The 2012 London Festival of Photography begins on Friday (1 June) at several venues across King's Cross, Bloomsbury, Euston and Fitzrovia. This year's theme is Inside Out: Reflections on the Private and the Public, which covers current debates on the nature of street photography, censorship, surveillance, the social media revolution and the attendant democratisation of visual journalism. (A day-by-day festival diary of all exhibitions and events is viewable here.) Here are my personal highlights:
The Gaddafi Archives: Libya Before the Arab Spring, 21–29 June
Photographs, official documents, films and artefacts from the huge archive found by Human Rights Watch in state intelligence buildings and Gaddafi's many residences after the downfall of his regime. A glimpse of a recent secret history and photography's role in recording it.
Masterclasses with Chris Steele-Perkins and Jodi Bieber
The Magnum veteran and the award-winning South African photographer each host an intensive masterclass in which participants will be given assignments. On 7 June, Bieber will also be giving a talk about her work.
Beneath the Surface: Steve Bloom
On the 35th anniversary of Steve Biko's murder by South African security police, the Guardian Gallery in Kings Place hosts Steve Bloom's images of apartheid in cities and townships in the 1970s. Edgy reportage and evocative portraits, many of which have not been exhibited before.
The Great British Public – Various Photographers and Let This Be a Sign by Simon Roberts
Until this year, the festival has been devoted exclusively to street photography and this big group show, The Great British Public, highlights the continuing importance of the same. Across two sites, it takes in the length and breadth of the British isles and – predictably – focuses on what the organisers call "the spirit of patriotism" that is being whipped up around the Olympics and the Jubilee. Photographers include Liz Hingley, Martin Parr, Ewen Spencer and Homer Sykes. Republicans might be better advised to check out Simon Roberts's latest series, Let This Be a Sign, which looks at "modes of representing the physical, political and social effects of economic change". Roberts will be encouraging the public to interact with the work and will also be giving a free gallery tour on 16 June at 2pm.
Edward Burtynsky: Manufactured Landscapes, a Film by Jennifer Baichwal, 19 June, Tate Modern
Garlanded with film festival awards, Baichwal's documentary delves into the effects of industrialisation and globalisation using Burtynsky's working visit to China as the framework. A breathtaking visual ode to the artist at work and to the epic sites he photographs, from the vast Three Gorges Dam to quarries, mines and shipbreaking yards.
Firecracker Presents: Lives of Others
Firecracker is an online network for European female photographers and here it presents an exploration of identity, culture and family through the work of Briony Campbell, Léonie Hampton and Laura Hynd, among others.
Inside Out: Reflections on the Public and the Private Symposium, 9 June
A day-long event with presentations of recent work by Mishka Henner and the Observer's Antonio Olmos, who has documented every murder site in London over the last year for his project The Landscape of Murder. James Bridle will consider The New Aesthetic, in which everything from Google Streetview to Facebook facial recognition algorithms will be up for intellectual scrutiny.
