Hapax Magazine: Open Call + Party

6-10pm. Location: Lost and Grounded Taproom.
Free entry, donations welcome. 

In collaboration with Hapax Magazine, Bristol Photo Festival is holding an open-call for new photographic projects. Artists and photographers are invited to submit a body of work. A shortlist of selected works will be screened throughout the evening, with a winner announced at the end of the night. The winner will be supported to develop a solo exhibition to be presented at Bristol Photo Festival 2026 and a concurrent feature in Hapax Magazine. 

The Evening 

The evening will include the launch of Issue 6 of Hapax magazine with a brief introduction by the magazine’s editors, Christiane Monarchi and Gordon MacDonald. There will be copies of the magazine available to view and buy on the night. Following this, there will be a screening of new photographic projects by emerging Vietnamese photographers, organised by Bristol Photo Festival in collaboration with Matca (Hanoi). The screenings will culminate with the presentation of the open-call shortlist, with the announcement of the winner. If they are an international entry, we will try to get them to zoom in, just like a real awards ceremony. 

The evening will conclude with a DJ set by members of Birds of Peace Orchestra.
 
The Open-Call

This programme is intended to support artists and photographers who are working on long-term projects that would be ready for exhibition in 2026. The project can be ongoing with intentions to continue producing work over the coming months. Everyone is free to enter and there are no restrictions in terms of age, professional experience or geographic location. The only condition is that the work must be currently unpublished and cannot have been shown in exhibitions to date.

While there are no restrictions, we particularly encourage the following:

• Expanded approaches to visual storytelling that combine multiple forms of image-making. For example, your project might include new images alongside archival or gathered materials. Alternatively, you might combine image and text. 
• Projects that find new approaches to address ongoing social and political issues. 
• Collaborative projects where participants have the opportunity to create part of the work. 
• International projects from artists and photographers who have never had the opportunity to show their work in the UK. 
• Projects that have a direct relationship to the city of Bristol, its many communities and histories. 
• Projects that address ideas of memory, movement and relation.
  

Please send a selection of up to 20 images, a brief artist statement and CV as follows:

• All materials (images, statement & CV) should be in a zipped folder. The folder should be titled ‘Your Name_Hapax & BPF Open Call’ 
• All images should be labelled with your name plus their corresponding number in the series. For example ‘Your Name_01’. 
• All images should be jpeg, 300 dpi and medium resolution (average 3 mb per file), appropriate for screening.
• The artist statement should be no more than one side of A4 text (size 12 font). Please provide an outline of the project, including how you would like to develop it prior to Bristol Photo Festival 2026. 
• The CV should be no more than one side of A4, providing a brief outline of your journey to date. 

All submissions should be sent to info@bristolphotofestival.org
SUBJECT: BPF Open Call

The deadline for submissions is Friday 1st November at 5pm. 

Selection Process

All selections will be viewed by a panel including: 

Christiane Monarchi – Hapax Co-Editor & Photomonitor Editor
Gordon MacDonald – Hapax Co-Editor (Gost Books, Photoworks)
Tamsin Silvey – Curator (Historic England)
Alejandro Acin – Bristol Photo Festival Director
Kirsty Mackay – Photographer