John Spyrou Solo Show: Knave of Diamonds 

John Spyrou is pleased to present Knave of Diamonds, an exhibition of 25 large-scale photographs spanning three distinct bodies of work.

February 19 - 22, 2026

On view at the Sarabande Foundation’s main gallery space, the presentation marks Spyrou’s first solo exhibition in London and his inaugural show as a new resident of Sarabande. It follows his 2024 Farago Projects Prize exhibition at Cor Studio in Paris.

Spyrou’s long lens portraits sit within existential realism, where they offer a glimpse into an unsentimental reality and a focus on the objective world while being manifested in expressive terms.

Displayed as tightly cropped portraits, the characters and settings may seem staged, however, each subject is photographed at least eight metres away in a state of apparent melancholic self-absorption in order to create sincere portraits of austere abstraction. Atemporality and authenticity of character are highly important in Spyrou’s images; furthermore, the backgrounds tend to lack specific context, which provides an open yet intensely charged atmosphere in the work.