Call to Artists: Photography & Collage Virtual Artist Residency

For the past 18 months, Kolaj Institute has investigated the intersection of photography and collage through a series of exhibitions and artist residencies in partnership with the New Orleans Photo Alliance. This research has been guided by the idea, “The mediums of collage and photography are bound together in an ongoing dialogue. The photographer makes pictures of the world. The collagist remixes those pictures to tell a story about the world we live in. What happens when the photographer begins collaging their own work? What happens when the collage artist picks up the camera?” We found artists engaged in a variety of techniques and approaches: collage as process; making art with family archives and found photographs; using alternative processes like cyanotypes and Gelli print transfers; and challenging how we think about images in a world flooded with them. In doing this, the artists invited viewers to consider questions of identity and gender; family and memory; the materiality of photography; and history and artist process.

The Photography & Collage Virtual Artist Residency will invite photographers and collage artists to come together in dialogue, learn from one another, and make artwork for a series of exhibitions that explore the intersection of collage and photography. Unfolding in two tracks over the course of a month, we will ask, What happens when a collagist picks up the camera? What happens when a photographer collages their pictures? Presentations will explore collage in theory, artist practice, the ecosystem of art, the state of photography, and the history of photography and collage. Artists will shoot with their own camera, in whatever process they choose (film & develop or digital & print), and then make collage with the photographs they make.

During the residency, artists will make an artwork that will be exhibited at Kolaj Institute’s Gallery. The exhibition will take place in December 2025 as part of PhotoNOLA 2025, an annual celebration of photography in New Orleans, produced by the New Orleans Photo Alliance in partnership with museums, galleries, and alternative venues citywide.

 

The residency is led by Dafna Steinberg, MFA, adjunct professor of darkroom photography at Delaware County Community College, and Lance Rothstein, a photojournalist and street artist who operates the darkroom and teaches photography and collage workshops at the Morean Art Center in Saint Petersburg, Florida. The project is being curated by Ric Kasini Kadour, Director of Kolaj Institute and a 2020-2021 Curatorial Fellow of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and produced in partnership with the New Orleans Photo Alliance. 

WHO IS THIS FOR?

The residency is intended for artists with a practice of collage and/or photography who want to explore the intersections of the two mediums. Residencies are open to any artist over the age of 21 from anywhere in the world.

COST

The cost of the residency is $500 per artist. Kolaj Institute has a limited number of grants available to offset the cost of the residency for those in need. These grants are possible through the generous support of our donors.

RESIDENCY LOGISTICS

Dates: 8-29 September 2025

SESSION DATES

Monday, 8 September 2025, 7-9PM EDT

Monday, 15 September 2025, 7-9PM EDT

Monday, 22 September 2025, 7-9PM EDT

Monday, 29 September 2025, 7-9PM EDT

The workshop will begin with an invitation to join the Slack workspace on Saturday, 6 September 2025. Introductions and Orientation will take place during our first meeting on Monday, 8 September 2025, 7-9PM EDT. 

The remaining sessions will take place on the following Mondays (15, 22, and 29). 

Artists are expected to attend all scheduled sessions and complete assignments.

DEADLINES

Early submission deadline: Sunday, 27 July 2025

Final submission deadline: Tuesday, 19 August 2025

Read the full call to artists here:

https://kolajmagazine.com/content/content/calls-for-artists/call-to-artists-photography-collage-virtual-artist-residency/

A link to the application is in that call.

08/19/2025