Photo: Leticia Valverdes with Trinity Community ArtsOur Freedom: Then and Now will culminate in a national exhibition launching at the Southbank Centre, London, on Wednesday 25 March 2026. Twenty-two photographers from the Socially Engaged Photography Network have been capturing moments from some of the powerful and diverse stories that emerged from the Our Freedom programme across the UK during 2025. We will be sharing these photographs at the London premiere, prior to a nationwide tour.
Developed by Future Arts Centres and Open Eye Gallery, the exhibition brings together images drawn from 60 locally-led projects. Communities of all ages and backgrounds considered what freedom meant in their place in 1945, and what it means now.
To capture these stories, 22 photographers were commissioned through Open Eye Gallery, as part of their national role in the Socially Engaged Photography Network, to closely follow each project. The resulting exhibition offers a powerful visual record of the people involved – from schoolchildren and veterans to artists and participants aged 0–100 – reflecting the diversity and creativity at the heart of the programme.
Following its London premiere, Our Freedom: Then and Now will tour nationally to arts centres and libraries that took part in the programme, stretching from Libraries Unlimited in the South West to Eden Court in the Highlands. The full exhibition will also be available to view online from 18 March.
The Socially Engaged Photography Network, which seeks to raise the profile and diversity of community and collaboratively driven photography, is coordinated by our programme partner Open Eye Gallery. Working from the heart of Liverpool and reaching far beyond, Open Eye Gallery is one of the UK’s leading photography spaces, and the only gallery dedicated to photography and related media in the North West of England. They produce exhibitions, long-term collaborative projects, publications, festivals, and university courses – locally and worldwide.
