Photograph by Tom Price
We Don’t Know What This Is: An exhibition of sunrise gathering photographs
We Don’t Know What This Is began with a vision of gathering at dawn on Hackney Marshes. Three years later, it has grown to over a thousand connected members. It remains free and self-organising: people bring music, movement, food, art, or simply themselves.
This exhibition features posters by David Johnston and photographs by Tom Price documenting the community and environment. The posters translate the date, location, and solar conditions of each gathering into visual form.
Ultimately, this celebrates open public spaces. Bringing the project to Homerton Library invites all of Hackney to connect and help shape its future.
Homerton Library (18/09/2026 - 15/01/2027)
Portals exhbition at Hackney Central Library
Portals
Johanah Sheikh loves life.
With severe spinal impairment, she is unable to walk, and mobility is limited. Painting is a pain...but a great distraction.
Research informs her art. She has been a customer of Hackney Libraries’ CLS: Home Visit Library for 40 years. Every month the team brings her a selection of inspiring books on a wide range of topics relating to her research, which she needs to make her paintings, installations, and sculptures. The CLS team helps her fulfill her artistic ambitions and supports her practice.
Discovering JMW Turner, Dadaism, and Ernesto Neto inspired her techniques, while travelling through books brought global themes into her art.
This exhibition features her Portals series, inspired by ancient texts across six world regions. Viewing written language and libraries as gateways to knowledge, Johanah hopes to inspire visitors to explore and create.
Hackney Central Library (01/02/2026 - 01/02/2027)
Photograph by Tara Darby
The White Cage: A photography exhibition
"San Siro, Hackney: How do football cages change lives?
The White Cage documents an iconic astro pitch in the heart of Suffolk Estate, just seconds away from the gentrification of Broadway Market. The cage is a free space, a hidden space and a place to play, create, train and dream.
This project celebrates the community that uses the cage before it closes for redevelopment and a redesign next year, amid a wider regeneration project on the estate. Photographer Tara Darby wants to highlight the importance of spaces like these in communities and their ability to change lives.
Homerton Library (09/06/2026 - 17/09/2026)
Photograph by Tom Harrison
Referees of Hackney Marshes
Hackney Marshes' 73 pitches are the spiritual home of Sunday league football.
Despite early mornings, poor weather, and frequent criticism, dedicated referees ensure matches run smoothly purely out of love for the game.
Photographer Tom Harrison's portraits highlight referees from the Hackney Marshes Saturday Youth and Girls leagues who manage the action weekly.
Harrison is a London-based portrait photographer who blends ambient and studio lighting to produce cinematic images for commercial and personal projects.
Learn more about the leagues at https://hackney.gov.uk/football-development
Homerton Library (29/11/2023 - 08/06/2026)
Photograph by Hackney Libraries
differently various: An exhibition with Headway Charity
Shoreditch Library is host to one of our four 'differently various in different spaces' exhibitions, bringing artwork, events, and stories from Headway East London to local communities across 13 boroughs.
Explore artwork by Submit to Love studio artists, connect with local members, and discover personal experiences of life after brain injury.
At the library entrance, visitors are greeted by Jason Ferry's vivid figures, 'I all screwed up', while inside, multimedia and text-based artworks reveal the diverse stories of our community.
In the Survivor’s Corner, a curated film reel invites visitors to reflect on members' journeys alongside graphic text works by Tony Allen and Tony Brooks.
Highlights include 'What is it like to live with a brain injury' - a collaborative collection of embroidered textiles - and the intimate podcast series 'Who Are You Now?'.