Soulla Petrou

Soulla Petrou
Petrou in 2024
BornMarch 1964 (age 62)
Leeds,United Kingdom
OccupationPhotographer
Years activesince 1994
Websitehttps://www.soullapetrou.com

Soulla Petrou (born 1964) is a British photographer based in London whose work focuses on music, portraiture, fashion and beauty.[1].Born in Leeds to Greek Cypriot parents, she studied Fashion at Middlesex University before taking photography night classes at St Martin’s School of Art[2]

Career

Petrou is known for documenting music and club culture including drum and bass club nights and photographing a wide range of musicians such as Goldie, Blur, Fatboy Slim, Orbital, Underworld and General Levy from the mid-1990s onwards.[3] Her work has been published in national media including The Face magazine, Mixmag, DJ magazine, The Saturday Times[4] Her work is held in the permanent collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.[5] In 2007 Petrou photographed Frankie Knuckles, David Morales, Satoshi Tomiie, Hector Romero for the 20th anniversary of Def Mix Productions, the DJ agency and management company.[6] Work includes album covers for various artists. ReBoot (Sam Brown album) , Love Shine Through

Book

Petrou is the author of "Rewind-Journey of a Music Photographer" which chronicles her first 15 years of working as a music photographer from 1994 to 2009.(ISBN 9781739116606)[7][8] The Foreword is written by the Guardian music critic Alexis Petridis.[9][10]

Exhibitions

Petrou has exhibited her work in both solo and group exhibitions in the UK and in Germany. In 2025 she exhibited "Rewind"as a solo exhibition at Photofusion Gallery in London which featured early images of Geri Halliwell 2 years prior to her Spice Girls fame, Damon Albarn, Supergrass alongside clubbing images from the Big Chill Festival and AWOL jungle night which revealed a newly discovered shot of Goldie amongst the crowd of clubbers and work from Defected Records during the Winter Music Conference in Miami.[11][12] Some of her "Rewind" images were exhibited at Photo North Festival in Leeds in March 2026.[13][14][15] Petrou's image of Mis-teeq features in "The Music is Black: A British Story" the inaugural exhibition at the V&A East in April 2026. [16][17][18].

Awards and Recognition

In 2025 Petrou's image of "Alex on Fairground Ride" from her series "Alex's Brighton Adventure" was selected for the Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize and exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery, London[19][20] with the exhibition touring to the Millennium Gallery in Sheffield.[21] She has received various awards over the years, including British Institute of Professional Photographers (BIPP) National Awards for her image "Siren" in 2022.[22] Her work was also recognised by the International Photography Awards in 2008 for her series on DJ duo "Copyright", shot originally for Defected Records, where she achieved 3rd place in the Music Category.[23] In 2014 Petrou won Silver in the fashion category for her "Ted Baker" footwear campaign at the Prix de la Photographie and was the overall 3rd-place winner of the "People's Choice"[24]. In 2026 Petrou was a Photo-book winner at the Belfast Photo Festival.[25]

Collections

Petrou's image of Mis-Teeq, shot in 2003 for Popworld magazine was acquired in 2024 by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, to be held in the permanent collection.[26][27][28]

References

  1. ↑ Broughton, Chris. "Pre- Spice Girls Geri Halliwell dressed as sci-fi character Barbarella: Soulla Petrou's best photograph". www.theguardian.com. Retrieved 4 March 2026.
  2. ↑ "Rewind". www.photonorthfestival.co.uk.
  3. ↑ "From Blur to Big Beat- The 90s and beyond in pictures". www.theguardian.com.
  4. ↑ "Rare photos of Orbital, Goldie,Frankie Knuckles, Underworld and others". www.909originals.com.
  5. ↑ "Mis-Teeq". collections.vam.ac.uk.
  6. ↑ Muk, Isaac. "Nostalgic, Timeless Photos of the early Days of Dance Music". www.mixmag.net.
  7. ↑ "REWIND: JOURNEY OF A MUSIC PHOTOGRAPHER". www.bookfinder.com.
  8. ↑ Muk, Isaac. "Nostalgic, Timeless Photos of the early Days of Dance Music". www.mixmag.net.
  9. ↑ Coney, Brian. "New book. 90s and 00s dance music". www.djmag.com.
  10. ↑ "From Blur to Big Beat- The 90s and beyond in pictures". www.theguardian.com.
  11. ↑ "Rewind -Soulla Petrou". www.photofusion.org.
  12. ↑ "Soulla Petrou at Photofusion". www.brixtonblog.com.
  13. ↑ Gilbert, Sarah. "Photo North Festival 2026 in pictures". www.theguardian.com. Retrieved 2 March 2026.
  14. ↑ Jackson, Benjamin. "Photo North Festival 2026: World-renowned legends and emerging stars to shine in Leeds this week". www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk. Retrieved 10 March 2026.
  15. ↑ Price, Sharon. "Photo North is heading back to Leeds". www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk.
  16. ↑ "The Music is Black: A British Story at The V&A East Museum". www.vam.ac.uk. Retrieved 15 April 2026.
  17. ↑ Ezaydi, Shahed. "Here are the Must see exhibits in London". www.stylist.co.uk.
  18. ↑ Wright, Lisa. "The Music is Black at V&A East Museum: The right exhibition to launch this new space". www.standard.co.uk. Retrieved 16 April 2026.
  19. ↑ Broughton, Chris. "Pre- Spice Girls Geri Halliwell dressed as sci-fi character Barbarella: Soulla Petrou's best photograph". www.theguardian.com. Retrieved 4 March 2026.
  20. ↑ "Peoples Pick-National Portrait Gallery". www.npg.org.
  21. ↑ "Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize". www.sheffieldmuseums.org.uk.
  22. ↑ "BIPP National Award Winners 2022". www.bipp.com.
  23. ↑ "Winner - music category". www.photoawards.com.
  24. ↑ "Winners. px3 2014". www.px3.fr.
  25. ↑ "Photo-book Winners". www.belfastphotofestival.com.
  26. ↑ "Mis-Teeq". collections.vam.ac.uk.
  27. ↑ Hardaker, Alistair. "New V&A East museum opens in east bank". www.museumsandheritage.com. Retrieved 15 April 2026.
  28. ↑ Banks, Martin. "Wraps set to come off UK's latest cultural attraction". www.londonnewsdesk.co.uk. Retrieved 15 April 2026.
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