Open Call 2026

Image Credit - Marylise Vigneau

The Indian Photo Festival invites photographers, visual storytellers, artists, curators, collectives, archives, galleries, and organizations from around the world to submit their work for the exhibitions of the 12th edition of the Indian Photo Festival, taking place in Hyderabad, India, from 26 November 2026 to 3 January 2027.

This year, the festival is also inviting photobook submissions for the Indian Photo Festival Photobook Exhibition, which will be presented as part of the festival.

As one of South Asia's leading international photography festivals, the Indian Photo Festival brings together compelling visual stories from around the world. Alongside its exhibitions, the festival presents talks, discussions, workshops, portfolio reviews, screenings, educational programmes, and the Photobook Exhibition, creating a platform for meaningful dialogue through photography.

The Open Call has an open theme. We welcome cohesive bodies of work from all genres of photography and lens-based visual storytelling, including documentary, conceptual, fine art, portraiture, landscape, street photography, experimental practices, archival projects, mixed media, and other contemporary photographic approaches.

What matters most is that the submitted work forms a strong and coherent body of work that communicates a compelling idea, narrative, theme, or perspective.

Submissions are evaluated based on their overall artistic merit, originality, coherence, visual quality, storytelling, conceptual strength, and potential impact, rather than genre. We are looking for projects that are engaging, thought-provoking, and capable of creating meaningful conversations with audiences.

Submission Guidelines

Submissions are open to photographers, visual artists, curators, collectives, archives, galleries, and organizations from anywhere in the world.
There is no thematic restriction. Projects on any subject are welcome.
There is no entry fee. Participation in the Open Call is free.
Submissions must consist of a cohesive body of work, such as a photo series or photo essay, containing a minimum of 15 images and a maximum of 30 images.
Each submission must include an Artist Statement (maximum 500 words) and a short Biography (maximum 500 words).
All submissions must be made through the online submission portal at www.indianphotofest.com/oc2026.
Applicants must provide a Google Drive folder link or a similar cloud storage link containing all submission materials.
Please ensure that your Google Drive or cloud storage folder remains active, accessible, and shared with the appropriate viewing permissions until 30 September 2026. If you are using a time-limited file transfer service, the download link must remain active until 30 September 2026. The Festival will not be responsible for reviewing submissions that cannot be accessed due to incorrect sharing permissions, broken links, or expired links.
The submission folder must be named using the applicant's Full Name (for example: Kishor Kumar or Kishor_Kumar).
All image files must be named using the applicant's name followed by the image number (for example: Kishor_Kumar_01.jpg, Kishor_Kumar_02.jpg, Kishor_Kumar_03.jpg).
The submission folder must contain:
- Photographs in JPG format, 72 dpi, 1600 pixels on the longest side, with each image not exceeding 2 MB.
- The Artist Statement and Biography in PDF or Microsoft Word (.doc/.docx) format.

Photobook Submissions

The Indian Photo Festival welcomes submissions of published, self-published, independently produced, and dummy photobooks, as well as zines that demonstrate a strong photographic narrative or artistic vision.
To apply, please upload a single PDF containing the complete photobook or a full digital layout of all pages and spreads through the online submission portal.
Please name the file using the following format: Photobook_YourName.pdf (for example: Photobook_Kishor_Kumar.pdf).
If your photobook is selected, you will be invited to send one physical copy to the Festival for display in the Indian Photo Festival Photobook Exhibition. Further shipping instructions and deadlines will be shared with selected participants.

Selection Process

Selected exhibition projects will be professionally produced and exhibited by the Indian Photo Festival at no cost to the selected participant. The Festival will bear the production costs of exhibition prints and display materials.
All eligible submissions will be reviewed by the Festival's curatorial team. Due to the high volume of submissions, only shortlisted applicants will be contacted.

Terms & Conditions

By submitting your work, you confirm that you own the rights to all submitted images and have obtained all necessary permissions required for their use.
Incomplete submissions or submissions received after the submission deadline will not be considered.
The Festival reserves the right to reject submissions that do not comply with the stated submission requirements or cannot be accessed by the curatorial team.
The Indian Photo Festival reserves the right to amend or modify the Open Call, submission guidelines, exhibition format, schedule, jury, venues, dates, or any other aspect of the Festival without prior notice.