#FOTOSEPTIEMBRE 2022 Exhibition Documentation, #TexasPhotographicSociety, TPS 30 – The International Competition, #UTSASouthwestCampus

VARIOUS PHOTOGRAPHERS (International)
TPS 30 – The International Competition
Juried by Liz Wells
Presented by Texas Photographic Society and UTSA
UTSA Southwest Campus – Russell Hill Rogers Lecture Hall And Gallery
Santikos Art Building
1201 Navarro Street, San Antonio, TX 78205
(210) 200-8200 | art.events@utsa.edu | http://Art.utsa.edu

The TPS 30 – The International Competition jurying process coincided precisely with the international COP26 negotiations hosted in Glasgow, Scotland. Indeed, some entries explicitly addressed industrial legacies and the consequences of global warming. It also took place under the ongoing shadow of the Covid epidemic, so it was not surprising to find several images that suggested challenging social circumstances, isolation, or abandonment, explicitly or metaphorically. Happily, several images also implied caring and community, with many others drawing attention to places, lifestyles, and environmental phenomena.

The challenge of selecting 50 photographs from the 1369 submitted was challenging. I was required to select (only) 3 images from every 80 submitted! There were difficult decisions to be made; many aesthetically pleasing, and thematically interesting submissions could not be included. Originality, story-telling and contemporary relevance were key criteria, along with integrity of form and content, and how each exhibition print would be experienced as a distinctive physical object.

My many thanks to the 213 photographers who shared examples of their work, and congratulations to Texas Photographic Society on the 30th anniversary of this competition and exhibition. – Liz Wells

Liz Wells is a distinguished UK-based writer, curator, and lecturer on photographic practices whose research centers on landscape photography, people as related to place, and environment.

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