Collectives Hub: Zinnia Collective
Zinnia Collective presents a participatory exhibition exploring how the past continues to shape artistic practice, and how every action changes the way history is experienced by those who come after us.
Reflecting a commitment to collaboration, the exhibition brings together photographers at different stages of their careers, from emerging to established artists like Birthe Piontek, each contributing a single photograph in response to the question: “Is there a photograph you have taken in the past that still informs your practice today?”
Visitors will be invited to carefully remove the top image from one stack, placing it into an archive on the gallery floor in front of the installed work and revealing the photograph beneath. With every interaction, the exhibition changes. Each visitor inherits a different exhibition from the person before them while simultaneously shaping the experience of the next. As the growing archive of removed images becomes a parallel history of the exhibition, reminding us that history is never fixed. It is continuously revealed, edited, remembered, and rewritten through the choices we make, reflecting Zinnia Collective’s belief that meaningful change begins through participation and shared experience.
Zinnia Collective is a community focused photography organisation founded by artists Edward Brilliant and Emily June Smith. Through exhibitions, workshops, artist talks, and our monthly Open Crits, we create opportunities for photographers to connect, collaborate, and develop their practice.
While we continue to exhibit our own work, our primary focus is creating opportunities for others. Every project we organise is designed to bring together emerging, early career, and established photographers, encouraging conversations and collaborations that extend beyond the exhibition itself. We believe photography is strongest when it is shared, and that meaningful creative communities are built through generosity, openness, and collaboration.
Having experienced how isolating the photography world can feel after university, and how difficult it can be to access meaningful opportunities, we set out to build the supportive photographic community we wished we’d had ourselves.
Alongside our free Open Crits, we curate exhibitions and open calls that encourage artists from different backgrounds and stages of practice to exhibit together, often creating opportunities for connections that may not otherwise have happened.
As Zinnia Collective grows, our ambition remains the same, to strengthen the photographic community by connecting artists, creating opportunities for collaboration, and fostering lasting creative relationships that continue beyond the exhibition space.
Image: Emily June Smith
