Magnum’s 79th Annual General Meeting
The cooperative gathered in Paris for its 2026 meeting, voting in two new Associates
Since its founding in 1947, Members of Magnum Photos have met once a year, typically in June, for its Annual General Meeting. Lasting several days, the cooperative and its Members gather, plan for the year ahead, and take part in the crucial voting process for potential new Nominees, Associates and Members.
This year, the meeting took place under a heatwave in Paris, where a new office and exhibition space opened earlier this year. Located at 2 Impasse Delaunay, steps away from Charonne metro station in the city’s 11th arrondissement, the Magnum Gallery & Bookshop hosted both private and public events for photographers and Estate representatives over the course of the week.
On Saturday, June 27, a new exhibition titled Under the Same Sun opened to the public. The exhibition presents a dialogue between Magnum’s newest Member, Zied Ben Romdhane, and one of its oldest contributors, Herbert List. Their visual dialogue spans almost a century, and includes photographs made from opposite coasts of the Mediterranean Sea. Alongside the opening, Magnum photographers gathered for book signings and a book fair in the courtyard.
The meeting itself ran behind closed doors at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie from Wednesday to Sunday. With only minor changes to the current Magnum Board, Gregory Halpern, Lorenzo Meloni and Newsha Tavakolian remain Magnum co-presidents for the coming year.
Each year, a voting session is held for cooperative membership. To become full, lifelong Members of Magnum, photographers must pass a minimum four-year process, starting as Nominees, before passing to Associates, and then full Members. Each photographer must submit a new portfolio for each stage of the process, and the Member photographers vote on these portfolios during the AGM with three possible outcomes — passing to the next stage, being given an extra year to work on their portfolio, or being rejected and subsequently dropping out of the process.
In 2026, two votes took place. Sudanese photographer Salih Basheer and Palestinian/Dutch photographer Sakir Khader both passed to Associates, after becoming Nominees in 2024. No new Nominees were considered this year, with applications to join the cooperative now functioning on a case-by-case basis following a decision made by the Board of photographers last year.
“We are delighted to welcome Sakir Khader and Salih Basheer as Associates to the agency; their work brings powerful new aesthetic approaches, distinct political perspectives, and a broader range of lived experiences and geographic viewpoints that will enrich our collective vision,” writes Gregory Halpern, Magnum co-president.
With Magnum’s 80th anniversary on the horizon, discussions turned to planning for the cooperative’s latest milestone. Through the course of 2027, a global program of events, exhibitions and celebrations will take place, looking to honor the past, present and future of independent, authentic and trusted visual storytelling.
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