TEXAS PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY | TPS 30: The International Competition

TPS 30: The International Competition

New Exhibition Venue! As part of Fotoseptiembre in San Antonio!

TPS is partnering with University of Texas San Antonio to present
TPS30: The International Competition at the Russell Hill Rogers Lecture Hall and Gallery at the UTSA Southwest Campus, Santikos Art Building from August 29 to September 24.

A closing reception will be held on Saturday, September 24, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. and TPS30 Juror Liz Wells will be joining us - all the way from the UK!

Location Details:
Russell Hill Rogers Lecture Hall and Gallery at the UTSA Southwest Campus,
Santikos Art Building
1201 Navarro Street, San Antonio, TX 78205
Phone at Santikos Art Building: 210-200-8200

August 29, 2022 through September 24, 2022
Open Monday-Saturday Noon to 5:00 P.M.

Closing reception: Saturday, September 24th from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Additionally, the closing reception will coincide with the end of the Photographies Conference, a two-day gathering to "consider tensions between movements of fixity and change as well as to raise critical questions around the function of boundaries and borders in photography", convened by David Bate, Professor, University of Westminster, UK, Liz Wells, Emeritus Professor, University of Plymouth, UK, Erina Duganne, Professor, Texas State University, USA, and Libby Rowe, Professor, UTSA, USA. Scholars, photographers, artists, curators, and critics are encouraged to attend the conference. Details can be found here: https://art.utsa.edu/photographies-conference

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We are proud to announce that Juror Liz Wells has selected 50 images for TPS 30: The International Exhibition. A complete list of the exhibiting artists is below (award winners and honorable mentions in bold). First Place was awarded to Sharon Draghi, Second Place to Carrie and Eric Tomberlin, and Third Place to Justin Hein, with Honorable Mentions given to RemiJin Camping, Cheryl Clegg, Laura Farrell, Paul Murray, and ChengLun Na. Heartfelt congratulations to the selected artists and warmest thanks to all of the artists who generously shared their work for consideration.
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JUROR'S REMARKS

This 2021 TPS 30: The International Competition jurying process coincided precisely with the international COP26 negotiations hosted in Glasgow, Scotland. Indeed, some entries explicitly addressed industrial legacies and the consequences of global warming. It also took place under the ongoing shadow of the Covid epidemic, so it was not surprising to find several images that suggested challenging social circumstances, isolation, or abandonment, explicitly or metaphorically. Happily, several images also implied caring and community, with many others drawing attention to places, lifestyles, and environmental phenomena.

The challenge of selecting 50 photographs from the 1369 submitted was challenging. I was required to select (only) 3 images from every 80 submitted! There were difficult decisions to be made; many aesthetically pleasing, and thematically interesting submissions could not be included. Originality, story-telling and contemporary relevance were key criteria, along with integrity of form and content, and how each exhibition print would be experienced as a distinctive physical object.

My many thanks to the 213 photographers who shared examples of their work, and congratulations to Texas Photographic Society on the 30th anniversary of this competition and exhibition.

- Liz Wells

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TPS 30: The International Competition is made possible through funding from the Texas Commission on the Arts, a partnership with Fujifilm, and the support of our TPS Members
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Texas Photographic Society is proud to announce our flagship traveling exhibition, TPS 30: The International Competition, juried by Liz Wells, distinguished UK-based writer, curator, and lecturer on photographic practices whose research centers on landscape photography, people as related to place, and environment. (Please read her full Juror's Statement and Bio below.)

This call is open-themed and submissions from artists of all levels internationally are welcomed. TPS 30 will open at the Center for Contemporary Arts in Abilene, Texas, on January 13, 2022.

CALL FOR ENTRY IS NOW CLOSED.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

September 9, 2021 - Call for entry opens
October 19, 2021 - Deadline for entry (11:59 p.m. Mountain Time Zone)
NEW DATE! - November 15, 2021 - Exhibiting artists announced and emails sent to all entrants
January 8, 2022 - Work due in Abilene, Texas
January 13, 2022 - Exhibition opens at the Center for Contemporary Arts in Abilene
March 12, 2022 - Exhibition closes

AWARDS

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

ENTRY FEE

The entry fee for current TPS Members 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 do not have to be a member of TPS to enter. However, if you enter the competition and join TPS or renew as a member at the same time, you can pay the reduced current TPS Member entry fee of $30.

You may enter up to 12 images. (CaFÉ requires a minimum of five images; if you really need to, you may submit mulitples of the same image to reach the minimum.)

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

If you are not sure of your TPS member status, please contact TPS at ann@texasphoto.org. All entry and membership fees are non-refundable.

ELIGIBILITY

TPS 30: The International Competition is open to artists internationally, of all levels, who are at least 18 years old at time of entry. All photography-based work is encouraged 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 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 file of your image for the contest application; if your work is selected for the show you will print your image, frame it, and ship it to the exhibition venue.

Need help resizing images? You can resize via a Mac or PC computer, or use a number of third-party applications, many of which offer free trials or solutions. Please go here for suggestions.

JUROR'S STATEMENT

Pictures have the power to inform and influence us.

My interests in photography, historically and culturally, range from critical engagements within contemporary theoretical debates to creating exhibitions for museums and other public spaces internationally. As a curator I work with still and moving imagery. My research centres on landscape photography, people as related to place, and environment. My current focus is on botanical photography, its histories, aesthetics, scientific or socio-economic purposes and ecological values. I particularly consider the balance between theme, visual poetics, and activism in relation to images, series and sequencing, exhibitions, and photobooks.

- Liz Wells

ABOUT THE JUROR

BIO

Liz Wells writer, curator, and lecturer on photographic practices, edited The Photography Reader and The Photography Culture Reader (2019; 1^st ed. 2003) and Photography: A Critical Introduction (6^th ed. 2021) and is a co-editor for photographies, Routledge journals. Publications on landscape include Land Matters, Landscape Photography, Culture and Identity (2011) and she has contributed several essays within artist books, exhibition catalogues and other edited collections. She is series editor for Photography, Place, Environment, Routledge Academic.

Recent exhibitions as curator include: Seedscapes: Future-proofing Nature (UK tour, 2020-21, see https://www.impressions-gallery.com/event/seedscapes-future-proofing-nature); Layers of Visibility, Nicosia Municipal Arts Centre (2018/19, co-curator, Yiannis Toumazis); Light Touch, Baltimore Washington International Airport (2014); Futureland Now – John Kippin, Chris Wainwright (Laing Gallery, Newcastle, 2012-13); Sense of Place, European Landscape Photography, BOZAR, Brussels (2012); Landscapes of Exploration, British art from Antarctica (UK tour 2012-15).

She is Professor Emeritus in Photographic Culture, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business, University of Plymouth, UK. She was a member of the Board of Directors, Society for Photographic Education, USA (2011-18). In Autumn 2020 she joined the International Advisory Council, International Center of Photography, New York. She contributes to MA Photography programs at Universitat-Politécnica, Valéncia, Spain, and at Valand Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, where she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in 2017.

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TPS 30: The International Competition is made possible through funding from the Texas Commission on the Arts, a partnership with Fujifilm, and the support of our TPS Members

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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 40" in the longest dimension (including the frame). Sawtooth hangers are NOT permitted. Please use white mats and white or black frames that are gallery quality and complement your work (color mats are NOT acceptable). Plexiglass must be used with the frame, NO glass allowed. Clearly label the back of your work with your full name, address, telephone number, email address, image title, medium, dimensions 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. If additional exhibition venues are added, artists will be notified with location, dates, and other pertinent details, and work will be return-shipped from the final venue.

3. Framed prints with prepaid return shipping label must arrive at the Center for Contemporary Arts in Abilene, Texas, no later than January 8, 2021.

4. TPS and Center for Contemporary Arts 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. Center for Contemporary Arts does not insure artists' work. 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.

TPS TERMS AND AGREEMENT

You retain all rights to your images. If your image is selected for the exhibition, you grant Texas Photographic Society (TPS) the right, in perpetuity, to use and display your image, image title and process, your name, city, state, and country of residence for TPS publicity and promotion. Permissible use includes the display, reproduction, and distribution of said information on the TPS website, in TPS exhibitions, presentations, program promotions, artist features, fundraising initiatives and publications, and on social media networks, without further contact from TPS. Please note that we may have to crop images to meet space/proportion requirements for promotional platforms.

TPS will not be held responsible for loss, theft, damage, or replacement, whether caused by the negligence of its officers, members, or others. TPS is not liable for damage during shipping. Non or expired members of TPS who pay the Current TPS Member entry fee without joining TPS or renewing at the time of entry, will be disqualified. All entry and membership fees are non-refundable. Submission entry and payment signifies understanding and agreement to all of the above terms and conditions.

QUESTIONS?

If you have any questions, please contact TPS Executive Director Ann T. Shaw at ann@texasphoto.org.