Call For Photography • The Surreal 2026
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Entry deadlineJul 21, 2026 · 6:59 AM
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Show opensAug 1, 2026
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Show closesSep 1, 2026
Organization:
The Chateau Gallery
Location
Online
Entry Fee
Paid Entry
Deadline
July 20, 2026
Exhibition
Aug 1
- Sep 1, 2026
The Surreal 2026
TCG Gallery Call for Entry
Submission Deadline:
July 20, 2026, 11:59 PM ET
Artist Notifications:
July 25, 2026
Exhibition Dates:
August 1 - September 1, 2026
Entry Fee:
$15 USD for up to 3 images
About the Call:
The Surreal explores the strange space where reality stops behaving.
TCG Gallery invites photographers and lens-based artists to submit work that distorts the familiar, unsettles perception, or reveals the dream logic hiding inside everyday life. The surreal does not have to be loud, theatrical, or digitally impossible. It can appear in a strange shadow, an uncanny gesture, a misplaced object, a distorted body, a vacant room, a symbolic landscape, or a moment that feels almost normal until it does not.
We welcome images that blur the line between the real and imagined, the beautiful and unsettling, the conscious and unconscious. Submissions may engage with dreams, memory, desire, fear, absurdity, fantasy, hallucination, transformation, symbolism, or psychological tension.
Possible interpretations include:
- Dreams, nightmares, and the subconscious
- Strange encounters and uncanny moments
- Psychological landscapes
- Fantasy, myth, and imagined worlds
- Altered perception and distorted reality
- The absurd, theatrical, or irrational
- Surreal uses of light, shadow, color, and form
- Staged photography and constructed scenes
- Symbolism, metaphor, and visual ambiguity
- Memory, hallucination, and fragmented experience
- Displacement, transformation, and the unknown
- The body, identity, and self as surreal subject
- Everyday scenes made strange
- Architectural, natural, or domestic spaces transformed by imagination
- The relationship between photography and the impossible
Eligibility:
Open to photographers and visual artists worldwide, ages 18 and older.
Digital photography, film photography, alternative processes, staged photography, constructed images, experimental photographic work, and mixed-media works with a photographic base are welcome.
Individual images and cohesive series may be submitted.
All submitted work must be original and created by the submitting artist. Submitting work created by or substantially altered with artificial intelligence is prohibited unless a specific call explicitly states otherwise.
Submission Requirements:
Artists may submit up to 3 images per entry. Please include accurate artwork information, including title, year, medium, dimensions, and price or NFS if the work is not for sale.
File Requirements:
Please submit JPG or JPEG files. Files should be at least 1200 pixels on the longest side and at least 500 KB when possible.
Suggested file format:
firstname_lastname_title-01.jpeg
Selection Process:
Approximately 35 images will be selected for the online exhibition. Submissions are reviewed with attention to image quality, originality, theme relevance, and overall exhibition cohesion. TCG Gallery uses a blind review process whenever possible, with emphasis placed on the strength of the submitted work rather than artist biography, résumé, or prior exhibition history.
Selected Artists Receive:
- Inclusion in the curated online exhibition
- Artist name, artwork title, medium, dimensions, and price listed with selected work when provided
- Permanent website archive after the exhibition closes
- Promotion through TCG Gallery’s website, email list, and social media channels
- Artist credit wherever feasible in exhibition and promotional materials
Sales:
Sales are optional. Artists may list works as available for purchase or not for sale. For artwork sold through TCG Gallery, the gallery retains a 30% commission.
Copyright and Usage:
Artists retain copyright to their work. By submitting, artists grant TCG Gallery the non-exclusive right to reproduce submitted images for jurying, exhibition presentation, archival documentation, and promotion of the exhibition. Artist credit will be included whenever feasible.
Fee Waivers:
Fee waivers are available on request for artists experiencing financial hardship. Artists who need a waiver should contact TCG Gallery before submitting.
Compliance:
TCG Gallery cannot accept submissions where doing so would violate applicable United States sanctions, export, payment-processing, or compliance restrictions.
About TCG Gallery:
TCG Gallery is an independent, New York City-based online gallery presenting curated photography exhibitions, open calls, artist features, and exhibition archives for emerging and established photographers worldwide. With a focus on accessible opportunities, thoughtful curatorial presentation, and long-term artist visibility, TCG Gallery supports photographers through online exhibitions, website archives, email features, and social media promotion.
TCG Gallery Call for Entry
Submission Deadline:
July 20, 2026, 11:59 PM ET
Artist Notifications:
July 25, 2026
Exhibition Dates:
August 1 - September 1, 2026
Entry Fee:
$15 USD for up to 3 images
About the Call:
The Surreal explores the strange space where reality stops behaving.
TCG Gallery invites photographers and lens-based artists to submit work that distorts the familiar, unsettles perception, or reveals the dream logic hiding inside everyday life. The surreal does not have to be loud, theatrical, or digitally impossible. It can appear in a strange shadow, an uncanny gesture, a misplaced object, a distorted body, a vacant room, a symbolic landscape, or a moment that feels almost normal until it does not.
We welcome images that blur the line between the real and imagined, the beautiful and unsettling, the conscious and unconscious. Submissions may engage with dreams, memory, desire, fear, absurdity, fantasy, hallucination, transformation, symbolism, or psychological tension.
Possible interpretations include:
- Dreams, nightmares, and the subconscious
- Strange encounters and uncanny moments
- Psychological landscapes
- Fantasy, myth, and imagined worlds
- Altered perception and distorted reality
- The absurd, theatrical, or irrational
- Surreal uses of light, shadow, color, and form
- Staged photography and constructed scenes
- Symbolism, metaphor, and visual ambiguity
- Memory, hallucination, and fragmented experience
- Displacement, transformation, and the unknown
- The body, identity, and self as surreal subject
- Everyday scenes made strange
- Architectural, natural, or domestic spaces transformed by imagination
- The relationship between photography and the impossible
Eligibility:
Open to photographers and visual artists worldwide, ages 18 and older.
Digital photography, film photography, alternative processes, staged photography, constructed images, experimental photographic work, and mixed-media works with a photographic base are welcome.
Individual images and cohesive series may be submitted.
All submitted work must be original and created by the submitting artist. Submitting work created by or substantially altered with artificial intelligence is prohibited unless a specific call explicitly states otherwise.
Submission Requirements:
Artists may submit up to 3 images per entry. Please include accurate artwork information, including title, year, medium, dimensions, and price or NFS if the work is not for sale.
File Requirements:
Please submit JPG or JPEG files. Files should be at least 1200 pixels on the longest side and at least 500 KB when possible.
Suggested file format:
firstname_lastname_title-01.jpeg
Selection Process:
Approximately 35 images will be selected for the online exhibition. Submissions are reviewed with attention to image quality, originality, theme relevance, and overall exhibition cohesion. TCG Gallery uses a blind review process whenever possible, with emphasis placed on the strength of the submitted work rather than artist biography, résumé, or prior exhibition history.
Selected Artists Receive:
- Inclusion in the curated online exhibition
- Artist name, artwork title, medium, dimensions, and price listed with selected work when provided
- Permanent website archive after the exhibition closes
- Promotion through TCG Gallery’s website, email list, and social media channels
- Artist credit wherever feasible in exhibition and promotional materials
Sales:
Sales are optional. Artists may list works as available for purchase or not for sale. For artwork sold through TCG Gallery, the gallery retains a 30% commission.
Copyright and Usage:
Artists retain copyright to their work. By submitting, artists grant TCG Gallery the non-exclusive right to reproduce submitted images for jurying, exhibition presentation, archival documentation, and promotion of the exhibition. Artist credit will be included whenever feasible.
Fee Waivers:
Fee waivers are available on request for artists experiencing financial hardship. Artists who need a waiver should contact TCG Gallery before submitting.
Compliance:
TCG Gallery cannot accept submissions where doing so would violate applicable United States sanctions, export, payment-processing, or compliance restrictions.
About TCG Gallery:
TCG Gallery is an independent, New York City-based online gallery presenting curated photography exhibitions, open calls, artist features, and exhibition archives for emerging and established photographers worldwide. With a focus on accessible opportunities, thoughtful curatorial presentation, and long-term artist visibility, TCG Gallery supports photographers through online exhibitions, website archives, email features, and social media promotion.