Contents
Making Strange by Praxis Gallery centers on a simple but demanding photographic question: what happens when the ordinary no longer feels ordinary? Presented as an international juried photography exhibition by Praxis Gallery & Photo Arts Center in Minneapolis, the call looks for images that make familiar subjects feel newly visible through framing, timing, light, distance, construction, or other visual strategies.
The entry deadline is May 31, 2026, with notification scheduled for June 12, 2026. Selected works will be exhibited at Praxis Gallery from July 18 to August 8, 2026, and accepted photographs will also appear on the Praxis website exhibition page. For photographers using Deartline to follow broader photography contests, this call stands out for its focused curatorial premise: estrangement, inversion, friction, and the act of re-seeing the everyday.
The theme makes the contest especially relevant to artists working near conceptual photography contest territory, although the call does not restrict entries to a single genre. Instead, it asks for photographs that transform the overlooked into something charged, ironic, iconic, or unexpected. Entry fees begin at $35 for up to five images, with additional images available for $5 each, up to ten images total.
Prizes
The awards and opportunities for Making Strange are tied closely to exhibition visibility at Praxis Gallery. The call is structured around juried selection, gallery presentation, recognition, and online archiving.
- Selected artists: Up to 38 images will be chosen for exhibition at Praxis Gallery. Accepted photographers receive instructions for shipping original artwork or submitting high-resolution digital files for printing. Selected photographs will also be posted on the Praxis website exhibition page.
- Directors’ Choice: One selected artist will receive free entry into two future Praxis juried calls for entry of their choice.
- Five Honorable Mentions: Five works will receive Honorable Mention recognition and be featured in the exhibition, the printed show catalog, and the online exhibit gallery.
- Viktor Shklovsky Award: One image may be recognized with this award, highlighting a work that most strongly engages with the idea of making the familiar unfamiliar.
- Sales and archive: Artists may offer exhibition prints for sale, with Praxis notifying artists of purchase inquiries. Selected works will also be archived in the Praxis Gallery & Photographic Art Center’s online gallery.
For photographers looking specifically for an exhibition opportunity, the main value of the call is the combination of physical gallery presentation, online exhibition visibility, and archived selected works.
Related Photo Contests
Categories or Themes
There are no separate categories in Making Strange by Praxis Gallery. The contest is built around one central theme: making the familiar unfamiliar. Praxis frames this through words and ideas such as the obvious, the overlooked, inversion, estrangement, friction, and re-seeing.
The call seeks photographic works that find the iconic or ironic in everyday life. People, places, things, gestures, spaces, and ordinary visual situations can all fit the theme when treated in a way that shifts perception. The emphasis is not on a fixed subject matter, but on how the photograph transforms what might otherwise be taken for granted.
Because of that approach, the call may also interest artists working with experimental photography and image-making practices that use ambiguity, construction, timing, or visual disruption to change how a subject is read.
Dates and Entry Fees
The Making Strange by Praxis Gallery follows a concise schedule, with selection results announced less than two weeks after the deadline and the exhibition opening in July.
- Submission deadline: May 31, 2026, at 11:59 PM CT
- Notification of acceptance: June 12, 2026, at 4 PM CT
- Exhibition dates: July 18 to August 8, 2026
Submission fees are structured by the number of images entered.
- Entry fee: $35 for up to five images
- Additional images: $5 per image, up to ten images total per open call
- Payment: Credit or debit card through the secure online submission site
- Refunds: Entry fees are non-refundable
- New Praxis Members: New members receive one free ten-image entry
- Financial hardship: Praxis offers a limited number of free submissions for artists experiencing financial hardship
How to Enter
Entries must be submitted as digital files through the online submission form linked from the Praxis call page. Images should be uploaded as JPEG files of 8MB or smaller. Praxis asks entrants to use the file naming format ImageTitle_by_FirstName_LastName. The submission page notes that image files should be uploaded using Chrome or Safari, and that Firefox is not recommended.
Accepted artists will later receive instructions for either shipping original prints or submitting high-resolution digital files for Praxis to print. No framed artwork is accepted; Praxis mats and frames the prints for exhibition.
About the Jury
The call is an international juried photography exhibition, and the contest details identify it as curated by Praxis Directors.
The selection process is tied to the exhibition format. Up to 38 images will be selected, with notifications sent after the deadline. The Directors’ Choice award and Honorable Mentions indicate that selected works are not only included in the exhibition, but may also receive additional recognition within the show structure.
Why Enter Making Strange by Praxis Gallery?
Making Strange by Praxis Gallery is built around a theme that gives photographers room to work with perception rather than subject matter alone. The idea of turning the everyday into something unfamiliar can support quiet observational work, constructed images, street-based discoveries, still life, portrait fragments, or more formally experimental approaches, as long as the photograph changes how the viewer encounters the subject.
Within the wider field of popular photo challenges, this contest is notable for its gallery context. Selected works are not limited to an online announcement: they are scheduled for a physical exhibition at Praxis Gallery in Minneapolis, with accepted images also posted on the gallery’s website and archived online.
The practical structure is also clear. The deadline, notification date, exhibition period, fees, print options, and sales commission are all stated in advance. For photographers with work that explores estrangement, overlooked details, irony, or visual transformation, the call offers a defined theme and a direct route into a juried gallery exhibition.
Rules and Copyright
This section about the rules and image rights of the Making Strange by Praxis Gallery has been generated automatically. If you are interested in participating in this contest we suggest you review the complete rules provided by the contest.
Rules
Entrants must be 18 years or older. Submitted images must not have been exhibited at Praxis Gallery within the past year. All submissions must be digital files sent through the online submission form.
Files must be JPEG images of 8MB or smaller. Praxis requests that files be named using the format ImageTitle_by_FirstName_LastName. Accepted artists may either submit original prints that fit Praxis Gallery’s specified matte sizes or use the Praxis printing service for $37, which includes printing, matting, framing, and installation.
Praxis uses 22 x 22-inch black frames with standard precut white mattes. Accepted images must fit within the listed maximum image areas. Artists may offer exhibition prints for sale, and Praxis takes a 50% commission on all sales.
Copyright and Image Usage
Artists retain copyright to their images. By submitting, artists grant Praxis Gallery a non-exclusive right to use submitted images for exhibition display, promotion of the artist and related programs, online exhibition archives, and social media or website features.
The artist’s name will be credited wherever the work is displayed. Selected works will also be archived in the Praxis Gallery & Photographic Art Center’s online gallery.
—
For more information and to participate in the contest, visit: the official website.
