Open Eye Gallery is an art gallery with a focus on photography. It has a collection of work from 100 photographers plus an exhibition space that hosts a programme of temporary exhibitions.
The gallery was founded in 1977 and moved into its current purpose-built space in 2011.
What to see at Open Eye Gallery
Open Eye Gallery has a collection of 1600 prints from 100 photographers with an emphasis on portraiture and documentary photography.
The gallery also hosts a programme of temporary exhibitions. Current and planned exhibitions include:
Unfolding
This annual exhibition (7–11 May 2025) features work by students graduating from the BA Photography and Social Practice course at UCEN Manchester. Delivered in partnership with Open Eye Gallery, this year’s exhibition includes four student-led projects. Themes range from ideas of home to canine separation anxiety, theatrical identity and local Manchester towns. The exhibition reflects a range of approaches to photographic practice and marks the conclusion of students’ undergraduate study.
Liverpool Biennial 2025
The 13th edition of Liverpool Biennial (7 June–14 September 2025), titled BEDROCK, explores themes of identity, heritage and place. Curated by Marie-Anne McQuay, the festival draws on the city’s sandstone geology and broader social foundations.
At Open Eye Gallery, three artists respond to ideas of memory, tradition and community through lens-based media and sculpture.
Nandan Ghiya presents sculptural photographs based on Hindu mythology, referencing the shared architectural patterns of Liverpool and Jaipur. His work explores climate impact, resource use and social tensions.
Widline Cadet’s photographic series reflects on her family’s migration from Haiti to the United States. It explores Black diasporic experience and how memory can shift across generations.
In collaboration with First Take and participants from the REEL: Queer programme, Katarzyna Perlak presents a film installation set in Liverpool’s Adelphi Hotel. It adopts a non-linear structure to explore Queer identity, longing and the language of horror.
Perlak’s work also appears at the Walker Art Gallery.
The wider Biennial includes partnerships with local and national organisations, including Tate Liverpool, Bluecoat and FACT. Artists have responded to Liverpool’s archives, green spaces and colonial past, connecting with communities and exploring the city’s layered histories.
BEDROCK considers the relationships between personal identity and place, between collective memory and built environments. It brings together artists from different backgrounds whose practices respond to complex social and environmental conditions.
Liverpool Biennial is the UK’s largest free contemporary visual arts festival, taking place across galleries and public spaces over 14 weeks.
Visiting Open Eye Gallery
The gallery is on Mann Island near RIBA North, the Museum of Liverpool, the British Music Experience and Tate Liverpool, which are all less than a five-minute walk away. It is very close (only a two-minute walk) to James Street station and Liverpool One bus station is around a seven-minute walk from the gallery.
Open Eye Gallery is wheelchair-accessible. It is open every day except Mondays and entry is free of charge.
Although it is a small gallery, it is not difficult to spend an hour or longer here.
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