Texas Photographic Society is pleased to announce Listening to the Land, a photo exhibition juried by Joel Salcido, renowned fine art photographer and former photojournalist based in San Antonio, Texas. Listening to the Land seeks photographic-based work that spotlights the evolution of Texas' natural resources, geography, agriculture and ecological environment while also capturing the essence of its rural communities.

Our natural world is in continual flux as a result of innate forces and human interventions. As photographers we often approach the land from a standpoint of knowledge and our own experience, without making additional claims or assertions about the places photographed. Instead, we should ask - how has the landscape evolved? how has rural life changed? An examination of land use, land consciousness, the impact of extraction (of resources, nutrients, water, etc.) and the effects of humans on rural lands and generally unpopulated places can instill a deeper understanding for the photographer and culminate in imagery that also educates the viewer. Photographs for this exhibition will provide evidence of listening and responding to the changes, adaptations and shifts in the land and environment.

So think beyond what we usually identify as rural: windmills, barns and pickup trucks. We challenge you to arrive in the rural community with an open mind, to look beyond the obvious, see it with new eyes and listen to what the land says. Although the challenge is to think about how Texas lands have changed, we want to see your perspective. Your photographs may be incredibly beautiful, powerful, quirky, emotional and/or raw.

In her book Mozart’s Starling, when Lyanda Lynn Haupt quotes folklorist Terri Windling, ‘Many an old story begins with the words, "Long ago, when animals could speak,"’ Haupt suggests that the corollary could be “Long ago, when people could listen.” Perhaps our lands and rural communities have volumes to speak, if we are prepared to listen.

Please also review the Juror's Statement below. All entries must be submitted via CaFe.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

02-18-20 Call for entry announced
04-06-20 Deadline for entry (10:59 pm CST) (11:59 pm MST)
04-22-20 Exhibiting artists announced
05-22-20 Work due in Lubbock, Texas
06-05-20 Exhibition opens at Studio Gallery at Landmark Arts, Texas Tech University School of Art, Lubbock, Texas (opening reception 4 - 6 p.m.)
06-06-20 Accompanying programs, Lubbock, Texas - proposals due March 30
06-07-20 Accompanying programs, Lubbock, Texas - proposals due March 30
07-31-20 Exhibition closes

AWARDS

First Place = $500 
Second Place = $300 
Third Place = $200 
Up to 5 Honorable Mentions may be awarded

The juror will select 50 images for the exhibition. The selected images and artists will be showcased on our website gallery as well as the Studio Gallery at Landmark Arts in Lubbock, TX, and promoted to our extended TPS community including members and photo/social media contacts.

ENTRY FEE

The entry fee for current members of TPS is $30 for 5 images, plus $6 for each additional image. The non-member entry fee is $38 for 5 images, plus $6 for each additional image. You may enter up to 12 images. You do not have to be a member of TPS to enter. However, you may enter the competition, join TPS as a member at the same time and pay the member entry fee of $30.

TPS Member Benefits include member feature opportunities via our Members' Gallery, Member Spotlight, Members' News and Members' Instagram Takeover, social media accounts and E-Zine, entry fee discounts to most competitions and discounts to programs and services offered through our partnerships.

If you are not a current member of TPS and you pay the member entry fee of $30 for 5 images without joining, your entries will be disqualified. If you are not sure of your TPS member status, please contact TPS at susan@texasphoto.org. All entry and membership fees are non-refundable.

ELIGIBILITY

Listening to the Land is open to artists at least 18 years old, of all levels internationally. All photographic-based work is welcome including digital, silver and alternative processes. Works exhibited previously in a TPS show are not eligible. Current members of the TPS Board of Directors are permitted to enter but are not eligible for awards.

IMAGE REQUIREMENTS

Please submit JPG files only, minimum of 1200 pixels on the longest side and 5 MB maximum. For each image you will need to provide the image title and the process used (Archival Digital Print, Silver Gelatin Print, Platinum/Palladium Print, Wet Plate Collodian, etc.)

ABOUT THE JUROR

Joel Salcido grew up in a dual cultural reality and sensibility that derived from living along the U.S. and Mexican border. As a staff photographer at the El Paso Times he documented the Tarahumara Indians of Mexico, covered the Mexico 1985 earthquake and traveled extensively in Latin America for USA Today. In 1991 he resigned as Photo Editor of the El Paso Times to pursue a freelance and fine art career. Eight years later, he moved his family to Spain to work on his year-long project titled, Spain: Millennium Past.

Salcido's fine art photographs are now in the permanent collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the prestigious Harry Ransom Humanities Center at UT Austin, The El Paso Museum of Art, The Austonian and The Wittliff Collections at Texas State University-San Marcos. Both the Federal Reserve Bank in El Paso, Texas and UT San Antonio have acquired his work for their respective fine art collections. In addition, his Texas Small Town Series was displayed during the China 14th International Photographic Art Exhibition in Lishui, China. This photo essay remained at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, China. In 2012, he was part of the Descriptions of China photo exhibit in San Antonio, Texas. This group show was held at the Institute of Texan Cultures in association with the Smithsonian Institution.

Salcido was a Fulbright scholarship finalist for a Bolivian photography project in 2004 and in 2005 was nominated for the Art House Texas Prize. His series, Aliento A Tequila, was published in the December 2013 issue of Texas Monthly. The traveling photo exhibit version of this collection has shown in every major Texas city with its national distribution scheduled to start in 2021. The emblematic landscape photograph from the Aliento A Tequila series titled, “Atotonilco el Alto,” was recently inducted into the National Art Heritage Collection of Mexico and permanently resides at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Mexico City. This same image was also selected for the 2017 Texas Book Festival poster and presented by former First Lady Laura Bush in Dallas. His book, The Spirit of Tequila, was released in November of 2017 by Trinity University Press. Currently, the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery is considering the acquisition of prints from his portrait series on Texas Mexican American contemporary writers.

JUROR'S STATEMENT

How does photography define you?

Most serious photographers eventually develop a technical skill set that helps them translate the language of light into a visual commentary. However, not all photographers have an acute awareness of how their innate human sensibilities will transcend into their photographs.

That is to say, photographs can be technically perfect but without a soul.

My constant personal goal as a photographer is to accomplish the nearly impossible task of creating images that transcend time… I mostly fail, but sometimes I succeed. That is the driving force behind my photography. For me, photography works at three levels: the literal, the aesthetic and the spiritual. If a single image can carry the weight of those three elements, you should have a photograph that likely can withstand the test of time and therefore become transcendent.

Beyond a spectacular creative aesthetic, will you dig deeper into yourself and share something that comes from depth of who you are? Will you go beyond the surface of the image? Will you take the easy or the difficult route; are you being honest? What discomforts did you endure? How fresh is your visual palette?

Your images of the rural environment should reflect your deep, emotional and thoughtful relationship with your subject, whether it be the majestic landscape, its people or the mere abstract.

In essence I will be looking for beauty, YOUR version of beauty.

Suerte!

—​ Joel Salcido

SALES

TPS encourages the sale of exhibited work and will collect a 30% commission from all prints sold during the exhibition. Please indicate the sales price of your print, including frame/finishing. If your finished piece is Not-For-Sale, simply note NFS. If your work is accepted and you do not indicate a sales price, the artwork will be listed as NFS.

IF YOUR WORK IS ACCEPTED

1. Artwork must be ready-to-hang using wire stretched between D-rings on the back. The finished piece must not exceed 30" in the longest dimension. Sawtooth hangers are NOT permitted. If applicable, please use white mats and white or black frames that are gallery quality and complement your work (color mats are NOT acceptable). NO glass please; plexiglass only. Clearly label the back of your work with your full name, address, telephone number and sales price or NFS. TPS reserves the right to exclude works from the exhibition that are not gallery-ready and professional in presentation.

2. A prepaid return UPS or FedEX shipping label MUST be provided with your work for prints to be returned to you when the exhibition concludes. Work WITHOUT return shipping will NOT be included in the exhibition and will NOT be returned. Please keep a copy of the prepaid return shipping label and your receipt. Packing “peanuts" are NOT permitted. Please ship prints in a flat box (do not use moving boxes) as our storage space is limited. Prints will be return-shipped in the container in which they were received.

3. Framed prints with prepaid return shipping label must arrive at the Studio Gallery, Landmark Arts, Texas Tech University School of Art, 3010 18th Street, Lubbock, Texas 79409 between May 18 - May 22, 2020.

4. TPS will exercise all due care in handling your artwork. However, TPS is not liable for loss, theft, damage or replacement of artwork, nor is TPS liable for damage during shipping. Please consider insuring your work.

Our friends at Frame Destination in Dallas, Texas, have prepared a special archival gallery frame kit for TPS artists that meets standard matting, framing and presentation requirements. The frame kit can be customized to meet various print sizes. TPS Members receive an additional 10% discount (contact Frame Destination customer service to join the TPS club customer group). This affordably priced package can be purchased online here.

Application Requirements

Eligibility Criteria