The Sweep of Time: Beyond the Horizon
Manifest Gallery
Funding
$50 USD honorarium per exhibiting artist; up to $1,000 USD Grand Jury Award
Deadline
28 June 2026
Location
Cincinnati, Ohio, Global
About
Open call for lens-based and light media artwork exploring time, memory, and the horizon, launching Manifest Gallery's 23rd season as part of the 2026 FotoFocus
Manifest Gallery invites lens-based artists from around the world to submit work for The Sweep of Time: Beyond the Horizon, a thematic exhibition launching their 23rd season and presented as a participating venue project of the 2026 FotoFocus Biennial: The Long View.
Drawing on Marcus Aurelius's idea of contemplating 'the sweep of time' to find orientation beyond the turbulence of the present, this exhibition asks: how does the photographic moment relate to what persists — in time, in meaning, in us? Artists are invited to submit work that holds the immediate and the enduring in the same frame — images that resist the reactive pull of the present and invite viewers to slow down, look further, and reconsider their place within the unfolding of time.
Thematic areas of interest include
- Time as subject, symbol, or environment
- The horizon as literal landscape or conceptual threshold
- Distance, duration, memory, or continuity
Eligibility: Open to all artists internationally. Work must be original and engage with the broad theme described above.
Media: All traditional and non-traditional photographic and light-based media are welcome, including mixed-media work in which lens-based elements form the dominant component.
Entry Fee: $45 USD for up to three entries; $5 per additional entry. Fees are non-refundable.
Awards:
- Every exhibiting artist receives a $50 USD cash honorarium.
- Up to $1,000 USD Grand Jury Award may be awarded from among top-scoring works across Manifest's exhibition season.
Exhibition Dates: 25 September – 23 October 2026
Sales: Works may be listed as not for sale. If offered for sale, the artist receives 70% of the sale price.
Manifest operates as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organisation run by artists, for artists. Entry fees fund project-related expenses and support the ongoing programmes of this gallery. The jury is an anonymous multi-member panel of professional and academic advisors; final selections are made by the exhibit curator from the jury-approved pool.