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Please note: RPS House is currently closed. We will be open again from the week of 14th October 2024.

Duffield_Thomas_Poppy
CREDIT: Thomas Duffield

International Photography Exhibition 163

The International Photography Exhibition (IPE) is the world’s longest running photography exhibition. The IPE 163 is a powerful exhibition that demonstrates the breadth of contemporary image-making and storytelling today. A total of 105 works by 60 photographers continue their tour to The Museum of Gloucester, 28 January - 4 June 2023

 

Bondarenko_Ihor_We Watch and We are Watched by Somebody, 2020
CREDIT: Ihor Bondarenko

Can I enter my work?

Photographers and image-makers, of all ages, can submit their work to the RPS International Photography Exhibition. Submissions are encouraged from new, emerging and established photographers worldwide.

The IPE presents a unique opportunity to exhibit in a group exhibition at The Royal Photographic Society in Bristol, UK, and other nationwide venues, alongside a prize fund to support future photographic projects.

Exhibition selection is anonymous throughout, including the award winners, with a changing guest selection panel for each edition. The process is both rigorous and fair, where digital image and print work form part of the selection process. Each IPE edition is a unique celebration of photography today.

Sign-up to our newsletter to be the first to know. If you have an enquiry, or would like to hire and exhibit the IPE at your venue, email the Exhibitions Team. We thank you for your support of the RPS.

Spirit in the Room
CREDIT: Àsìkò
Book tickets and plan your exhibition visit
The Museum of Gloucester | 28 January - 4 June 2023

The RPS is working with The Museum of Gloucester to bring the renowned International Photography Exhibition 163 (IPE 163) to Gloucester in January 2023. Over 8,000 images were entered by 3,944 photographers from 114 countries, making this a record-breaking year for most countries engaged with in an open call to the competition. A total of 105 works by 60 photographers will be on display in the Museum from 28 January until 4 June 2023

Find out more
Exhibitors Montage
Meet the photographers
Discover new image-makers

From an international open-call inviting new, emerging and established photographers to share their work, here we celebrate the 60 photographers selected to exhibit in our 163rd edition of the International Photography Exhibition. Find out more about the artists and their work.

Meet the photographers
The Death of Actaeon
CREDIT: Yushi Li
Featured Artist
Exclusive RPS Journal articles

The RPS Journal selected a selection of IPE 163 exhibitors' work for you to discover. Each artist tells of a contrasting experience - ritual celebration, reconciliation, fantasy, representation, and protest. Discover more in the articles below:

1. RPS Journal spotlight on five photographers' to watch.

2. Rick Findler and Tamary Kudita featured in the Jan/Feb 2022 RPS Journal

3. Lewis Fisher and Wendi Scheider featured in March/April 2022 RPS Journal

 

Franco_Tim_Lee Ga-yeon
CREDIT: Tim Franco
Awards Announcement
International Photography Exhibition 163

The recipients of two awards for the 163rd edition of the International Photography Exhibition have been announced as part of the annual RPS Awards.

The RPS Awards recognise individuals working across both still and moving image, celebrate significant achievements, and showcase new and emerging talent. The 2021 recipients tell remarkable stories, and their work is a testament to the power of photography to inspire, uplift, incite change. 

View IPE award recipients

Awards & Recognition

The International Photography Exhibition presents an opportunity to exhibit in the world's longest running photography exhibition. You will also be eligible for several significant awards:

1. IPE Award  /  £1500 and 1-year free membership to the RPS

2. Under 30s Award  /  £1000 and 1-year free membership to the RPS

3. Exhibition Tour  /  100 photographs will be selected for the touring exhibition, opening at the RPS Gallery, Bristol

4. Solo Exhibition at the RPS  /  2-week solo exhibition in the RPS Gallery, awarded by the RPS. The RPS will support the selected photographer to develop and deliver the exhibition

5. RPS Photographic Commission  /  £1250 commission to create new work, awarded by the RPS

6. RPS Journal Features  /  Four opportunities for a photographer to feature in the award-winning RPS Journal, selected by the Editor

7. Visitor Prize  /  £250 prize voted for by visitors to the Bristol exhibition

8. Selectors Spotlight  /  Five photographers will receive a statement by one of the guest selectors about why they selected the work. This will be included in the exhibition

9. IPE Journal Edition  /  All selected photographers will receive a copy of the IPE edition of the award-winning RPS Journal

10. International Recognition  /  Shortlisted photographers will be celebrated across our online and digital channels, including opportunities for Instagram take-overs 

11. Membership Offer  /  All IPE entrants receive 15% discount on a new RPS membership 

12. Digital Spotlight  /  We will share stand-out entries during the entry period across RPS digital channels

RPS House Night ED
CREDIT: Evan Dawson

RPS Gallery, Bristol, United Kingdom

The Royal Photographic Society is an international charitable organisation based in Bristol, UK. We are dedicated to increasing the knowledge, understanding and enjoyment of photography to the widest possible audience. Founded in 1853, the RPS is one of the world’s oldest photographic societies.

The RPS Gallery is situated in the photography hub of Bristol alongside the Martin Parr Foundation. Previous exhibitions have included Jack Latham's Sugar Paper Theories; Mandy Barker's Altered Ocean and Space Steps: The Moon and Beyond.

Membership of the RPS is open to everyone with a passion for photography.

Selection Panel

Monica Alcazar-Duarte / Non-fiction photographer

Originally from Mexico, Monica lives and works in the UK. She studied Film-making, Scenography and Photography. Her photobook Your Photos could be used by Drug Dealers was acquired in 2014 for artist book collections at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, The Yale University Gallery and the Joan Flasch Collection at the Arts Institute of Chicago.

Most recently, in 2020, Monica was nominated for a National Geographic Fellowship and awarded a Firecracker Grant. In 2019, she was awarded the Lucie Foundation Chroma Luxe scholarship, obtained a National Geographic Arena award and exhibited Ascension - an interactive AR installation - at the RPS.

Monica was selected as one of ten artists for Les Recontres d’Arles New Discovery Award in 2018 and the previous year she obtained The Photographers’ Gallery Bar-Tur Photobook Award alongside the Magnum Graduate Award.

Monica is a nominator for the Joop Swart Masterclass - a week-long intensive program, which identifies, supports, and educates new talent in the field of documentary photography, visual journalism, and visual storytelling.

CREDIT: Maryam Wahid
Sebah Chaudhry / Creative Producer, Co-Founder and Co-Director at ReFramed

Sebah is a Freelance Creative Producer and Curator. She has worked at international world-class festivals, projects and events. She is Co-Founder and Co-Director of ReFramed, a photographic visual arts network in the Midlands, supporting the community and artists who are Black, Asian, or from other ethnic minorities.

She was recently Creative Producer for The Place I Call Home, a British Council funded project with Ffotogallery, connecting the UK to the Gulf region - resulting in 10 exhibitions, in 7 countries, between Sept 2019 - Mar 2020.

Sebah was Festival Coordinator at FORMAT Festival between 2013 - 2017 and continues to work as a freelancer for FORMAT, organising the UK’s largest annual portfolio review.

She is an avid networker and an advocate for the promotion of emerging artists, particularly Black, Asian and people of colour, encouraging both artists and others to get involved in the art scene. Currently Sebah is Chair of 1623 theatre company Advisory Board; Steering Group member, FORMAT Festival; and Board Member, Redeye Photography Network.

Tim Clark / Editor-in-Chief, 1000 Words

Due to an unforeseen change in our schedule, Tim is unable to attend the print selection. We thank him for his contribution to the selection process and look forward to working with him in the future. 

Tim Clark is a writer, editor and curator based in London. Since 2008 he has been Editor-in-Chief at 1000 Words.

Recent exhibitions include Mutable: Multiple curated with Louise Fedotov-Clements for FORMAT International Photography Festival; Who’s looking at the family, now? as part of Photo50 at London Art Fair; and Max Pinckers: Margins of Excess for Lishui Art Museum, China, all during 2019.

Tim worked as a curatorial advisor on Masculinities: Liberation through Photography (2020) at the Barbican Centre London. He was a Guest Curator at Guernsey Photography Festival 2020; a member of the Artistic Committee for Fotografia Europea 2021 in Reggio Emilia, Italy, together with Diane Dufour and Walter Guadagnini; and currently preparing an exhibition for the Portuguese Centre of Photography, Porto during the Ci.CLO Bienal 2021.

Tim is also a lecturer at The Institute of Photography, Falmouth University. His latest book, Curator Conversations, was released in February.

CREDIT: Bruce Morgan
Joy Gregory Hon.FRPS / Photographic Artist

Joy Gregory is a graduate of Manchester Polytechnic and the Royal College of Art. She has developed a practice which is concerned with social and political issues with reference to history and cultural differences in contemporary society.

Born in the UK to Jamaican parents, she has always been fascinated by the impact of European history and colonisation on global perceptions of identity, memory, folk and traditional knowledge. As a photographer she makes full use of the media from video, digital and analogue photography to Victorian print processes.

Joy has worked in art education for almost three decades and was an Honorary Research Associate at Slade School of Art [UCL] where she developed new work for the Diaspora Pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale in 2017.

She is the recipient of numerous awards, including a NESTA Fellowship, and has exhibited all over the world in many festivals and biennales. Her work is in many collections including; the UK Arts Council; V&A; Institute of Modern Art, Australia; and Yale British Art Collection.

She currently lives and works in London where she teaches Fine Art Photography at Camberwell School of Art, University of the Arts London.

CREDIT: Almudena Romero
Dr Michael Pritchard / Director of Education, RPS

Michael has been involved in photography for his whole career. He started as a photography specialist at Christie’s auction house where he curated auctions internationally. He has written and lectured on many aspects of the history of photography in the UK and abroad and holds a PhD in the history of photography. He has a particular knowledge of British photography but his interests extend across Western, Asian and African historical and contemporary photography. 

He has worked in a photographic studio and brings a practical and working knowledge of studio and location photography, both analogue and digital, along with darkroom work and alternative processes.

Michael has been a guest selector for many exhibitions including; the HIPA Awards; Travel Photographer of the Year; Food Photographer of the Year; International Photography Awards; Lucie Awards; ArtGemini Prize and Earth Photo. He has also been a selector and curator of festival exhibitions and exhibitions in China.

Michael leads the RPS's education and public programmes. He is also the founder of the online community, British Photographic History.

About the IPE

Anita   (Punica   granatum,   Pomegranate,   Meaning:   Fertility)
CREDIT: Leslie Sheryll

Exhibition's History

The International Photography Exhibition has been held almost every year since 1854 and is the longest running exhibition of its kind in the world.

In the early years, the exhibition included work from some of the world's most eminent photographers including Julia Margaret Cameron, Roger Fenton, Edward Steichen and Paul Strand.

Genitempo_Matthew_Untitled_02
CREDIT: Matthew Genitempo USA
Inspiration from the archives

The IPE is selected from an open-call. This means that images across all genres, using different types, processes, and experimental techniques can be submitted.

Past exhibitors have documented personal stories, explored new ideas and concepts, created powerful portraits, and crafted striking landscapes of the world we inhabit.

From digital and analogue, to collage and wet collodion, all formats of photographic image-making are eligible.

Explore the collection from recent editions and be inspired to enter your work. 

IPE Collections Gallery
Navarro_Karen_Fragment
CREDIT: Karen Navarro
Shortlist announcement

With over 4000 submissions received to the IPE 163 open call in early 2021, we are delighted to announce the 279 shortlisted photographers.

The guest selection panel shortlisted 848 images from international photographers in 50 countries.

Congratulations to all of the photographers shortlisted and we would like to wish them all luck in the next stage of the selection process.

Shortlist A-Z
Percival_Kevin_Wornington Word_04
CREDIT: Kevin Percival
Stand-out Submissions
Shortlisted images from the IPE 163

848 images from international photographers in 50 countries were shortlisted for the International Photography Exhibition 163. 

View a selection of stand-out submissions in our online gallery.

Online Gallery

Recent Awardees 

IPE 162 Award: Cody Cobb

"It's an incredible honor to not only be a part of an historic exhibition but to also have my work recognized by such an esteemed committee. The support and resources of The RPS has encouraged me to continue pushing myself and my work in ways that weren’t possible before. I'm incredibly grateful for this opportunity to share my interpretation of what it means to be human on this strange and fantastic planet."
Cody Cobb, USA

IPE 162 Under 30s Award: Chirag Jindal

"As any other debut project, the work follows many long periods of experimenting, indecision and risk. It’s a privilege to have it be given this level of recognition and platform for outreach and exposure - especially amongst the high standard of photography in this year’s RPS exhibition."
Chirag Jindal, New Zealand

Catherine Hyland
IPE 161 Gold Award: Catherine Hyland

"I am extremely grateful to be awarded the Gold RPS Award from such a strong line up. I really rated the names on the judging panel and the other photographers that participated. I hoped they’d see something engaging in terms of the background story behind this project as Nevis itself is so steeped in history, so I feel both delighted and very humbled to be selected for the award."
Catherine Hyland, UK

IPE 161 Under 30s Award: Chris Bethell

"I was so shocked to hear that I had won the award – so many of my friends and peers who were also shortlisted produce such incredible work; I wasn't expecting it at all. I can't explain how happy I am for having the project recognised by such a prestigious organisation and also how grateful I am for the prize. It is going to go a long way to helping me fund my next project in the States."
Chris Bethell, UK

IPE 161 Silver Award: Alys Tomlinson

“I’m delighted that what began as a very quiet and personal study of devotion has achieved this recognition. The RPS has such a rich history and respected reputation and I’m excited to exhibit work alongside other international photographers whose work I admire.”
Alys Tomlinson, UK

The International Photography Exhibition is supported by