Theme: The Artist Intervenes

Photographic artists are reconsidering the potential of a photograph with a shift to making rather than taking photographs.  By using vintage and contemporary photographs as a starting point, artists create physically layered works of art that result in an object, often in reaction to the flood of ubiquitous imagery that digital and cell phone photography has afforded. 

Praxis Gallery seeks photographic art or lens-based artwork that utilizes physical interventions and investigations of photographic surfaces that can include sewing, cutting, drawing, painting, tearing, bending, and weaving, all ways of interrogating the material qualities of a physical photograph to create new realities. All genres, capture types, black & white and color, traditional and non-traditional photographic and digital post-production processes are welcome for submission. Curated by: Aline Smithson 

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Juror: Aline Smithson

Aline Smithson is a visual artist, editor, and educator based in Los Angeles. She is best known for her conceptual portraiture and a practice that uses humor and pathos to explore the performative potential of photography. Growing up in the shadow of Hollywood, her work is influenced by the elevated unreal. She has exhibited widely including over 40 solo shows at a variety of international institutions and her work has been featured in publications including The New York Times, The New Yorker, and PDN.

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Smithson is the founder and editor-in-chief of Lenscratch, a daily journal on photography. In 2012, she received the Rising Star Award through the Griffin Museum of Photography for her contributions to the photographic community and she also received the prestigious Excellence in Teaching Award from CENTER. In 2014 and 2019, Smithson’s work was selected for the Critical Mass Top 50. In 2018 and 2019, her work was exhibited in the National Portrait Gallery in London as part of the Taylor Wessing Prize. In 2022, Smithson was recognized as a Hasselblad Heroine. Her published works include Self & Others: Portrait as Autobiography (Magenta Foundation, 2015), LOST II: Los Angeles (Kris Graves Projects, 2019), and Fugue State (Peanut Press, 2021). Learn more about her practice at alinesmithson.com.

Curators: Praxis Directors

Program Director Ross Anderson is an award-winning fine art photographer and filmmaker. Gallery and Installation Director Jonathan Pavlica is the Praxis print & color artist, photo editor, and installationist. Communications Director Jenni Undis is a letterpress printer and freelance creative consultant.

Acceptance