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Foam Talent 2026

Press release | Amsterdam, May 2026

Foam proudly presents Foam Talent 2026. A group exhibition showcasing work of an extraordinary new wave of image-makers shaping the future of photography. This year’s exhibition features the work of 15 extraordinary artists, chosen from nearly 2,892 submissions from 107 countries. The 15 Foam Talents in the exhibition reflect the energy, diversity, and global reach of emerging photographic practices today. Together, their practices point towards bold new directions in the medium and present a strong commitment to storytelling across a range of narratives, perspectives, and artistic approaches. Foam Magazine will launch the newest Talent Issue #68 alongside the opening of the exhibition at Foam.

A boy in a blue tank top eats watermelon outdoors, with trees and buildings in the background.

A Lion's Watermelon (بطيخة أسد), 2022

© Adam Rouhana

Black and white photo, man holding a horses face

Horse/Men, November 8, 2025

© Nad E Ali

Cut-out of Chinese men holding a drink tray

301, Chinese boy on duty, 2025

© Sean Cham

Two people with short hair, sitting down, holding hands and making out

My Friends are Cybors, but That's Okay

© Ramona Jingru Wang

The quiet sound of war with text about sounds

The quiet sound of war. A sound that can't be turned off

© Liubov Durakova

A large human-like sculpture in a small room with a chair

The giant, A home with no roof

© Sara De Brito Faustino

Collage of mismatched ladders and chairs forming abstract shapes on a beach

The Beach Park, 2025

© Nazanin Hafez

Red flower against darkness

© Ali Monis Naqvi

At a time marked by constant global change and uncertainty, the Foam Talent’s engage with some of the most pressing themes in photography and society today: political oppression, grief, and mental health, religion and faith, conflict, displacement, cultural identity, and technological innovation. Yet across these different bodies of work, one theme repeatedly comes to the surface: home. For many of the artists, home is not defined as a fixed place, but as a network of memories, relationships and emotional connections. Through their work – whether by embracing faith, confronting traumatic experiences, or imagining new forms of resilience – they suggest that home is not only where we come from, but something we continue to shape and carry within ourselves.

Foam Talents 2026

Sean Cham, Yiding Chen, Sara De Brito Faustino, Liubov Durakova, Nad E Ali, Nazanin Hafez, Paola Jimenez, Ramona Jingru Wang, Daniel Mebarek, Ali Monis Naqvi, Alvin Ng, Adam Rouhana, Ammar Yassir, Farren van Wyk and Sasha Velichko. 

A person in a colorful floral dress stands beside a stroller with a child, on a sandy beach under clear skies.

Rules for Fighting

© Paola Jimenez

6 hands holding a granate

Shutter and Grenade, 2024

© Yiding Chen

Blue starry sky through ruins

The Doom of Chiron, 2022

© Alvin Ng

Chess bord

Called to the Carpet, 2025

© Sasha Velichko

Childhood and afro

13.homeless

© Ammar Yassir

Person holding a wavy board aloft in a grassy yard, surrounded by trees and scattered objects.

© Farren Van Wyk

Man standing next to colorful bags of cotton candy, with a mountain outline on a blue background.

Untitled, 2025

© Daniel Mebarek

Alongside the 15 artists that are selected for the full Foam Talent 2026 programme, an additional 15 emerging talents will be recognised under a newly introduced category: Foam Talent Runners-up. For the selected Foam Talents this includes an exhibition at Foam’s museum in Amsterdam, a publication in Foam Magazine’s Talent Issue #68 - both in print and online - and a presentation at Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation in Frankfurt. Throughout the Foam Talent programme, the artists will partake in mentoring sessions and connect with curators, writers, artists, and peers, fostering lasting professional relationships within the international photography community. Each Talent edition, the work of one selected artist is acquired by the Foam Talent partner Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation, one of the most prestigious collections of contemporary photography. The 15 selected Foam Talent Runners-up will be featured on Foam’s editorial platforms including Foam Magazine’s Talent issue in print and online.

About Foam Talent

Since 2007, the Foam Talent programme has been the core step in Foam’s ongoing commitment to scout, present and support talented image-makers worldwide. Since then, it has become one of the most prestigious international open calls for emerging photographers; helping to launch the careers of numerous artists around the world by giving their work exposure and recognition. This 17th edition of the Foam Talent programme builds on a strong legacy, with past talents including internationally recognised artists such as Philip Montgomery, Carmen Winant, Olgaç Bozalp, Sara Cwynar, Jack Davison, Myriam Boulos, and Vasantha Yogananthan, among many others.

About Foam Magazine

Foam publishes a print edition of Foam Magazine once per year, serving as a curated selection of the current state of photography. The Foam Talent issue is published biennially. Alongside it, Foam Magazine offers free, year-round online content that keeps photography lovers worldwide up to date, inspires, connects, and showcases the latest images and news in visual culture.

  

Foam Talent 2026 will be on view from 6 June to 28 August 2026 at Foam.

Open daily 10.00 – 18.00 hrs, Thurs/Fri 10.00 – 21.00 hrs.
  

Foam
Keizersgracht 609
1017 DS Amsterdam
The Netherlands
+ 31 (0)20 5516500
www.foam.org

Note to editors

For information and visual material please check www.foam.org/press or contact the press office of Foam on +31 (0)20 5516500 / pressoffice@foam.org
email

The biannual Foam Talent programme and the Talent Issue of Foam Magazine are supported by the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation, the VandenEnde Foundation and MPB.

The exhibition is made possible by the support of Mondriaan Fonds, Kleurgamma Fine-Arts Photolab, Oschatz Visuelle Medien and Sir Hotels.

Foam Magazine is sponsored by Igepa Netherlands BV, supplier of excellent paper. 


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