Launched in 1977, Liverpool’s Open Eye Gallery was one of the UK’s first dedicated photography galleries. Excluded from the programmes of art galleries, photographers and others with an interest in the medium established their own network of galleries in the 1970s and ‘80s, drawing on a growing sense of photography’s artistic, social and political potential. We’re actively rethinking what a gallery can be. We produce exhibitions, long-term collaborative projects, publications, festivals, and university courses — locally and worldwide. We welcome over 85,000 visitors to our gallery every year, over 200,000 to projects in other venues, and many more to our online spaces. We proactively take risks to spark crucial conversations and enable creative expression. We work with people to push for social change. We’re taking a lead on socially engaged photography nationally. Bringing different voices, photographers and communities together, we establish projects where the collaborative process is just as important as the final product. Our work goes from grassroots to global. Photography is a tremendously powerful way of bringing different cultures into conversation together. We work with local residents and international partners to support representation, empathy, equality and inclusivity.
