'FOTO Bali Festival 2026 opened on 3rd June at Nuanu Creative City, marking the beginning of its second edition and further establishing Bali as an emerging platform for photography and lens-based practice in Southeast Asia. Running from 3 June to 12 July 2026, the 40-day festival unfolds under the theme Afterimage, bringing together artists, curators, educators, institutions, collectives, and audiences through a programme that expands photography beyond the exhibition format and into a wider field of learning, research, publishing, public dialogue, and professional exchange.
Following an international open call that received nearly 700 submissions from more than 80 countries, FOTO Bali Festival 2026 presents 36 artists from 24 countries. The selected works explore photography as memory, evidence, trace, archive, and speculation, asking what remains after an image is made and how images continue to shape the ways we understand history, identity, place, and the present.
'Photography offers a way to connect with different places, histories, and ways of seeing.' said Kurniadi Widodo and Putu Sridiniari, Curatorial Team of FOTO Bali Festival 2026. 'AFTERIMAGE invites us to think about what remains after attention has moved elsewhere. What happens after a photograph is taken: how it is edited, sequenced, contextualised, published, archived, shared, or remembered? Many of the works in this edition are concerned with persistence: how histories continue to shape the present, how landscapes carry the traces of transformation, and how photographs themselves accumulate meaning over time. We see photography not simply as a medium that records, but as one that allows us to stay with complexity, uncertainty, and the ongoing negotiations that shape our social realities. This edition brings together artists from Indonesia and across the world, emerging in distinct contexts. It reflects our interest in how images travel across geographies, how they carry traces of memory and power, and how photography can foster meaningful conversations across regions.'
As photography festivals increasingly become sites for research, publishing, education, and public exchange, FOTO Bali Festival offers a distinct model from Southeast Asia. Set within Nuanu Creative City in Bali, the festival brings international photographic practices into conversation with local context, regional networks, and new audiences.
'FOTO Bali Festival brings the world’s photographers to one of the most photographed places on earth and in its second year, the festival is becoming a real meeting point between Bali and the global image-making community.' said Lev Kroll, CEO of Nuanu Creative City 'For us making Nuanu a meeting place of ideas and talent is the goal; and we are honored to have such a great exhibition here.'
The 2026 edition takes place across multiple venues within Nuanu Creative City, including Labyrinth Art Gallery, Labyrinth Dome, Popper’s Triangle, Block 42, and the Tea Room. Across these spaces, the festival presents exhibitions, photobooks, multimedia works, site-specific presentations, public talks, workshops, screenings, and projection-based programmes. 'FOTO Bali Festival was never meant to be only an exhibition,' said Kelsang Dolma, Festival Director of FOTO Bali Festival. 'For photography to grow meaningfully in this region, artists need access to more than walls. They need conversations around grants, publishing, mentorship, archives, audiences, and international circulation. This year’s programme is our way of creating some of those conditions, not just for visibility, but for continuity.'
The public programme brings together cultural institutions, photography platforms, grant-making organisations, artist collectives, educators, publishers, and visual practitioners to address different stages of photographic practice. Across talks, workshops, screenings, projections, and professional exchanges, FOTO Bali Festival creates access to knowledge around research-driven storytelling, cultural archiving, analogue processes, mentorship, funding, publishing, and international circulation. Alongside the main exhibition, FOTO Bali Festival 2026 includes collaborations with Indonesian cultural and creative communities, including a special exhibition with MTN Seni Budaya and ISI Bali, and The Voyager, a presentation by Bali Motion Club featuring 15 visual artists from across Indonesia. These collaborations are central to the festival’s position in Bali: international in reach, but grounded in local and regional exchange.
Across 40 days, FOTO Bali Festival 2026 invites audiences to encounter photography as a medium of memory, reflection, research, and public engagement, while positioning Bali as a serious and growing site for artistic exchange in Southeast Asia.'
Words Platform Desk
Date 29.6.2026