Photo North Festival – a vibrant UK photography event – features exhibitions, talks, screenings and a creative market area.
Those taking part are:
*Carolyn Mendelsohn
Carolyn is an award-winning artist and photographer whose practice is rooted in telling stories and amplifying quieter voices through co-produced portraits.
Her work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions in the UK and internationally, including Impressions Gallery in Bradford, IWM in London and Manchester, Open Eye in Liverpool, Portcullis House and Royal Albert Hall in London, Galerie Huit Arles, France, and the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. Widely published, her work has appeared on the BBC, in The Guardian, The Sunday Times, The Telegraph, La Monde and the British Journal of Photography.
Carolyn is currently Artist-in-Residence with Born in Bradford Age of Wonder-Teenage Stories project. She is also an Ambassador for Nikon Europe and was the first Ambassador for The Royal Photographic Society (RPS).
Photo North Festival will be exhibiting a selection from This is Also Motherhood: Portraits of Mental Health, Strength and Survival by Carolyn and the Maternal Mental Health Alliance. This exhibition reveals the often-hidden realities of motherhood and maternal mental health through portrait photography, still life, and audio. Created in collaboration with ten women with lived experience. It invites us to look, listen and understand.
*Rachael Munro-Fawcett has been involved in photography for 30 years, first picking up a camera at the age of ten. She went on to study for a BA (Hons) in photography and has since built a career as a documentary photographer, using images to tell stories that explore social and environmental issues, human connection, and our relationship with nature. Alongside her personal work, Rachael has contributed to large-scale public photography projects, including installations for NHS mental health spaces and the Photographers in Isolation project, which documented the impact of COVID-19.
In 2024, she was awarded the BJP Portrait of Britain Award for her work. Rachael is passionate about connecting photographers across the region and building a strong, engaged photographic community.
*Ruth Emily Hanson is a photographer from the North West of England, who enjoys telling visual stories of people and places, documenting culture and heritage. Ruth also creates conceptual photographic series which explore themes such as memory and amnesia, identity and the lived experience of trauma. Her photography has been published and exhibited in the UK and internationally. She is an Associate of the Royal Photographic Society. She has a degree in communication in culture and media and a master’s degree in gender and women’s studies.
*Simon Hill has been taking photographs since he was three. He joined the RPS while still at school. As a schoolboy, in 1982 he gained his Licentiateship of The Royal Photographic Society (LRPS) and the following year his Associate of The Royal Photographic Society (ARPS).
Forty years after joining the RPS Simon became the 72nd President of the RPS and was awarded an Honorary Fellowship (HonFRPS). Simon is a Membre de l’Excellence of the Fédération Internationale de l’Art Photographique.
*Hasan Rahmani was born in Tehran, Iran, in 1982, and now lives and works in Leeds. He has been passionate about photography and conceptual art for many years. Hasan graduated with an MA in Photography from Leeds Arts University, where he explored analog and experimental processes in depth.
He has developed a distinctive approach that combines technical precision with emotional storytelling, most notably through his innovative Liquid Light technique on metal surfaces such as aluminum. Hasan’s work has been shortlisted in international competitions, Alongside his exhibitions, he works with communities and organisations to promote inclusivity and cultural awareness through photography.
*Selected works will be exhibited at PhotoNorth Festival, March 13–15, 2026 at The Carriageworks, Leeds and later in Centenary Square, Bradford. Follow @portrait.of.bradford on Instagram.
Also visit photonorthfestival.co.uk/festival.
