Organizer Information
Decagon Gallery is an online photography platform based in Brooklyn, NY, specializing in contemporary photography. The gallery provides a curated environment for photographers to showcase their work and engage with a global audience of art enthusiasts.
Title & Description
Portal: At the Edge of Becoming – International Photography Open Call.
This exhibition explores the concept of a portal not as a simple opening, but as a space of transition, tension, and unresolved atmospheric shifts. The gallery seeks work that holds tension rather than explaining it, looking for images that embody transformation through structure, presence, absence, or psychological instability. Decagon Gallery is particularly drawn to photographs suspended between states, such as visibility and disappearance or movement and stillness.
Juror:
Douglas Stockdale. Stockdale is a visual artist, educator, and the founder/publisher of PhotoBook Journal. His expertise centers on the photobook as a contemporary practice, and his own work is included in prestigious collections such as the Museo d’Art Contemporanea di Roma and the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
Categories
Photography (All styles and processes are welcome).
Eligibility
- Location: Open to photographers worldwide.
- Age: Must be 18 or older.
- Content: Images must not contain watermarks, text, borders, or added graphic elements.
Program Benefits and Awards
- Total Prize Pool: $1,000 in cash awards.
- First Place: $500 cash prize and an online Solo Exhibition on the Decagon Gallery website.
- Second Place: $250 cash prize.
- Third Place: $150 cash prize.
- Honorable Mentions: Two awards of $50 each.
- Human Presence Nomination: Free entry to a future Decagon Gallery open call.
- Exposure: Inclusion in the curated online exhibition, a dedicated exhibition page, feature on Instagram, and inclusion in the exhibition catalog.
Fees
- Entry Fee: $25 for up to 8 images.
Application Requirements
- Quantity: Up to 8 photographs per entry.
- File Format: JPG, JPEG, PNG, or GIF.
- Size: Minimum 2100 pixels on the longest side.
- File Weight: Less than 4 MB.
- Naming Convention: Files must be labeled as "First Name-Last Name_title.jpg".
How to Apply?
Submit work and pay the entry fee via the official Jotform application. Apply to Portal here.
Key Dates
- Submission Deadline: June 3, 2026.
- Notification of Acceptance: June 15, 2026.
- Exhibition Dates: June 20 – August 20, 2026.
Location
Online (Decagon Gallery is based in Brooklyn, NY).
Additional Details
While literal interpretations of portals (doors, windows, tunnels) are permitted, they are only welcomed if the image carries genuine tension and operates as a threshold rather than a visual cliché. The gallery intends for the work to be experienced as directly as possible, which is why minimal graphic interference in the files is required.