Ballarat is a city with history carved into its stone. The ornate banks, civic halls, and the Mining Exchange stand as grand reminders of the gold rush that once set Victorian Australia aflame. But every two years since 2005, this regional city takes on another role—not as an archive of past wealth, but as a gallery of living images.
From 23 August to 19 October 2025, the Ballarat International Foto Biennale—now in its eleventh edition—will not merely take place in Ballarat. The festival transforms the city itself into art. Over 360 artists, more than 100 venues, and countless pop-ups will turn laneways, cafés, and government halls into creative spaces. “There is a life force in all of us – a spark that compels us to create, to connect, to capture the world around us,” says Artistic Director Vanessa Gerrans. “This year’s Biennale honours that energy with a program that is dynamic, provocative and deeply moving.”
Among the headline moments is the Australian debut of Campbell Addy’s I Love Campbell at the Mining Exchange. Addy, a British-Ghanaian photographer, has reshaped fashion portraiture through powerful imagery of icons such as Naomi Campbell, Beyoncé, and Lizzo.
At the Post Office Gallery, Edward Enninful’s curatorial hand breathes modern life into Robert Mapplethorpe’s iconic prints—forty-six works in Enninful × Mapplethorpe reflect past and present in a compelling dialogue. And in the Town Hall, Catherine Leroy: One Way Ticket to Vietnam 1966–1968 reveals the raw documentary photos of a fearless photojournalist who parachuted with troops into war zones. Her images, searing in their immediacy, remind us how much truth depends on proximity — and on the courage of those willing to get close.
Elsewhere, memory and identity are palpable. Photographer Lê Nguyên Phương’s Thành Phẩm at the Library offers a tender counter-narrative to the Vietnam War through intimate domestic scenes. By turning the camera inward, Phương reclaims a history often told only through battlefields, suggesting that memory itself can be a form of resistance. At Miners Tavern, Long Exposure: The Legacy of Prahran College gathers fifty artists educated at the once-groundbreaking school now regarded as foundational to Australian photography.
At the RACV Goldfields Resort, Nature~ista juxtaposes Leila Jeffreys’s avian portraits with Maria Fernanda Cardoso’s nature-infused sculptures, while Hiromi Tango’s Hagoromo fuses Noh theatre and floral symbolism into an emotional exploration of cultural identity. Tango’s work lingers in the uneasy space between grief and renewal, showing how personal histories can bloom into collective metaphors.
The Biennale refuses to be confined within gallery walls. A shimmering moth—Mumu Mirri, by Dave Jones and Deanne Gilson—clads the facade of the National Centre for Photography, honouring the Bogong Moth’s connection to First Nations cultures. Memory Matrix, by Jody Haines and Debasish Mukherjee, stretches across Bridge Mall and The Goods Shed in powerful outdoor projections. Laneways host High Exposure, with works by emerging Ballarat artists, and Alfred Deakin Place presents Leicolhn McKellar’s Guma, an art screen centred on the Budjiti word for “blood,” anchoring identity in place.
Evening events enact community as ritual. The Lifeforce Gala on 23 August sets the tone: black tie, champagne, art revealed beneath chandeliers. The following day, The Art of Lunch pairs artists Addy, Phương, and Tango with dishes reflecting their work. Todd Hido visits for a photobook conversation with RMIT’s Daniel Palmer; female photojournalists Christina Simons, Carla Gottgens, and Penny Stephens gather in dialogue; a nude photography workshop unfolds at Craig’s Royal Hotel, and line dancing energizes the Mining Exchange. The festival closes with Dreyer’s 1928 The Passion of Joan of Arc, screened with a curated score of gothic music by Erik Satie in the centenary year of his death.
Few cities of Ballarat’s size would attempt this: more than three hundred and sixty artists, over one hundred venues, a full two months of ambitious programming. Yet the city seems to crave it. “The City of Ballarat is delighted to support the 11th Ballarat International Foto Biennale with significant and ongoing funding,” says Mayor Tracey Hargreaves. “Over the past two decades, the Foto Biennale has grown to become Australia’s leading photographic festival and Ballarat is proud to call it ours.” And Intrepid Travel ANZ’s Managing Director, Brett Mitchell, casts the festival as a journey of cultural impact: “Both photography and travel are transformative, inspiring positive change and serving as a force for good. We are thrilled to see an incredible collection of international art come to Ballarat to foster creativity and communities.”
Beyond the sound bites lies the real magic: the encounter of image and place, of gaze and ground. In an era of infinite scroll and image fatigue, Ballarat—through Lifeforce—invites slowness, reflection, and presence.
More than a festival, Lifeforce is a proposition: that art, like a moth at dusk, is fragile and luminous; that creativity thrives when cities open themselves to interpretation; that photography endures not for its ubiquity but for its power to pause us.
For two months in 2025, Ballarat will not simply host a festival—it will shine anew. Once gilded by gold, the city will now be gilded by images.
Ballarat International Foto Biennale 2025
- Dates: 23 August – 19 October 2025
- Location: Ballarat, Victoria, Australia
- Venues: 100+ indoor and outdoor spaces, including galleries, civic halls, cafés, bars, and laneways
- Artists: 360+ international and Australian photographers, digital creators, and visual artists
- Program: Major exhibitions, public art installations, talks, workshops, film screenings, performances, and prizes
- Website: ballaratfoto.org | Tickets
