It was a busy May for WikiPortraits – more than thirty photographers representing 13 countries including Armenia, the United States, Italy, Switzerland, China, Canada, Germany, Austria, France, Portugal, India, Poland, and Japan covered Eurovision, the Venice Biennale, and the Cannes Film Festival.

Scroll down to see stunning photos from all three high-profile events, plus more updates, including:

• The 2026 African Senior Athletic Championships in Ghana
• An update from the 2026 Milan Wikimedia Hackathon

With our new photo service (see our May newsletter), WikiPortraits is focused on quickly uploading photos to Commons, including the winners of Eurovision and the Palme d’Or, as well as the protests at the Venice Biennale.

Eurovision 2026 Song Competition

In May, WikiPortraits returned for another year of covering Eurovision, this time in Vienna in collaboration with Wikimedia Austria.

Volunteers attending Eurovision on behalf of WikiPortraits included René Pudschedl of Austria, Wojciech Pędzich of Poland, and Quentin Jerome Thomas of Switzerland. In addition, Wikimedia Austria sent their own photographers including Manfred Werner.

Together, the team captured gorgeous photos of Eurovision performers, including competition winner DARA, who represented Bulgaria, all for Wikimedia Commons.

Venice Biennale: Politics upstaged art... but art held its ground.

Earlier in May, WikiPortraits photographers including Renate Hano, Ondine Goat, Hongyi Zhou, Kevin Payravi, and Jennifer 8. Lee headed to the Art Biennale, an international cultural exhibition hosted every two years in Venice, Italy.

The exhibition's theme, "In Minor Keys," was conceived by the late curator Koyo Kouoh — the first African woman to lead the exhibition, and who died in 2025.

Politics dominated 2026 Venice Biennale m: the jury resigned, artists withdrew, and protests erupted over Russia's and Israel's participation.

Yet the art insisted on being seen.

Artists often have pages on Wikipedia, but many don’t have photos. So, as part of WikiPortraits' ongoing mission to increase high-quality Creative Commons-licensed portrait photos on Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons, our photographers headed to the Venice Biennale with the help of Wikimedia Italia.

In Venice this May, while there were 99 national pavilions plus 110 invited presenters in the main exhibition, there generally were no red carpets and photo calls that gathered everyone in one place – perhaps, because of a desire to have the art speak for itself.

A key challenge WikiPortraits often encounters: it can be labor-intensive to track down artists to capture their photos. We spend a lot of time tracking down the artists, especially from Africa, Latin America and other countries who have their pavilions outside the two main areas of Arsenale and Giardini. Sometimes the artists are not there when the publicists said they would be.

And we only had three days during opening days to do it, even as protests and strikes disrupted the exhibition schedule.

WikiPortraits is also working closely with WikiProject:Contemporary Art to create a number of articles based on artists and installations at the Art Biennale in Venice.

Kudos as well to Renate for spending days shooting and then a full day of uploading and creating WikiData items for other artists not otherwise represented (Renate has written more than 1,000 articles for Germany Wikipedia on contemporary art).

Art Biennale: Artists on Strike

The Art Biennale experienced considerable controversy in 2026. Besides a protest involving Pussy Riot outside the Russian pavilion on opening day, numerous other pavilions and artists went on strike on May 8 to protest the Biennale’s inclusion of Israel, which is conducting an ongoing military campaign against Palestinians.

Seaworld Venice, at the Austrian Pavilion.

While not (yet!) a WikiPortraits volunteer, Commons photographer Bernhard Holub was able to capture and upload images of the popular Seaworld Venice performance installation by Austrian choreographer Florentina Holzinger, housed the Austrian Pavilion.

In Holzinger's installation, a performer was suspended in a giant bell outside the pavilion; inside, nude performers swim in tanks filled with purified urine.

These newsworthy photos of the buzzy pavilion will be in high demand, and available for others thanks to the open licensing on Wikimedia Commons.

Update: WikiPortraits at the 2026 Milan Wikimedia Hackathon

Several WikiPortraits contributors attended the 2026 Wikimedia Hackathon in Milan, an annual event, typically held in Europe, that brings developers from all around the world.

Together, developers worked together on the technological infrastructure and software that powers Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects.

The most exciting new project WikiPortraits worked on is a new "Cullinder" tool by Hongyi Zhou and Jennifer 8. Lee that integrates with Dropbox and allows photos to be collaboratively culled through a browser-based interface.

We're still refining this tool, but hope to be able to soon deliver this and other tools this year to help WikiPortraits photographers who need help processing their backlog.

In addition, we also met up with Daan van Ramshorst (User:Daanvr) who is working on a smoother bulk photo upload tool that WikiPortraits photographers desperately need.

Two dozen WikiPortraits volunteers shoot Cannes 2026

Some 24 WikiPortraits photographers – including eight first-time volunteers – helped cover the Cannes Film Festival this year. WikiPortraits volunteers included professional photographers who were credentialed for the red carpet, to first-time participants who took photos of global premieres and director Q&As in theaters.

This year with the extra volunteer power WikiPortraits made a specific effort to get the Director's Fortnight Q&As and Critics Week Awards, events which sometimes don’t get the same attention as the photo calls and main red carpets.

One key discovery: the Cannes Film Festival is a great place to recruit new volunteers since there are many cinematographers from around the world who are also experienced photographers.

Ghana hosts the 2026 African Senior Athletic Championships

In May, Wikimedia Ghana's Amuzujoe attended the 24th African Championships in Athletics in Accra, Ghana, capturing images in part with new equipment provided by WikiPortraits.

Held at the Legon Sports Stadium at the University of Ghana, it was the first time Ghana hosted this continental track and field event. Africa's top athletes competed across various disciplines. Team Ghana finished 18th overall, earning five medals — one silver and four bronze — over the five-day championship.

Held at the Legon Sports Stadium at the University of Ghana, it was the first time Ghana hosted this continental track and field event where Africa's top athletes competed across various disciplines. Team Ghana finished 18th overall, earning five medals — one silver and four bronze — over the five-day championship.

Updates from Commons Gallery

Commons Gallery continues to be a great new platform for Wikimedia Commons photographers to easily create and share portfolios for a variety of reasons.

Here are some great new updates... check them out!

• SpiritedMichelle, a dedicated figure skating photographer and WikiPortraits contributor, has set up a great collection of high-impact skating images by WikiPortraits photographers: https://commons.gallery/@spiritedmichelle
• Wikimedia Commons user TaurusEmerald has set up an extensive portfolio of their collection of NASCAR images: https://commons.gallery/@taurusemerald
• Check out the Norway Inferno Metal Festival 2026: https://commons.gallery/@wikiportraits-music/inferno-metal-festival-2026

WikiPortraits BTS in May

Get involved with WikiPortraits!

WikiPortraits welcomes new volunteers. If there's an event in your region you think should be covered by WikiPortraits, let us know, and we'll help get you started.

Upcoming events WikiPortraits needs help covering include:

• SXSW London (UK, June), with Wikimedia UK
• Essence Festival (New Orleans, USA, July), with AfroCROWD
• Edinburgh Festival Fringe (UK, August), with Wikimedia UK
• Locarno Film Festival (Switzerland, August), with Wikimedia CH
• Toronto International Film Festival (Canada, September), with Wikimedia Canada

Donate to WikiPortraits

WikiPortraits exists because of people like you! Donate to help support our photographers efforts to add more quality Creative Commons-licensed portrait photos to Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons!