Show Notes
In this episode, from my second salon titled, Between Two Worlds which took place in January 2026 at London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) and supported by WePresent. The one day salon is an attempt to describe the feeling of existing in two image worlds, the one we think we know, and the new one emerging. We can sense that this new image world operates differently to the one we were socialised in—and yet it’s unclear exactly how. In this session, Gem Fletcher is joined by Bruno Ceschel, Brian Paul Lamotte and Lillian Wilkie. Together they discuss, What’s next for PhotoBook publishing?
PhotoBook publishing has grown exponentially over the last decade, contributing to the evolving narrative of photography. At this moment of seeming abundance, it feels important to consider the economic, environmental, political and cultural realities moving forward for publishers and artists. What values are shaping the wider culture of PhotoBook publishing? How is the current market evolving? Is it possible to create new forms of the medium that adequately express the strange, unmapable shape of our present?
Bruno Ceschel Bruno Ceschel is the founder and director of Self Publish, Be Happy (SPBH), an organization dedicated to visual culture, education, and community. Since 2010, SPBH has organized events at institutions such as Tate Modern, MoMA PS1, and Kunsthal Charlottenborg. Its collection of over 3,000 artists’ books is housed at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris. As Publishing Director at SPBH Editions, Ceschel has published works by authors including Vince Aletti, Carmen Winant, Charlie Engman, and Mari Katayama. He is a visiting lecturer at École cantonale d’art de Lausanne (ECAL) and Cornell University.
Brian Paul Lamotte Brian Paul Lamotte is an independent graphic designer and educator based between Milan and Zürich, specializing in art and photography publishing. Trained in graphic design at Central Saint Martins, his practice is grounded in close collaboration with artists, editors, and printers and is characterized by a research-driven approach to image-led solutions, minimal typography, and material sensitivity in the production of the book form. He has designed and produced books and various printed projects for select publishers and cultural institutions, including Aperture Foundation, Dashwood Books, Edition Patrick Frey, Fondation Louis Vuitton, MACK, MAST Foundation, MoMA, Rizzoli and SPBH Editions, where he is currently the art director.
Lillian Wilkie Lillian Wilkie is a writer, editor and publisher based in London and East Sussex. Her practice and research focus on artist publishing and its communities, photography and its contexts, and marginal fashion media. She is the Director of Chateau International, an independent imprint producing books, zines, editions and programming. Whilst prioritising female and non-binary artists and writers, Chateau International works with a range of international collaborators who share its interests in the counterculture, fashion, feminism, radical politics, community organising and practices of photography. Lillian is co-Director of Bound Art Book Fair at the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, a key annual event that builds and sustains communities around print publishing practices whilst exploring the potential for expanded forms of publishing that engage or interact with performance, music, sculpture, fashion, moving image and activism. In 2024, she co-organised INVENTORY, a major publishing programme at Cromwell Place, London.
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More from The Messy Truth - Conversations on Photography
In this episode, from my second salon titled, Between Two Worlds which took place in January 2026 at London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) and supported by WePresent. The one day salon is an attempt to describe the feeling of existing in two image worlds, the one we think we know, and the new one emerging. We can sense that this new image world operates differently to the one we were socialised in—and yet it’s unclear exactly how. In this session, Gem Fletcher is joined by Rene Matić and Elle Pérez. Together they discuss, What is the work of art today?
In this episode, from my second salon titled, Between Two Worlds which took place in January 2026 at London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) and supported by WePresent. The one day salon is an attempt to describe the feeling of existing in two image worlds, the one we think we know, and the new one emerging. We can sense that this new image world operates differently to the one we were socialised in—and yet it’s unclear exactly how. In this session, On Photography And, Gem Fletcher is joined by Jack Davison, Ronan Mckenzie, and Hanna Moon, three artists who have taken risks in an attempt to create new models of publishing, exhibiting and making.
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