UNSTAGED Journal — Materiality

UNSTAGED is an independent photography journal dedicated to lens-based work that engages with comforting and discomforting authenticity. The journal runs themed issues with rotating guest curators. The Materiality call asks photographers to engage with the material side of the medium — surface, texture, substance — and the bridges photography forms with adjacent practices like printmaking.

The call is guest curated by Francisco Gonzalez Camacho (@frangccom). The brief explicitly invites alternative techniques, materials, and interventions — works that treat the photograph as more than a transparent image and engage process as part of the meaning.

Eligible submissions span single images, diptychs, triptychs, and mixed-media approaches. AI-generated work is not accepted.

Each photographer submits 5 to 10 photographs as JPG files (long edge 2000px, 300 DPI) plus a project description up to 500 words. The submission process is unusual: applicants upload work to a publicly accessible Google Drive folder and send the link to reach@arek-ratai.com. Files must be named Name_ProjectTitle_01. Emails with attachments are deleted unread.

Submission is free of charge. Eligibility is open globally. The 2026 deadline is June 15.