Texas Photographic Society is delighted to announce the call for entry for the 2024 TPS National Photography Award, juried by Olivia Parker. (Please read her full Juror's Statement and Bio below.)

This call is open to artists residing in the United States who have a consistent body of photographic work. The recipient will be awarded a solo exhibition at the Sabine Street Studios plus a $2,000 cash stipend to aid in the creation and presentation of the work. The exhibition will coincide with the 2024 FotoFest Biennial, the international festival of photography in Houston, Texas.

Submissions will include ten images and an artist's statement (up to 200 words). Award recipient's full exhibition will be based on the initial submission and include all submitted images as part of the exhibition. This call is open to all subject matter, aesthetic approaches, and photographic processes. Two-dimensional work is preferred in this venue (some three-dimensional work can also be accommodated in support of the the 2-D work), and submissions from artists of all levels are encouraged. Please read the IF YOUR WORK IS ACCEPTED section below for more information. Details from the previous exhibitions can be found here: 2020 and 2022.

Calendar of Events

December 20, 2024 - Call for entry opens on CaFÉ
January 30, 2024 - Deadline for entry (11:59 Mountain Time Zone)
February 19, 2024 – Award Recipient Announced
March 21, 2024 – Work due at Sabine Street Studios in Houston, Texas
March 28, 2024 – Exhibition opens
May 11, 2024 – Exhibition closes

Awards & Recognition

$2,000 cash stipend • Solo exhibition at Sabine Street Studios coinciding with the 2024 FotoFest Biennial in Houston, TX • Juror may select up to 10 TPS National Photography Award Finalists, providing additional recognition to entrants.

Entry Fee

Entry fee is $45 for 10 images and statement, $35 for TPS Members (applicants can become a member through CaFÉ website at time of entry).

JUROR'S STATEMENT

What do I look for in photographs? I like to see something I’ve not seen before or if I have seen it before I need to see it realized in a new way. At the same time I like something that makes me pause and absorb what I am seeing. I want a sense that the photographer cares about what he or she is doing. In my own practice I must care about what I am doing in order to make photographs that connect with other people even if people are not in the image.

Sometimes it is important for a photographer to go through a period of experimentation particularly when beginning a new body of work. When individual photographs seem successful and then coalesce into a group of images that have a strength that is greater than the individual images they become a real body of work. Occasionally in a portfolio I see some pictures that are similar to images I have seen but others are new to me and all are sequenced into something that is of interest. I do like surprises, but only if there is something there beyond a joke.

In this time of truths and lies photographs are especially important. Photographs can lie through retouching, clever sequencing or false labelling, but photographs and videos are still our best hope for telling the truth. Photographs can show us places of beauty or devastation.

A wide range of human faces and bodies alone or in relation to each other and their surroundings can reveal new possibilities. Recently the horrors of war have come to us again in the form of photographs and videos. Some of these continue to haunt long after they were made. Images of animals can show us new ways of thinking about them and their relationship to us. I find that in still life or constructed photographs combinations of things and light can make a living whole and speak of many things.

- - - Olivia Parker

ABOUT THE JUROR

After graduating from Wellesley College with a degree in Art History, Olivia Parker began to photograph ephemeral constructions in 1973. Her work is in major private, corporate, and museum collections, including the Art Institute of Chicago, MOMA, MFA Boston, and The Peabody Essex Museum. There are four monographs of Parker’s work. The most recent is Order of Imagination published by The Peabody Essex Museum and The University of Washington Press. A 1996 Wellesley Alumnae Achievement Award recipient, her residencies include Dartmouth College, MacDowell, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and Cassilhaus. In November of 2019 she was inducted into The International Photography Hall of Fame.

‘Vanishing in Plain Sight’, images concerning Parker’s husband’s Alzheimer’s, was at The Lunder Center at Lesley University in the spring of 2019 and there was a major retrospective of Parker’s work at The Peabody Essex Museum in the summer and autumn of that year. At present Parker is continuing work on two series: Persephone’s Graffiti and Persephone’s Garden. Also she is beginning a new body of work concerning her ancestor Mary Estey who was hung as a witch in Salem even though it was her words conveyed to the Governor that stopped the terrible persecutions.
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2024 TPS National Photography Award is made possible through funding from the Texas Commission on the Arts, a partnership with Fujifilm, and the generous support of our TPS Members.
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Application Requirements

Submissions will include ten images and an artist's statement (up to 200 words). Award recipient's full exhibition will be based on initial submission and include all submitted images as part of the exhibition. This call is open to all subject matter, aesthetic approaches, and photographic processes. Two-dimensional work is preferred in this venue (some three-dimensional work can also be accommodated in support of the the 2-D work), and submissions from artists of all levels are encouraged.

Please submit digital JPG files only, minimum of 1200 pixels on the longest side and 5 MB maximum. Please remove watermarks from images. For each image you will need to provide the image title and the process (medium) used to make the image/print (Archival Digital Print, Silver Gelatin Print, Platinum/Palladium Print, Wet Plate Collodian, etc.) To clarify, you will submit a digital files of your images for the contest application; if your work is selected, you will you will print your images, frame them, and ship them to the exhibition venue.

IF YOUR WORK IS ACCEPTED
Award recipient's full exhibition will be based on initial submission and include submitted images as part of the exhibition. After award announcement, TPS and exhibition venue will work with Artist to make sure the exhibition is an appropriate fit for the venue.

The exhibition will be presented on the Sawyer Yards campus in Sabine Street Studios—a studio building with 67 creative workspaces. The exhibition gallery is open to the public during the day, and surrounded by artists studios, with some foot traffic and no gallery attendants, so please plan your presentation accordingly. For more information and a map of the venue, please visit here and scroll down to Sabine Street Studios. (This exhibition will be in the northernmost open space surrounded by studios 110 -115. See installation photos below.)

Shipping & Presentation Guidelines:
Artist delivers or ships work to Houston and TPS will pay for return shipping (if necessary) within the United States using a common carrier. It is recommended that selected artwork be shipped ready-to-hang using wire or D-rings. NO glass please; plexiglass only.

Eligibility Criteria

The TPS National Photography Award is open to artists of all levels residing in the United States who are developing or have completed a consistent body of photographic work. All photographic-based art is welcome, including digital, silver, and alternative processes. You do not need to be a member of the Texas Photographic Society to enter this competition. Current members of the TPS Board of Directors are NOT eligible for entry.