Welcome to the 2025 Louisville Photo Biennial!

Since our beginning in 1999, the Louisville Photo Biennial (LPB)   has grown to  embrace over 50 venues, working together to celebrate the medium and art of photography. Each gallery, museum, college and cultural organization has its own vision and creates its own programming, assuring a richness and diversity to the exhibits you will see. Our abiding  goal is to present exhibits which span the range of photographic possibilities, from shows of historic documentation and art to the newest forms of vision and technology.

Of particular note this year is “Documenting Kentucky: Three Photographic Surveys”, on view at the Frazier History Museum.  This exhibit draws together three projects from different eras, documenting all the counties in Kentucky.  The project was created by Ted Wathen and Bob Hower who, together with Bill Burke, photographed in each of Kentucky’s 120 counties in 1976-78 as part of the Bicentennial Project.  Ted and Bob reprised this undertaking with a new group of over 20 photographers of very diverse backgrounds, to produce a new vision documenting Kentucky today.

We are proud of this festival’s depth and breadth and of the talent in our region, and beyond. From award-winning professionals to students, this year’s LPB festival represents photography, the world’s most practiced art, in a variety of exhibits highlighting our cultural landscape.

This year, we are thrilled to announce our Keynote Speaker, Sam Abell. Sam has fifty years’ experience in documentary photography, much of it for National Geographic, after graduating from the University of Kentucky.  We appreciate his returning to Kentucky to share stories with us of his adventures  over many  decades and continents.

We are grateful to our partners at the Speed Art Museum for hosting Sam’s Keynote Address the evening of September 10^th.    This free ticketed event requires registration.

As before, almost all exhibits and events in the LPB festival are free and open to all.

The LPB has been able to accomplish its years of growth through the involvement of our participating venues, the hard work of our dedicated volunteers, artists and staff, and the generosity of individual patrons and corporate sponsors. We invite you all to enjoy the exhibits and programs we are presenting this year, and to support the Louisville Photo Biennial into the future with your donations.