The three other nominees were Anna Bradshaw of Birmingham City University, Bo Fan of London College of Communication, and Madison Hafner of Falmouth University. The judging panel was Fiona Shields, the head of photography at the Guardian; Lisa Springer, the curator of photography at the V&A; the photographer Mimi Mollica; and Kimberly Hoang, the picture editor at the British Red Cross
Photo London takes place at Olympia until 17 May
Series title: I Don’t Know Where You Start and I End. Photograph: Anna Bradshaw, Birmingham City University/Photo LondonSat 16 May 2026 13.00 CESTSeries title: A Moment Left Unsaid: Stillness Amidst the CrowdPhotograph: Akanksya Dahal, Ravensbourne University/Photo LondonSeries title: A Moment Left Unsaid: Stillness Amidst the CrowdPhotograph: Akanksya Dahal, Ravensbourne University/Photo LondonSeries title: A Moment Left Unsaid: Stillness Amidst the CrowdPhotograph: Akanksya Dahal, Ravensbourne University/Photo LondonProject title: Domestic FictionsPlayfully exploring the space between the tangible and the fictional, using photography to reinterpret everyday life from an altered perspective. Through constructing intentionally imperfect sets and handmade paper props, I experiment with the theatrical potential of ordinary environments. Familiar domestic motifs, such as houses, scissors, and clothing, are recreated as down-sized replicas; suggesting that ideas of normalcy are constructed, rather than being a fixed or stable concept.Photograph: Madison Hafner, Falmouth University/Photo LondonProject title: Domestic FictionsThese paper structures seek to disrupt the viewer’s sense of scale and dimensional space, creating imagery that is both familiar and artificial.Photograph: Madison Hafner, Falmouth University/Photo LondonProject title: Domestic FictionsThrough playful experimentation and subtle absurdity, I choose to see everyday reality as something transitional; something which is intangible and unrestrained.Photograph: Madison Hafner, Falmouth University/Photo LondonUnveiling | Project title: Wandering in the Desire Room Reflecting Bo’s experience of growing up queer in East Asia, where the lack of sex education and public awareness of gender and sexual diversity fostered confusion, fear, and self-suppression.Photograph: Bo Fan, LCC/Photo LondonAnswers | Project title: Wandering in the Desire Room By reconstructing scenes from his adolescence, Bo brings to light memories once overlooked, allowing them to be both seen and reexamined.Photograph: Bo Fan, LCC/Photo LondonMegalophobia | Project title: Wandering in the Desire Room Through this process, self-portraiture becomes an act of both self-exposure and self-repair. By collapsing the roles of photographer, subject, and spectator, Bo transforms vulnerability into resistance, reclaiming queer visibility through acts of looking.Photograph: Bo Fan, LCC/Photo LondonSeries title: I Don’t Know Where You Start and I End There is a paradox in twinhood: a negotiation between individuality and unity. We strive to define ourselves as separate identities yet remain drawn to the early state that once rendered us as one. This project reflects on the evolution of twin identities and the delicate boundary between separation and connection.Photograph: Anna Bradshaw, Birmingham City University/Photo LondonSeries title: I Don’t Know Where You Start and I EndEpilepsy has complicated the way we exist as twins. What once appeared as symmetry has been disrupted by medical uncertainty; similarities now become points of uneven progression and comparison. The mirrored body is redefined through shifting perceptions of identity.Photograph: Anna Bradshaw, Birmingham City University/Photo LondonSeries title: I Don’t Know Where You Start and I End By momentarily removing life’s external pressures, the work seeks a quieter space beneath illness and resentment. In that moment, there is simply presence; two bodies, coexisting. Through photography and acts of concealment, the project becomes a form of art therapy, exploring vulnerability and the fragile space where one identity ends and another begins.Photograph: Anna Bradshaw, Birmingham City University/Photo London
