OUR STORY
Photofusion is South London’s largest and most established independent photography resource centre. We are an organisation with a dual mission: providing professional photographic lab services alongside the work of our registered charity. From our 1970s origins as a radical community collective to our current hub in Brixton, we provide the facilities, expertise, and community for photographers to produce high-quality work and engage with social purpose.
2024 - PRESENT | BEEHIVE PLACE & THE FUTURE
In April 2024, with the support of Lambeth Council, we opened our brand-new premises at Beehive Place. This move represented a structural evolution as well as a change of address: to protect our resources and long-term community outreach, the Photofusion Educational Trust (PET) became our lead organisation.
Today, we continue to bridge the gap between technical production and community empowerment. We remain dedicated to changing the face of the industry—recognising that currently, only 4% of the photography workforce is from a Global Majority background and only 16% from a working-class background. Our new home is designed to provide professional-standard equipment and expertise for the next generation of photographers and artists.
1991 - 2024 | BEGINNING IN BRIXTON
In 1991, the organisation relocated to the heart of Brixton and rebranded as Photofusion. For over three decades at Electric Lane, we built a reputation for supporting work that challenged artistic conventions and championed representation. Our darkrooms, digital suites, and gallery became a vital launchpad for projects that have since defined British contemporary photography.
We are proud to have supported the early careers of some of the UK’s most celebrated photographers, including Adama Jalloh, Khalik Allah, Natasha Caruana, Eddie Otchere, Dafna Talmor, Anthony Luvera, and Tom Hunter. From hosting the Black British Panthers exhibition (2014) to exploring queer masculinities in Body Copy (2020), our Brixton home remained a crucial site for visual culture and community engagement.
1979 - 1990 | THE PHOTO CO-OP
Our journey began in 1979 in Wandsworth as the Photo Co-op, a radical collective founded by Gina Glover, Geof Rayner, and Tessa Howland (later joined by Crispin Hughes and Sheila Gray). Operating from a shop-front on Garratt Lane, the Co-op used photography as a tool for social change, documenting housing struggles and industrial shifts.
A central aim was to challenge media stereotypes, particularly of women, by building a 20,000-image archive of real lives that served both documentary photographers and community activists.