Press

The twelfth edition of the international BredaPhoto Festival opens on 11 September 2026. At several venues across the city of Breda, the festival presents photography and multimedia art in locations including parks, an old police station and a former women’s prison. This edition focuses on solace and resilience. How to pick oneself up after a difficult life event, how to transform concern about the world into hope? We might find strength in rituals, spirituality and art, by caring for one another, by being with friends, family or allies. Or recharge on our own, in the stillness of nature. Under the title Our Songs Came Through, BredaPhoto brings together photography, video art and immersive installations, by leading and emerging artists. BredaPhoto tells moving stories from different parts of the world, perspectives that may be closer than one would expect.

BredaPhoto 2026 brings together the work of over forty photographers and artists, many of whom are showing in the Netherlands for the first time, with some installations created especially for the festival.

Noor Abed’s video installation we walk in our sleep was purposefully made for this edition. Working together with her wider community — family, friends, neighbours — she connects ancient traditions and contemporary life in Palestine. Through movement and choreography, she poetically portrays a spatial and political vision of her homeland. The project has been commissioned by BredaPhoto and the Biennale Matter of Art in Prague, with support from the Mondriaan Fund and the Han Nefkens Foundation.

Çiğdem Yüksel portrays the stories of Mohammed, Sultan, Lemia, Eda and Sema in a

monumental tapestry in four parts, entitled The blossoming garden. The five residents from the neighbourhood de Hoge Vucht in Breda, are pillars of support for their community. The work draws on their personal photographs, framing them with symbols that converge in a blossoming garden — a garden that, much like these people themselves, has so much to give, and asks for nothing in return.

Yuki Kihara has created a unique site-specific installation Shipwrecks of Empire for BredaPhoto, telling the story of European colonialism and western expansion in the Moana Pacific Ocean through life-size inflated shipwrecks. Sāmoan double-hulled canoes sail into this installation as a symbol of a different kind of consciousness — one that acknowledges the power of nature and the splendour of the ocean.

These are just a few highlights from the festival’s rich programme. The programme is further enriched through partnerships with Van Gogh Huis Zundert, Stichting Forhanna, FOTODOK and Institut Pour la Photographie from Lille, who bring additional exhibitions to the festival in close collaboration with the BredaPhoto team.

In collaboration with Sudanese photographer and curator Ala Kheir, work by six Sudanese photographers will be on display throughout the festival: Wala Yassin / Ammar Abdalla Osman / Ammar Yassir / Hashim Nasr / Musab Abushama / Fatima Alam

At BredaPhoto’s invitation, FOTODOK presents the group exhibition A Spell Bundle – Manifesting Queer Futurity at the festival. The exhibition is curated by Daria Tuminas and features work by: Donja Nasseri / Ebun Sodipo / Julius Thissen / Nayara Leite / S*an D. Henry-Smith

The title of this festival edition, Our Songs Came Through, refers to When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry, a publication of Indigenous poetry compiled by Joy Harjo (2020). The artistic team of BredaPhoto has embraced this phrase as a motto in assembling a programme that responds to ideas around solace and resilience. The festival is a tribute to those who — even when the world is dark and unpredictable, due to war, conflict, crisis or grief — continue to rise and strive, relentlessly, towards building better worlds for themselves, for others, for all.

The festival programme is accompanied by a catalogue, designed by Rob van Hoesel (Eriskay), which includes texts by the curators and artists, and an essay by writer Maurits de Bruijn (pre-order €9.50 / during the festival €11.50).

Alongside the exhibitions, BredaPhoto Festival has a great deal to offer. There is an expansive programme of activities including guided tours, performances, artist talks, Zen meditation, film screenings, poetry walks, workshops and a variety of activities for children. A city-wide programme has also been developed together with Breda partners such as Stedelijk Museum Breda, Chassé Theatre, and De Nieuwe Veste.

The artistic team of BredaPhoto 2026 consists of international co-curators Mohamed Somji and Dr Ileana L. Selejan, BredaPhoto curator Astrid Hulsmann and art director Jan Schaerlackens, with advice from Mira Matic. The organisation of BredaPhoto is led by a small core team, headed by director Friso Wijnen. The festival has been brought to life not least through the dedication of over 150 volunteers.

BredaPhoto Festival 2026 has been made possible thanks to the support of many funding bodies, sponsors and private individuals. We are especially grateful to the municipality of Breda, the Province of Noord-Brabant, Brabant C, the Mondriaan Fund, Fonds21, the Dutch Foundation for Literature and the Friends of BredaPhoto.