Collectives Hub: Folo Collective

What of the present do we choose to carry forward? What are we afraid to lose? What do we hope to convey to people we will never meet? In response to Future Histories, we have created a time capsule: a collection of images, words and objects addressed to an unknown future.

Rather than starting with prescribed contents, we allowed the work to develop intuitively through an Exquisite Corpse. Each photographer received an image and responded with one of their own, which was then passed to the next person. Seeing only the photograph immediately before our own, we created a visual conversation in which each image became the prompt for the next: a collective feedback loop.

The photographs are shown alongside short texts, fragments and objects chosen by the artists. These elements are not necessarily paired with their author’s image, but arranged through visual, emotional and conceptual resonances. Each element changes how another is read, allowing connections to emerge between different contributions, highlighting our shared joys, fears and anxieties about the world we live in and its future.

Together, the images, words and objects form a speculative archive: a subjective record of the world as we experience it now, sent forward to a future whose reading of it we cannot foretell.

Folo Collective is a group of 12 photographers who came together in 2025 following their participation in an online workshop series run by photography collective, The Emmas. After the workshops, they continued to meet online regularly to support one another on their individual projects.

Each photographer approaches the medium differently, yet all are shaped by the same environment of support and exchange. The workshops provided a framework for dialogue
and development. Through collective reflection, participants were encouraged to test ideas,
challenge assumptions and expand the boundaries of their practice. This was underpinned by a strong sense of trust and openness within the group, creating a space where risk-taking
felt possible.

In May 2026, they put together an exhibition, ‘Traces of Us’, at St Margaret’s House in Bethnal Green, curated by Folo Collective member, Sophia Álvarez Barnes. The show became material evidence of the possibility of working together cohesively whilst honouring their individual histories, questions and ways of seeing.