About
Hundred Heroines is Britain's museum dedicated to women in photography, a genuinely distinctive institution addressing a real and long-standing gap in how photography's history has been collected, exhibited and remembered. Founded around the recognition that women photographers, both historic and contemporary, have been systematically under-represented in mainstream photography collections and criticism despite having produced work of equal significance to their better-known male contemporaries, the museum sets out to research, exhibit and celebrate that overlooked history.
The museum's name reflects its origins in a project to identify and celebrate one hundred inspirational women photographers spanning the history of the medium, from its earliest Victorian pioneers through to leading contemporary practitioners working today. Exhibitions rotate regularly, drawing on this research to present both historic rediscoveries - women photographers whose significant work has been overlooked or forgotten - and contemporary shows spotlighting current women photographers working across documentary, fine art, portraiture and other genres, giving the museum a programme that is genuinely research-driven rather than simply celebratory.
Beyond its exhibition programme, Hundred Heroines runs educational and outreach activities aimed at broadening participation in photography and addressing the same gender imbalance in the field's present and future that its historical research documents in the past, working with schools, community groups and aspiring photographers. This combination of historical recovery work and forward-looking educational activity gives the museum a genuinely active, campaigning character alongside its role as an exhibition space.
The museum is based at Nailsworth Mills, a converted industrial mill complex in the Gloucestershire market town of Nailsworth, near Stroud, having relocated to these premises after operating from other locations in its earlier years. For visitors interested in photography, women's history, or simply seeing high-quality changing exhibitions in a distinctive Cotswolds mill setting, Hundred Heroines offers a museum experience built around genuinely original research rather than a fixed permanent collection alone.
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Plan Your Visit
⏱️ Recommended Visit Duration
💡 Visitor Tips
- Visit Thursday to Saturday - the museum's regular opening is limited to these three days.
- Email ahead to arrange a visit at another time if these days don't suit.
- Check the current exhibition on the museum's website before visiting, as the programme changes regularly.
- Combine your visit with a walk around Nailsworth's independent shops and cafés.
- Allow around an hour to see the exhibition properly.
- Ask staff about the Hundred Heroines research project - it is the foundation of everything the museum shows.
- Consider combining your visit with Museum in the Park in nearby Stroud for a fuller day out.
Highlights
The Hundred Heroines Research Project
The museum grew from a research project to identify and celebrate one hundred inspirational women photographers spanning the history of the medium, from Victorian pioneers through to leading contemporary practitioners, addressing a documented and long-standing gender imbalance in how photography's history has been collected and remembered.
This research underpins the museum's entire exhibition programme, giving displays a genuinely evidence-based character rather than simply gathering well-known names, and continues to expand as further overlooked women photographers are identified and researched, added steadily to the growing roll call the project maintains.
Each addition is backed by original research into the photographer's life and work, rather than simply an entry on a list.
Historic Rediscoveries
A significant strand of the museum's programme is dedicated to historic rediscoveries: exhibitions spotlighting women photographers from the medium's earlier history whose significant work has been overlooked, under-attributed or simply forgotten by mainstream photography history and collecting institutions.
These exhibitions perform genuine art-historical recovery work, often drawing on new research into photographers whose names and contributions have been absent from standard histories of the medium despite work of real quality and significance, correcting gaps that decades of conventional collecting had left unaddressed.
Some rediscovered photographers left substantial bodies of work that had simply never been properly catalogued or exhibited before the museum's researchers took an interest.
Contemporary Women Photographers
Alongside its historical work, the museum runs a rotating programme of exhibitions spotlighting contemporary women photographers working today across documentary, fine art, portraiture and other genres, giving living practitioners a platform and connecting historical recovery work to present-day questions about representation in photography.
This contemporary strand keeps the museum's programme current and relevant rather than purely retrospective, and has featured photographers working across a wide range of subject matter and technique, some early in their careers and others already internationally recognised.
Educational and Outreach Programmes
Hundred Heroines runs educational and outreach activities aimed at broadening participation in photography and addressing gender imbalance in the field's present and future, working with schools, community groups and aspiring photographers. This forward-looking activity gives the museum a genuinely active, campaigning character alongside its exhibition role, connecting its historical research directly to efforts to change who gets to become a professional photographer today, treating representation as a live, ongoing project rather than a settled historical question.
Collections
Hundred Heroines' programme is built around ongoing research into women photographers historic and contemporary, originating in a project to identify one hundred inspirational women photographers spanning the medium's history. Rather than a single fixed permanent collection, the museum presents a rotating exhibition programme combining historic rediscoveries of overlooked women photographers with contemporary shows spotlighting current practitioners working across documentary, fine art and portrait photography.
This exhibition work is paired with active educational and outreach programmes aimed at broadening participation in photography, giving the museum, based in a converted mill in the Cotswolds town of Nailsworth, a genuinely research-driven and campaigning character.
Explore the diverse collections housed in this museum.
Themes
Time Periods
Current Exhibitions
A changing programme of historic rediscoveries and contemporary women photographers - check the museum's website for the current show.