After three decades of photographing the African diaspora, Liz Johnson Artur is bringing Black Balloon Archive home to Brixton for a ten-month-long residency. Featuring never-before-seen imagery taken in and around South London, Black Balloon Archive is the artist’s ongoing record of Black London. The project takes place in a building scheduled for demolition as part of the reconstruction of Brixton Town Centre, highlighting the spatial dissonance in the ongoing gentrification of Brixton.

The archive features over 30 years of the London-based photographer’s work, capturing the complexities and expression of Black life across the diaspora through identity, culture and community. Much of her work is rooted in music and dance, the Russian-Ghanaian-born photographer has documented Nigerian weddings, Hackney’s QPOC club night PDA, squat parties and toured with numerous musicians.

Her analogue approach materialises and celebrates the tangible and careful process of creating an image. “The space between the moment you make a picture and see it is essential. It gives you time to breathe, to understand, to not judge,” she told Dazed in a recent interview. She previously actualised this vision with her photobooks, I Will Keep You in Good Company and PDA in 2025, and now with Black Balloon Archive. 

Self-curated and adaptive, Johnson Artur will responsively change the archive throughout the year. In addition to her own work, she creates space for new and local artists to explore and play. The archive features an in-house photography studio whose resulting works will be incorporated into its ever-evolving display. 

Black Balloon Archive and Pop-up Portrait studio opens Saturday 28th March from 7-10pm at 53 Brixton Station Road, London SW9 8PB. The archive is open until December 2026. Everyone is welcome.