Sharjah: Xposure 2026 celebrated its 10th anniversary with A Decade of Visual Storytelling, featuring more than 570 creative events in Sharjah, UNESCO-designated Cultural Capital of the Arab World (1998), from January 29 to February 4, 2026.
In the heart of the United Arab Emirates, there were over 420 international photographers, filmmakers, and visual artists, 126 talks and panel discussions, 72 workshops, and 280 portfolio reviews. Xposure received a record 29,000 photography and 634 film entries from 60 countries. The festival spanned both indoor and outdoor spaces, covering a single temporary venue of over half a million square feet.
[His Highness Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qasimi, Deputy Ruler of Sharjah and Chairman of the Sharjah Media Council (SMC) going around the photo exhibits after inaugurating Xposure 2026 on January 29, 2026. Behind him are Athens Mayor Haris Doukas (suit) and His Excellency Tariq Saeed Allay, Director-General of SGMB. Photo courtesy SGMB.]
This year’s show was divided into 12 thematic zones to make it easier for the visitors to navigate. These zones were: People and Portraiture, Sports and Action Photography, Oceans and Water Conservation, Athens (Greece), Documentary Photography, Travel and Adventure Photography, Nature and Wildlife, The Global Focus Project (GFP), Fine Art and Creative Expression Photography, Photojournalism, addressing social issues and wars and tragedies, the Independent and Freelance Photojournalist Award (IFPA) zone, and the Courtyard zone.
The seven-day program organized by the Sharjah Government Media Bureau (SGMB) brought together leading international photographers and visual artists whose work spanned photojournalism, documentary, nature and wildlife, travel, sport, and fine art. Featured participants included David Burnett, Morten Qvale, Joshua Holko, Marco Ronconi, Mohammad Anabtawi, Simon King, Dan Kitwood, Virginie Ellis, Yousuf Ahmed, Richard L’Anson, Derry Brabbs, Deanne Fitzmaurice, and Mostafa Ajjawi.
The festival also showcased a strong fine art and creative line-up, including Christoffer Relander, Rashed Alsumaiti, Leslie Smolan, who represented the work of the late photographer Rodney Smith, Richard Le Manz, Romany Hafez, Cath Simard, Hengki Koentjoro, Pauline Planchon, Julian Calverley, Christian Houge, Dmitry Ersler, Ghada Al Qasimi, Liam Man, Riccardo Magherini, Lucia Giacani, Andrey Gudkov, and Andreas Urscheler.
Yousuf Ahmed, a member of the Emirates Astronomical Society, loves photographing the night sky. He has spent a year capturing the cosmos, star clusters, galaxies, and meteor showers, and has had an enduring relationship with the stars. The Sky – Within and Beyond was displayed in the Nature Zone and showed the tranquility and power of the skies.
The opening ceremony featured a keynote address by Haris Doukas, the Mayor of Athens, marking the Greek capital’s participation as the Guest of Honor at the festival’s landmark 10th edition. This program beautifully displayed the historic city’s centuries-old heritage, cultural transformations, and a collective showcase of more than 140 artworks by six artists.
[His Excellency Tariq Saeed Allay, Director General of the Sharjah Government Media Bureau (SGMB), presents the award to Josh Edelson. He was declared co-winner of The Independent and Freelance Photojournalist Award for his series “Inferno: California on Fire.” Photo courtesy SGMB.]
The Athens Zone featured six independent photography exhibitions. Dimitris Tosidis documented the centuries-old pastoral nomadism of Northern Greece. Maro Kouri turned her lens on Athens’ migrant communities. Athanasios Maloukos explored the emotional states within religious rites. Socrates Baltagiannis offered an intimate portrait of Athens through the faces of its people. Antonios Pasvantis presented a decade-long study of the Evros River, which marks the natural border between Greece and Turkey. Michael Pappas documented traditional attire and costumes across Greek regions.
[Deanne Fitzmaurice, with her Saleh photos, which got her the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography in 2005. Saleh’s story is about rehabilitation in the US after surviving devastating injuries from a roadside bomb in Iraq in 2003.]
H.E. Tariq Saeed Allay, Director General of SGMB, said that Sharjah was not just building a photography festival but rather a new conversation between humanity and its image. Through the lens, stories cross borders faster than words. In an age where the image defines memory, commerce, and communication, Xposure has grown into a space where light becomes language and creativity becomes a form of dialogue between cultures.
[Myanmar’s Myat Hein proudly displays his overall winner statuette of the Photography Award for Xposure 2026 as he poses between Her Excellency Alya Al Suwaidi, Director of SGMB, and His Excellency Tariq Saeed Allay, Director-General of SGMB. Photo courtesy SGMB.]
The Xposure International Photography Awards 2026 received more than 29,000 submissions from over 60 countries, setting a record for the highest participation in the awards’ history. Outstanding photographers from around the world were feted for their work that demonstrated exceptional visual storytelling, technical skill, and creative depth across a wide range of genres.
[Photo by His Highness Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qasimi at the Big Heart Foundation Gallery]
There were just too many photographers, either exhibiting, speaking, interviewing, presenting, or in other roles, and all of them could not be covered in the above report. So, the missing honorable mentions are:
Canadian photographer Tim Smith, British Photographer Liam Man, Egyptian photographer Fatima Fahmy, Argentinian photographer Guillermo Franco, French photographer Jean-Pierre Rieu, Swedish photographer Lukasz Larsson Warzecha, French photographer Matilde Gattoni, American photographer Huang Qingjun, Turkish photographer Mustafa Bilge Satkın, British-Swedish photographer Anastasia Taylor Lind, American photographer Rick Smolan, Photo historian Sylvia Laudien-Meo, Greek photographer Christina Kalligianni, French photographer & master printer Dominique Laugé, UAE photographer Hind Al Raeesi, Filipino photographer Jan Gonzales, UAE photographer Jassim Rabia Al-Awadhi, UAE photographer Mohamed Alsuwaidi, Danish photographer Søren Solkær, Greek photographer Thanassis Stavrakis, German photographer Tor Seidel, Swedish photographer Ulrika Larsson, Greek photographer Yannis Kolesidis, UAE photographer Ahmed Alshehhi, UAE photographer Ali Alsharif, Egyptian photographer Mohamed Elnadry, UAE photographer Omran Alansari.
When I set out from Atlanta, I thought seven days was too long to spend at a photo exhibition, but I had no idea how vast it was. On the final day, I had to accept that I had barely scratched the surface, and I was furiously running to catch up with all the 95 galleries out there. In the future, it would be nice if the organizers launch a detailed online Xposure after the physical show ends, so I can catch up on what I missed during the long flight back, or for the benefit of people who could not travel.