Call Detail

Call Overview

Entry Deadline: 6/5/26 at 11:59 p.m. PDT
Days remaining to deadline: 21

Entry Fee (Entry Fee): $35.00
Media Fee(Extra Media Fee): $15.00

Work Sample Requirements


Images | Minimum:Min. 0, Maximum:Max. 20
Audio | Minimum:Min. 0, Maximum:Max. 1
Video | Minimum:Min. 0, Maximum:Max. 1
Total Samples | Minimum:Min. 1, Maximum:Max. 20
Call Type: Exhibitions
Eligibility: Local
State: Washington
Event Dates: 6/9/26 - 7/4/26
Jury Dates: 5/30/26 - 5/30/26

Call Description

SlipStitch invites submissions for Behind the Vail, a June group exhibition centering queer, LGBTQIA+ Muslim and Middle Eastern diaspora artists.

“Behind the Veil” is a metaphorical phrase about what’s concealed, assumed, protected, misread, or deliberately withheld. This exhibition holds space for artists navigating identity in a cultural environment that often demands explanation, legibility, or proof.

We’re seeking work that speaks to the narrative of one’s being; how identity is lived, carried, coded, fragmented, celebrated, defended, reinvented, or kept private.

What we’re looking for

We welcome submissions across mediums, including (but not limited to):

• Painting, drawing, printmaking

• Photography, collage, textile, fiber

• Sculpture, installation, mixed media

• Video, sound, digital/new media

• Performance-based work (proposal-based)

Themes may include:

• Diaspora as inheritance or rupture

• Faith, devotion, refusal, reinterpretation

• Gender, sexuality, and the politics of visibility

• Family, community, exile, belonging, and chosen kin

• Surveillance, safety, intimacy, and coded language

• The body as archive, battleground, sanctuary, or myth

• What’s “behind” what people think they see

We honor work rooted in joy, tenderness, humor, abstraction, ritual, fantasy, and everyday life; alongside work that confronts harm.

"SlipStitch is an artist-centered nonprofit gallery committed to accessibility and socially contextual work. We encourage submissions from BIPOC artists and artists working across identity, community, and place."

Application Requirements

  • Submissions due by twelve midnight 5/2/2026
  • Artist approval notifications will be sent by midnight 5/3/2026
  • Invited Artists artwork should be ready to be shipped with the Gallery receive date or personal delivery.
  • Artwork is available at time of submission and during exhibition dates.
  • Artist Commission 60% | Gallery Commission 40%
  • Exhibition includes, 2nd Saturday Artwalk Event, Website and Social Media Representation, and mid-exhibition Artist Event

Eligibility Criteria

This call is intended for:

  • Queer / LGBTQIA+ Muslim artists
  • Queer / LGBTQIA+ Middle Eastern diaspora artists
  • Artists whose lived experience intersects these identities (self-defined)
  • Price Restrictions: Artist's Retail Price (includes Gallery Commission) should not exceed $5,000.00
  • Invited Artist are responsible for Shipping and Receiving of artwork to and from gallery.
  • Suggested size for two-dimensional work is 48 inches on the longest side. For three-dimensional work, please keep pieces under 60 inches in height and under 30 inches in width or depth.
  • Framing prefered for works on or made of paper.