PHOTO 2022 International Festival of Photography is seeking expressions of interest from emerging, mid-career and established artists and photographers to participate in the Festival’s outdoor program. Also announced are the dates for the 2022 biennial, which will run from April 29 to May 22, 2022 with the central theme: Being Human.

The outdoor program was a prominent part of the PHOTO 2021 program with public realm commissions by 35 artists transforming Melbourne into an outdoor gallery of contemporary photography. Established artists from across the world—such as Zanele Muholi (South Africa), Hoda Afshar (Iran/Australia), Broomberg & Chanarin (South Africa/UK), Sam Contis (US), Kenta Cobayashi (Japan) and Brook Andrew (Wiradjuri/Celtic, Australia)—exhibited work in Melbourne’s streets, laneways and public spaces alongside emerging and mid-career artists including Daniel Shea (US), Sara Cwynar (Canada), Jesse Boyd-Reid (Australia) and Hayley Millar Baker (Gunditjmara, Australia).

The Festival’s outdoor program sits alongside a program of exhibitions presented at leading museums, galleries and cultural institutions. PHOTO 2022 will once again present a festival of new photography with artists from across Australia and around the world all focusing on a single theme from multiple perspectives.

This year’s curatorial theme Being Human asks: What is the human experience today? What lived experiences unite us? And what drives us apart? How do ideas of gender, sexuality, race, class, age and nationality define us, and how are these ideas being challenged? How is our sense of self evolving, both individually and as a society? Online personas, gene editing and transhumanism all offer new opportunities that challenge the boundaries of humanity. How far can we go, and at what point do we stop being human?

“This is the opportunity for artists from around the world to be part of our global celebration of photography. By focusing on the issues most important to our times we are connecting the arts and photography with different elements of our lives across science, psychology, sociology, technology and current affairs. We work with artists from around the world to amplify diverse voices and, with PHOTO 2022, we want to explore the big themes and the minutiae of everyday life that constitute the human experience today,” says Elias Redstone, PHOTO 2022’s Artistic Director. 

The open call invites artists and photographers to submit proposals to work with PHOTO 2022 in the delivery of temporary public artwork that responds to the central theme Being Human. Entries close at 5pm (AEST) on Thursday, April 29, 2021.

Entries will be reviewed by an international jury formed from PHOTO 2022’s curatorial advisors, including: Mariama Attah (Curator, Open Eye Gallery / LOOK Biennial, Liverpool), Dr Léuli Eshrāghi (Visual Artist, Writer, Curator and Researcher), Varun Gupta (Co-Founder & Biennale Director, Chennai Photo Biennale), Alona Pardo (Curator, Barbican Art Gallery, London), Pippa Milne (Senior Curator, Monash Gallery of Art), Dr Shaune Lakin (Head Curator of International Art, National Gallery of Australia), Isobel Parker Philip (Senior Curator, Contemporary Art, Art Gallery of New South Wales).

The scale and scope of the Festival’s outdoor program can be seen through the PHOTO 2021 virtual tour which documented each of the 35 works in the 2021 program.