When I started working on the 2026 festival, I knew that building on our inaugural edition would require more exhibitions, more venues, more photographers and, importantly, more people willing to believe in what we are trying to build. Looking back now, I am struck by just how many people have contributed to making this second edition possible.

More than 160 photographers participated in the festival, with more than 40 exhibitions and projects presented across more than 30 venues. The festival stretched from the V&A Waterfront to the city centre, to Hout Bay, Kalk Bay, Woodstock, Observatory and Bellville.

This geographical spread is one of the things I value most about the festival. Photography became a way of connecting different parts of the city and, in the process, connecting audiences, institutions, artists, musicians, students, collectors and people who may never otherwise have crossed paths.

I would like to thank every photographer who participated in the 2026 festival. Thank you for trusting us with your work and for responding so generously to this year’s theme, TRUTH. The Open Call brought many new voices into the festival, and the response to the theme was one of the most rewarding aspects of this edition.

A special thank you goes to the photographers who donated work to our fundraising auction. Without their generosity, and without the continued support of those who contribute financially and materially to the festival, there would be no festival. I am particularly grateful to Leica and Sigma for their continued support and belief in what we are building.

Thank you also to the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands for supporting Cape Rhythm: Goema, Klopse & Memory, an exhibition that was particularly important to me as the festival’s first public exhibition. Bringing it into the Company’s Garden created an opportunity to connect photography with music, memory and the city’s own history.

I am grateful to all the curators who shaped the programme, and to the speakers, workshop presenters and everyone who gave their time and knowledge to the public programme. The conversations, walkabouts, workshops and encounters around the exhibitions are an important part of what makes the festival more than a series of exhibitions.

Thank you to our international guests and partners who travelled to Cape Town and contributed so generously to the festival: Salim Amin (Nairobi, Kenya), Susan Otieno (Nairobi, Kenya), Josiane Faubert (Seattle, USA) Keshida Layone and Sankara Yambo (USA/Kenya), Mercé Alisna and Enric Mauri (Barcelona, Spain), Naoya Yoshikawa (Osaka, Japan) and Tanguy Servat-Denuet (Reunion Island). Your presence expanded the conversations around the festival and strengthened its international connections.

I am particularly grateful for the relationships that developed across different cultural disciplines during this edition. WOMAD’s invitation to present an exhibition of music photography at Artscape was one example of this kind of cross-pollination. The participation of the Norval Foundation, with its presentation of David Goldblatt, was another. These connections between photography, music, performance, heritage and the visual arts are exactly the kind of cultural exchange that I hope the festival can continue to encourage.

There were also quieter signs of the festival reaching new audiences. The exhibition at Central Library brought new users to the library and I heard of families arranging outings around the festival, including visits to the Castle of Good Hope, with some discovering places they had never visited before. These may seem like small things, but for me they are important indicators of what a city-wide photography festival can do.

Thank you to all our venue partners who opened their doors to us and made space for photography. A festival of this scale simply could not happen without the generosity, flexibility and commitment of the people working behind the scenes at each venue.

Thank you to our partners and supporters, including PrintArt Cape Town, ONOMO Hotels, Sanlam, Interwil Wood Products, ORMS, Fujifilm South Africa and everyone who contributed resources, services, expertise or financial support.

Thank you to the students and lecturers who participated in the International Student Photography Exhibition, bringing together young photographers from Osaka, Warsaw, London, Tehran and five tertiary institutions in South Africa. Their work reminded us again of the importance of creating opportunities for emerging photographers and of building international connections at an early stage in their careers.

And thank you to the many people who worked behind the scenes. The festival is visible through its exhibitions and public programme, but there is an enormous amount of administration, coordination, installation, communication, transport, printing, technical work and problem-solving that happens long before an audience walks through a gallery door.

I also want to thank my fellow curators, advisors, board members, volunteers and the many people who stepped in when something needed to be done. There were many moving parts, and not everything went according to plan, but there was always someone willing to help find a way forward.

Finally, I want to thank the AUDIENCES who came to see the exhibitions, joined the walks and conversations, attended workshops, visited venues across the city, and engaged with the photographers and their work. A festival exists because people choose to participate in it.

The second edition has shown me again that there is a real appetite for photography in Cape Town, but also that photography can act as a meeting point between different communities, disciplines, generations and places. That is what I hope we continue to build.

For now, though, I simply want to say thank you. Thank you for believing in the Cape Town Photography Festival and for contributing to it and for helping it grow. I look forward to seeing where we take it next.

View the Cape Town Photography Festival 2026 Catalogue.

Heidi Erdmann
Festival Director
Cape Town Photography Festival