Why We Look: Questioning the World Before Us
* * CALL FOR ENTRIES * *
This year’s exhibition invites photographers to look outward—questioning the social, political, and environmental forces that shape our world. We seek work that confronts how we see, what we overlook, and the truths that demand our attention in a time of cultural and ecological reckoning.
We’re looking for images that grapple with the present: portraits about work, identity, and power; scenes at borders and in neighborhoods; landscapes marked by climate, extraction, or recovery; the built systems—water, housing, transit—that shape daily life; moments of protest and civic care; and conceptual work that questions evidence, authorship, or memory.
Important Dates:
November 1, 2025 …………………. Call for entry opens
Dec. 31, 2025 (11:59pm EST) …… Call for entry deadline
February 1, 2026 …………………… Notification of jurors results
March 1, 2026 ……………………….. Accepted work due at VCP
March 6, 2026 (5-8pm) ………….. Opening reception
April 26, 2026 ……………………….. Last day of the exhibition
Marvin Heiferman (Photo by Sara Macel)
Guest Juror:
Marvin Heiferman – a curator, writer, editor and producer – organizes exhibitions and online projects about photography and visual culture for venues that have included: The Museum of Modern Art, Smithsonian Institution, International Center of Photography, Whitney Museum of American Art and the New Museum, Castelli Graphics/Photography and LIGHT Gallery. Author of 15 books including Photography Changes Everything (2012 Smithsonian/Aperture) and Seeing Science (2019 Aperture/UMBC), Heiferman has contributed essays and articles to numerous artist monographs, museum catalogs, trade publications, magazines and media outlets including The New York Times, CNN, Artforum, Gagosian Quarterly, Aperture, Art in America, and BOMB. Books edited include Race Stories: Essays on the Power of Images by Maurice Berger (Aperture/New York Times) 2024 and Nan Goldin’s The Ballad of Sexual Dependency, (Aperture) 1986.
Submission Guidelines:
• We welcome photographic work in all styles and mediums
• Artists of any age from any location world-wide are welcome
• Each participant may submit up to five images
• Submitted images should be saved as JPG’s with a long-edge dimension of 2,100 pixels
• The exhibition will be on display in VCP’s Main Gallery March 6 – April 26, 2025
• Accepted work is encouraged to be priced for sale, VCP retains 40% of sales
• Accepted artists are responsible for shipping costs associated with transportation of work
Submission Fee:
$20 for non-members, $10 for VCP members and students. Each submission includes up to five images. Proceeds support the creation of a publication featuring the exhibition’s selected work. Entry fees are processed directly through the submission form below.
