Alliance, Infinity, Love—In the Face of the Other

With Alliance, Infinity, Love—in the Face of the Other, the 9th Triennial of Photography Hamburg 2026 unfolds eleven exhibitions across eight celebrated museums and exhibition houses in Hamburg. Curated by Artistic Director Mark Sealy, the festival focuses on a photographic practice which welcomes diverse and different ways of being, aiming to foster a sense of community that resists photography’s historically violent regimes.

Mark Sealy explains: “The 9th Triennial of Photography offers a place for thinking critically about the work that photographs may do in culture, as moments of intimate embrace rather than moments of intimate terror. Here we consider that photography’s liberatory future may lie radically and consciously in working towards acts of cultural reparation and repair in direct contrast and against the regimes of photography’s violent observational history, we offer radically a break with photography’s old ontological order.”

Alliance, Infinity, Love—in the Face of the Other draws on the poetic and political power of the song Nature Boy—written by proto-hippie eden ahbez and brought to international prominence through its iconic interpretation by Nat King Cole. The song articulates a radical yet gentle message of love and humanity. Released in 1948—a year marked by profound political upheavals and the clash of the old and new world orders—it echoes a historical moment of transformation. At the same time, the theme refers to the philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas, who understood the infinity of human existence and responsibility towards the Other as the very foundations of humanity and solidarity. 

Within this framework, the 9th Triennial amplifies photographic voices committed to inclusion and dialogic encounter. In reference to bell hook’s ground-breaking book All About Love from 1999, love is not understood romantically, but as a conscious, politically effective act: a counterforce to alienation and a driving force for change.

Curated by Artistic Director Mark Sealy, the exhibition Alliance, Infinity, Love—in the Face of the Other, presented at the Deichtorhallen’s Hall for Contemporary Art, gives its title to the 9th Triennial. Addressing the festival’s central theme, the exhibition celebrates photography's cultural and artistic diversity as well as its healing and transformative potential. Presenting over 30 artistic positions across photography, video, and film, it traces a wide range of places and cultural experiences. The works reflect personal histories, the joy of community, and foster tenderness, dignity and intimacy. With works from Hélène Amouzou, Sandra Brewster, Didier Ben Loulou, Mario Cravo Neto, Rotimi Fani-Kayode, Mónica de Miranda, Tyler Mitchell, Lee Shulman and Omar Victor Diop, Inuuteq Storch, Matthew Thorne and Derik Lynch, Nil Yalter and others.

Further participating Institutions are: Deichtorhallen Hamburg with the PHOXXI—Temporary House of Photography, the F.C. Gundlach Collection and the Falckenberg Collection; the Bucerius Kunst Forum; the Hamburger Kunsthalle; the Kunsthaus Hamburg; the Kunstverein in Hamburg; the MARKK—Museum am Rothenbaum. World Cultures and Arts; the Museum of Work as well as the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg. 

About Mark Sealy
Mark Sealy is a London-based, internationally renowned curator and author, and scholar whose work focuses on decolonizing the Western gaze and advancing marginalised voices in photography. Since 1991 he has directed the Autograph ABP (Association of Black Photographers) and curated numerous exhibitions, residencies and publications. He was awarded a doctorate from Durham University for his thesis on photography and cultural violence and is professor for Rights and Representation at the University of the Arts London. His most influential publications include Decolonising the Camera: Photography in Racial Times (2019), Photography: Race, Rights and Representation (2022) as well as his new book A Lens on Liberation: Photography as Resistance (2025).