20 Experimental Photographers You Need to Know!
What is experimental photography? Probably the first definition that comes to mind is anything that does not fit within the scope of traditional photography—understood here as the act of taking photographs with a camera.
This definition already highlights one of the main characteristics of experimental photography: its limitless scope. You have probably heard of techniques such as cyanotype, pinhole photography, or film soup, which could be considered some of the most popular approaches. However, since this discipline is rooted in experimentation, play, and the embracement of mistakes, it opens up an enormous space for creativity and exploration.
First, experimentation is endless, allowing photographers to constantly develop new techniques. Second, experimental photography relies heavily on the power of community and knowledge-sharing, encouraging artists not only to master specific techniques but also to learn from one another and to combine processes. In experimental photography, nothing is fixed—each one can define their own rules of the game.
These infinite opportunities help the community to grow year after year, continually expanding the definition of what experimental photography is. This evolution is embodied by Experimental, the international festival of experimental photography held annually in Barcelona since 2020. New talents emerge every year, and we are excited to present 20 artists from the international scene. The future is now and is experimental. Here is a snapshot of some experimental photographers who are redefining boundaries of photography. Dive into their work to discover them!
Astrid Jacomme and Arantxa Berganzo, curators of Experimental Photo Festival
Introducing: 20 Experimental Photographers You Need to Know!
Ernesto Notarantonio: Abstract Polaroids
@ernesto_notarantonio
ARTIST BIO
I was born in Rome in 1967, where I live and work.
As a child I had one thing in my head: draw. I drew uninterruptedly on school desks, books, notebooks, paper napkins, walls, in short everywhere. I wanted to make the cartoonist. But then it grows and, it does, sometimes rational choices are made even if they are far from their own desires. And I graduated in Engineering. But the passion for visual communication and image comes back in force in 2000, pushing me to study "Graphic Design and Advertising" at the IED in Rome.
In 2007, I started to study photography through a series of training experiences at Officine Fotografiche in Rome, and at the same time I attended two creative writing classes at the Omero School in Rome. I started photographing with a digital SLR, but from now on I loved the BN film in both 35 mm and 6 × 6 format, so that my personal work is almost exclusively made in analog. Curious and restless in nature, lover of lines and shapes, lights and shadows, I start personal research on architectures and urban landscapes, then expanded on other themes of introspective and art-related art in general.
In 2008, I also began to use Polaroid, which have become an important expression of my photography over the years, and with which I am pursuing the research already undertaken and experimenting with an increasingly instinctive and craftsman like approach to the analog world, trying to design the casualty. I'm currently carrying out several projects both in film and Polaroid, continuing to look inside and out of me.
David Nemes: Colours and Shapes
@_n.e.m.e.s | www.n-e-m-e-s.com
ARTIST BIO
Born in 1980 in Budapest, Hungary, David Nemes is an abstract artist working with photographic processes. Originally trained in architecture, he later worked as a commercial photographer in the United Kingdom before turning toward an artistic practice.
Rather than using photography to document the visible world, Nemes approaches the medium as a way to construct images. Working across different photographic processes—including camera-based experimentation, photograms, cyanotype, and direct interaction with the sensor—he treats light as the primary material of his work.
His practice explores how photographic technologies and light-sensitive materials can be used to generate abstract structures of color, form, and rhythm. Instead of recording reality, Nemes builds images through controlled interactions between light, surfaces, and photographic systems.
While rooted in photographic processes, his work increasingly expands toward a broader material exploration, incorporating painting and the combination of different media. Positioned between photography and abstract art, Nemes’ practice questions the traditional role of photography as a descriptive medium and investigates its potential as a tool for creating autonomous visual forms.
Nicolas Reinhart: Reflecting Error: Errors Reflecting
@nicolasreinh.art | www.nicolasreinh.art
ARTIST BIO
Nicolas Reinhart (*1991, DE) studied Art, Craft & Design in Grimslöv (SWE) and is currently studying Fine Arts at Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design and at the Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig (DE). In 2016, he co-founded Kalamari Klub, an international collective for the celebration of analogue photography. Recently, he was nominated as one of 10 finalists for RESTART, a competition hosted by the Lithuanian Photographers Association. The competition is accompanied by an exhibition and publication scheduled to open at Prospekto photography gallery, Vilnius in July 2022. His work has been shown internationally, among others at: Alvesta konsthall (SWE), Heideberger Kunstverein (DE), PORT25–Space for Contemporary Art (DE), gr_und, Berlin (DE) and The Finnish Museum of Photography, Helsinki (FIN).
Nina Pacherová: The Reality Check
@ninapacherova | www.ninapacherova.com
ARTIST BIO
Artist and photographer, based in Zurich, CH. Specializing in object and fashion photography, and art direction. Graduated from the MA Photography at ECAL in 2024. Eight years of freelancing experience, working across various fields of photography, with a diverse list of clients ranging from brands, public institutions, designers, and independent artists.
In collaboration, I am characterized by a holistic approach, with unique conceptual and visual exploration. My artistic practice gives me an advantage in understanding the most specific needs of my clients. Mastering different types of media, digital or analog technologies, in both moving and still images, is the basis for my ability to support projects from initial brief through to final product delivery.
Sisel Lan: Some of the ones I couldn't see
@sisel_lan | www.sisellan.com
ARTIST BIO
Sisel Lan was born in Mexico City, Mexico in 1972. He completed a Master’s Degree in Fotografía y Estudios Visuales (Photography and Visual Studies) at Centro ADM. He earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture from Universidad Anáhuac, where he also obtained a specialization in Eco Design. Throughout his career, he attended workshops in Mexico and the United States with renowned artists and educators such as Nathan Ables, Josué Ibáñez, Paul Muguet, and Saúl Serrano, among others, expanding his practice across photography, installation, and experimental media.
His work was exhibited in Australia, Spain, India, Mexico, and the United States. Among his most significant exhibitions was Migrants: A Tale of Two Hearts at Museo de las Américas, Denver, Colorado, United States (2024), which was recognized as “Art to See in Museums This Fall” by The New York Times. He also presented Migrantes: una historia de dos corazones at Tecnológico de Monterrey, Campus Ciudad de México (2025), where his work was shown alongside artists such as Graciela Iturbide, Carla Rippey, and Yolanda Andrade.
Additional exhibitions included presentations at The Colorado Gallery of the Arts (Colorado, USA), State Art Gallery (Madhapur, India), The Center for Contemporary Arts (Texas, USA), Museo de la Refinería (Mexico City, Mexico), Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities (Colorado, USA), and Matadero Madrid (Madrid, Spain) among others.
His work was selected for prestigious group exhibitions such as the III Bienal de Fotografía de Oaxaca, Centro Fotográfico Manuel Álvarez Bravo, Oaxaca, Mexico and The Latin American Contemporary Fine Art Competition, Agora Gallery, New York, United States and was included in publications such as TPS 29: The International Competition, Six Feet: Boundaries, Belonging, Becoming , Who Am I – Postall, and Revista Cuartoscuro.
His work became part of the permanent collection of Museo de las Américas in Denver, Colorado, United States.
Aurelie Crisetig: Faded Memories
@aureliecrisetig
ARTIST BIO
Aurélie Crisetig (b. 1992, Switzerland) is a photographer, curator, and art historian based in London. She uses photography to explore the alteration of human memory in a world overwhelmed by digital entities. Her works reflect the constant use of visual mechanical recordings in everyday life. Working with film and digital photography, her practice revolves around the exploration of urban landscapes.
Cinzia N. Rojas: Narcissus
@cinzianrojas | www.cnrojas.com
ARTIST BIO
Italian-mexican photographer and artist, after the graduation in architecture she obtained a master's degree in visual arts at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts. She deepest photography at the Institut d'Estudy Fotografics de Catalunya (IEFC).
As an artist she carries out a research and an experimentation on the image and on the possibilities of photography in areas still little investigated both in digital image and in darkroom. She took part in several exhibitions and festivals in Italy and abroad and won several contests. From 2016 her work is present in the Senigallia MUSINF Collection.
Her work has been published in the book ‘Il corpo solitario’ vol. 2 by Giorgio Bonomi and on the Mexican photography magazine Cuartoscuro. She taught cameraless techniques and cianotype at the MAXXI museum in Rome.
Marie Sueur: Fragments intimes
@_marie.sueur_
ARTIST BIO
Born in 1979, Marie Sueur experienced a nomadic childhood. Her sister was born in Chad, her brother in Morocco, and she herself in Cameroon. These multicultural beginnings awakened in her a taste for discovery, encounters, and the unexpected ; nourishing both her imagination and her passion for storytelling. She now lives and works in Paris.
Self-taught, Sueur uses photography to explore emotions, the unconscious, and subjects that are, by nature, elusive. Her work does not seek to deliver a strict representation of reality, but rather to suggest what lies beneath the visible : the poetic, the metaphorical, the mysterious.
Experimentation is at the heart of her practice, which could be described as that of a “visual artist.” She often feels compelled to introduce physical éléments (embroidery, cardboard, ink…) perhaps as a way of lending greater materiality to works whose very subjects remain intangible.
Her photographs have been exhibited in Paris, Arles, Aix-en-Provence, London, and Athens. In 2025, she was named Fine Art Photographer of the Year (non-professional) at the IPA International Photography Awards. She is also a finalist for the QPN Quinzaine Photographique de Nantes and the VIF Vincennes Image Festival Grand Prize.
Beatriz Deza Trujillo: Mujer X
@beatrizdezaphoto | wwww.beatrizdezaphoto.com
ARTIST BIO
Beatriz Deza Trujillo (Madrid, 1978). I am a visual artist and photographer. My work lies between self-portraiture and conceptual portraiture, with a poetic and timeless aesthetic. I use color as a powerful tool in my images: I work with it as a language, as atmosphere, and as a sign, to direct the viewer's gaze and unlock meanings. From this perspective, I explore identity, memory, and the layers we wear to inhabit the world.
I discovered photography later in life, after becoming a mother, and trained for two years at the Popular University of Fuenlabrada, making it a space for continuous learning. Over time, my practice shifted toward self-portraiture as a tool for intimate exploration and symbolic language.
In 2024, I began MUJER X, an experimental self-portrait project that condenses emotional states and internal tensions from an open and contemporary perspective.
Its visual language engages with monochrome, negative, and color, constructing a restrained and deliberately poetic atmosphere.
Max Chan: 1842
@mchanart
ARTIST BIO
Aurélie Crisetig (b. 1992, Switzerland) is a photographer, curator, and art historian based in London. She uses photography to explore the alteration of human memory in a world overwhelmed by digital entities. Her works reflect the constant use of visual mechanical recordings in everyday life. Working with film and digital photography, her practice revolves around the exploration of urban landscapes.
Elizabeth Ransom: Homesick
@elizabethransom
ARTIST BIO
Aurélie Crisetig (b. 1992, Switzerland) is a photographer, curator, and art historian based in London. She uses photography to explore the alteration of human memory in a world overwhelmed by digital entities. Her works reflect the constant use of visual mechanical recordings in everyday life. Working with film and digital photography, her practice revolves around the exploration of urban landscapes.
Aleksandra Kossowska: The World by Touch
@ka.olka | www.kossowska.com
ARTIST BIO
I am a Polish documentary photographer and photojournalist working on long-term projects in Central and Eastern Europe.
My work focuses on everyday life in contexts shaped by migration, displacement, and social vulnerability, including refugee communities, people with disabilities, and humanitarian initiatives.
I was trained as an archaeologist and journalist. I earned my B.A. with distinction from the Institute of Creative Photography in Opava,Czech Republic, and I am currently completing my Master’s degree there.
I work as a photojournalist with EAST NEWS agency and am a member of WOMEN PHOTOGRAPH, the international association of female photojournalists. I collaborate with humanitarian NGOs, including SmartAid, STEMpower, Drop in the Ocean, and the Little Brothers of the Poor Association.
My current long-term projects focus on the European migration crisis, the everyday life of displaced communities in Ukraine, refugee camps, grassroots education initiatives, and the lived experiences of people with disabilities. Earlier documentary cycles examined disappearing professions and fading festive traditions across Central and Eastern Europe.
I am also the co-founder and co-owner of poleczki.art studio and art gallery in Warsaw.
Based in Warsaw. Available for assignments in CEE and worldwide. Languages: Polish, English, Russian, Spanish.
Frida Alin: Cartographies of Fragmented Memory
@frida.alin
ARTIST BIO
Aurélie Crisetig (b. 1992, Switzerland) is a photographer, curator, and art historian based in London. She uses photography to explore the alteration of human memory in a world overwhelmed by digital entities. Her works reflect the constant use of visual mechanical recordings in everyday life. Working with film and digital photography, her practice revolves around the exploration of urban landscapes.
Katarzyna Oliwia Serkowska: Light Remains
@katarzyna.serkowska
ARTIST BIO
Aurélie Crisetig (b. 1992, Switzerland) is a photographer, curator, and art historian based in London. She uses photography to explore the alteration of human memory in a world overwhelmed by digital entities. Her works reflect the constant use of visual mechanical recordings in everyday life. Working with film and digital photography, her practice revolves around the exploration of urban landscapes
Annette Wijdevel: Fluid Connection
@annette_wijdeveld
ARTIST BIO
My work explores the unpredictable nature of film by embracing the unexpected through experimental techniques such as chemical manipulation, in-camera multiple exposures, layering of negatives, expired film, and solarization. By engaging with these processes, I'm able to relinquish a bit of control, allowing the medium itself to shape the outcome. As the film or print degrades, form becomes abstract, lending a darker, ethereal quality to the final image.
This element of chance is integral to my practice — each photograph reveals itself in its own time, inviting me to uncover its meaning or 'life force' only after development. Within these fragmented forms lies an understated theme of longing and absence, evoking a sense of the liminal - that elusive space between dreams. Through this process, I explore subconscious desires and the beauty found in imperfections - a reminder that the unplanned moments often hold the most profound significance.
Aindreas Scholz: And So I Watch You From Afar
@aindreasscholz | www.aindreasscholz.com
ARTIST BIO
Aindreas Scholz is a German-Irish photographer based in London, working with cameraless and ecological photographic processes. He makes climate-adapted works that collaborate with sunlight, water chemistry, and plant matter, inviting rain, seawater, salinity, and disturbed soils to physically imprint the photographic surface. His images sit between aesthetics and proof: photographs that function as material traces of place, contamination, and vulnerability.
Scholz is represented by In-Dependance and has exhibited widely across the UK and Europe, including solo and two-person presentations as well as important group shows spanning analogue and sustainable photography contexts. His practice has been supported through awards and grants, including Arts Council England and research support from Paul Mellon Centre. His work is held in public and institutional collections, including the Office of Public Works (Ireland) and NHS Foundation Trusts (UK).
Alongside his studio practice, he lectures and leads workshops on sustainable analogue and historical processes. He studied photography at Technological University Dublin, completed postgraduate study in fine art at Goldsmiths, University of London, and trained as an educator at University College London.
Rather than treating climate change as an image problem, Scholz approaches photography as a material system that can be reworked: a practice of testing, measuring, and taking responsibility for chemistry, water, and waste. His ongoing projects ask what it would mean for photographic making to become an active form of care, one that helps reshape the medium’s footprint, not just its narratives.
Xinyue Tao: Unfold
@xinyue_txy | www.xinyuetao.com
ARTIST BIO
Xinyue Tao (b.1998, Kunming, China) is a London-based artist whose practice explores the subjective perception of time and space through self-identity, memory, and the unconscious. Guided by intuition, her work is primarily rooted in photography, while also extending into performance, installation, and experimental forms. She engages deeply with darkroom printing and alternative photographic processes, integrating light-sensitive materials and slow, embodied methods into her image-making. Tao also embraces collaboration as a working method, co-creating interdisciplinary works and initiating community-based workshops that foster dialogue, shared experiences, and connections. She is dedicated to creating fields of resonance where deep connections can emerge through artistic engagement.
iamhay (Hayun Chun): Pretty, Please!
@iamhay
ARTIST BIO
Hayun Chun is a versatile visual artist and photographer based in South Korea, whose work seamlessly bridges the gap between traditional lens-based media and cutting-edge technology. After earning a BFA in Industrial Design from Hongik University in 2021, Hayun Chun began a professional journey that focuses on the intricate relationships between "3Ps": People, Products, and Photographs. This interdisciplinary foundation allows for a unique exploration of visual narratives across various formats, including photography, AI-generated imagery, and independent publishing. One of the most notable projects by Hayun Chun is "No More Children in My Motherland," a poignant documentary series addressing the declining birth rate crisis in South Korea. This series has earned significant recognition, including being named a finalist for the Pictures of the Year (POY) Asia 2024. Additionally, the innovative project "/imagine prompt: a swimming pool for artist" showcases a masterful use of AI tools like Midjourney to explore personal imagination, resulting in a shortlist selection for the prestigious Kassel Dummy Award 2024. Hayun Chun has also received numerous international accolades, such as Silver awards at the Tokyo International Foto Awards (TIFA) and the Budapest International Foto Awards (BIFA) in 2024, as well as an Honorable Mention at the International Photography Awards (IPA) 2025. Beyond personal projects like "Tutti Frutti" and "Birthday Brothers," Hayun Chun maintains a robust commercial presence, collaborating with global brands such as LVMH, Samsung, Nike, and Dr. Martens. Through a commitment to selecting the most meaningful mediums for her messages, Hayun Chun continues to redefine the boundaries of contemporary photography and visual art.
Eliza Stephens: Phantom Mirror
@elizastephens1 | www.elizastephens.com
ARTIST BIO
Eliza Stephens is a Suffolk based visual artist whose work focuses on documenting the interweaving of social and personal realities in the lives of her and her friends. With over 20 years of experience as a storyteller and editor in broadcast documentary television, Eliza has now moved her attention to telling stories within the photographic medium.
“I want to tell stories with 12 frames instead of using hours of footage shot over many months, I believe a single photograph can express the true essence of life.”
Eliza has worked on many groundbreaking documentaries and was part of the team that won The Grierson, Broadcast, and The Royal Society of Television awards for Best Documentary in 2016 - ‘Here Come The Romanians’, produced by Keo Films for Channel 4. Eliza is passionate about food and education and has had two cookery books published. She also runs a lively and successful Thai restaurant and bar on the Suffolk coast.
Claudia Lareu: Hermanas
@claudia.lareu.ph | www.claudialareu.com.ar
ARTIST BIO
I am an Argentinian photographer with a background in graphic design. I was born in Munro, a town in the province of Buenos Aires, in 1974, and grew up developing a strong connection to the places I inhabited since childhood: the province of Buenos Aires and the Atlantic coast.
My work moves between the documentary and the intimate, with a focus on relationships, identity, women, and the stories that don't usually find a place in mainstream narratives.
I am interested in creating images that give voice to what often remains outside the frame: personal spaces, vulnerability, what is lived in silence.
In 2019, after dedicating more than 20 years to multimedia graphic design, I discovered photography and connected so deeply with this new language that I couldn't stop learning from experts in diverse fields until I found my own form of expression.
In 2023, I was recognized by the POY LATAM organization in the New Talent category. I have received scholarships for photobook training from the Museo en los Cerros (Jujuy, Argentina) and the CUBO photobook incubator (Chile).
In 2025, I was a finalist and received an honorable mention in the La Luminosa Felifa Latin American Publication Award and was shortlisted for the 112th National Visual Arts Salon (Argentina).
My photographs have been exhibited collectively at the 2024 Documentary Photography Biennial (Tucumán, Argentina), at the Atrium Gallery, John Lennon School of Art and Design, Liverpool, England, and I participated with audiovisual work in the Cuerpos Visibles Festival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, among other venues in Argentina and Latin America.
I am a member of Women Photograph and the international collective Cuerpas Reales Hinchas Reales (Real Bodies, Real Fans).
I am currently developing the photobook Hermanas (Sisters), where I revisit my own family archive through contemporary photography, and I am working on other personal photographic projects.
ABOUT THE CURATORS
Portrait of Astrid Jacome
Astrid Jacome
A chemical engineer and self-taught photographer, Astrid combines her passion for science with experimental photography. She is also a writer specialising in art, culture and music. At the Experimental Photo Festival and Hub, she works as a curator promoting innovative artistic proposals and fostering creativity.
Connect with Astrid on Instagram!
Portrait of Arantxa Berganzo
Arantxa Berganzo
She studied physics and humanities, but she's actually a summer camp counselor. Equally a teacher and a mom, she bikes across Barcelona every day. Crazy about her family and friends, she loves to read, dance, laugh, learn, and try new things all the time. She's researching urban art and is dying to create some herself someday—who knows?
Connect with Arantxa on Instagram!
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