The award Emergentes 2022 - International Photography Award Encontros da Imagem is organized by Encontros da Imagem - International Photography and Visual Arts Festival aims to award the Best Portfolios in Contemporary Photography. This year because of the pandemic that we are still going through, due to COVID-19, to make sure that everyone participating in the festival will be safe, the Board of Directors as decided that this year the Portfolio Reviews that give photographers the opportunity to show their work to curators, gallery owners, publishers and museum and festival directors will take place online. The online reviews will take place on the week of the 19th to the 23rd of September 2022 during this edition of the festival.

What winners receive

• First Prize: 2.000€ award and a solo exhibition in the next edition of the festival in 2023.
• Second Prize: 1500€ award and part of collective exhibition in the next edition of the festival in 2023.
• Third Prize: 1500€ award and part of collective exhibition in the next edition of the festival in 2023.
• 7 Finalists: Will have their work presented at a collective exhibition in the next edition of the festival in 2023.

About Encontros da Imagem

Encontros da Imagem, with more than thirty years of existence, is a non-profit cultural association that promotes annually an International Photography and Visual Arts Festival in the city of Braga, Portugal. The festival celebrates classic and contemporary photography and visual arts in general by showcasing emerging and established artists. Every year Encontros da Imagem promotes an open call for the Discovery Awards, where the winners have the opportunity to exhibit their work during the festival. Encontros da Imagem also organizes an International Photography Prize - Emergentes, this prize is awarded after the Portfolio Review, which gives photographers the opportunity to show their work to an international jury, composed of commissioners, gallery owners and expert editors, thus establishing solid foundations for the promotion of their work. The festival has developed an eclectic programme. This year the theme is “Common Places”, where numerous artists emerging and established, national and international will be shown in several public and private spaces (historical and monumental buildings, museums, galleries and others). Encontros da Imagem is a cultural photographic reference in Portugal, and has reached a prominent position in the international panorama, being currently one of the oldest photography festivals in Europe.

How to enter

The selection process will be in two stages:

• 1st stage: Applications through Picter until the 17th of July. In this stage, maximum of 70 portfolios will be selected. The criteria for the selection will be originality, coherence and conceptual quality of the projects. The select artist that will do the online reviews in September, will be announced on the 1st of August 2022.
• 2nd stage: In the second stage, the finalist will have to enroll and pay a 80€ fee, to have access by order of registration to the 4 individual portfolio reviews with the critics they choose, each review will be 20 minutes. The portfolio reviews will be held in the week of 19th to the 23rd of September by online appointment.
• Selection of the Winners: The jury will select a total of 10 portfolios. The first, second and third prize and seven finalist with the best portfolios in contemporary photography. The winner and finalists will be announced during the festival in September 2022.

Barbara Hofmann-Johnson Director of Museum for Photography Braunschweig Northern Germany Germany

Barbara Hofmann-Johnson is an art historian, curator and since 2016 director of Museum für Photographie Braunschweig/Museum for Photography Braunschweig Northern Germany. Specialized in photography and contemporary art she has curated numerous exhibitions with a focus on photography, published books on photography and has been a lecturer i.e. at Folkwang University Essen, Academy of Arts Braunschweig in the field of curatorial practices. She participated in various fotofestivals as a lecturer and reviewer.

Cindy Sissokho Curator, Cultural producer and Writer UK

Cindy Sissokho (France) is a curator, cultural producer and writer with a specific interest in intellectual, political and artistic aspects of decoloniality within the arts, and culture. Her curatorial practice is nurtured by the urgency to broaden and disseminate epistemologies and cultural production from racialized and systemically marginalized perspectives.

Recent exhibition projects include this is a love poem, (2021) curated at EXILE Gallery, Vienna for the international contemporary arts festival Curatedby (Austria) and Breaking Translation(s) (2021) an online exhibition for HANGAR, Lisbon (Portugal). Upcoming exhibition projects will be the curation of Black Tales, a multimedia sound installation by artists Mónica De Miranda and Xullaji for Refuge, the 4th edition of the Lagos Biennale 2023 (Nigeria).

Her practice is also informed through multiple formats of engagement such as talks and pedagogical workshops. Most recent activities were How to Articulate (A) Collective Gaze(s)? in collaboration with Fabián Villegas in 2020 for both Les Rencontres d’Arles (France) and HANGAR, Lisbon (Portugal).

She articulates and brings curatorial and theoretical reflections through writings including art reviews and interviews for Ocula, Terremoto, The Sole Adventurer, The Kitchen, NYC and Nka: The Contemporary African Art Journal, and publication commissions.

She also has a great interest in artist development and artistic consultancy that translate into frequent mentoring roles and portfolio reviews. The most recent being with the PhMuseum, Bologna (Italy) and the annual FORMAT Photography Festival, Derby (UK).

She currently works as a Curator and Special Projects Producer at the New Art Exchange in Nottingham (UK).

Elaine Harris Talent Agent UK

Born and educated in the UK, Elaine Harris is a talent agent for artists and designers and works as an advisor to several private collectors in Europe. She is notably the agent of artist-photographer Omar Victor Diop.

Throughout her agency career, Elaine was most fortunate to have hired and worked with several acclaimed artists including Richard Avedon, Jean-Paul Goude, Nadav Kander, Nick Knight, Guido Mocafico, Jean-Baptiste Mondino, Larry Sultan and Juergen Teller.

After her extensive work as an Art Buyer and having organized gallery exhibitions with artists such as Raymond Depardon, Speedy Graphito, Satch Hoyt and Martin Parr to name but a few, she continued to work in the world of both advertising and fine art.

She works with an international client list of companies and galleries in Europe, the USA, China, as well as in Africa. Elaine has recently been sharing the richness of her experience within a business and communication school.

Elsa Garcia Director of the Umbigo Magazine Portugal

Born in 1976, she has been a journalist since 1994. Through the years she has done various journalism and contemporary courses such as “Art History in the XX Century” (Fundação de Serralves), Curatorship at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Lisbon, “Aesthetics” and “History of Photography” both at Ar.Co. Recently she finished a Curatorship in the Faculty of Human Sciences in the University of Lisbon.
Elsa is founding member of the magazine Umbigo, where she develops various curatorship projects. Some of them were Entre Limite and Audácia by Miguel Palma at Fábulas gallery, The Difference by Andrea Splisgar at Palácio de Santa Catarina and the exhibition Pieces and Parts at Plataforma Revólver in Lisbon. She was jury and curator of the contemporary jewelery exhibition On the Other Hand, celebrating the 5th anniversary of the PIN (Portuguese Association of Contemporary Jewelry) at Galeria Reverso (Lisboa), Galeria Adorna Corações (Porto) and at Simpósio Gray Area at Galeria Medellein (Cidade do México).

For the Umbigo magazine, Elsa also made an edition of the book Coordenadas do Corpo na Arte Contemporânea, a collection that brings together an essay of Bárbara Coutinho and different artistic works, most of them commissioned specifically for the book, a set of works that represent a small sample of the philosophical and aesthetic concerns of a group of artists. More recently Elsa together with António Néu (artistic director of the Umbigo magazine) created a Plataforma UmbigoLAB, a social network for artists that promotes synergies between them and the agents (curators, museum directors, gallery owners, collectors and institutions).

Hana Kaluznick Assistant Curator, Photography at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) UK

Hana Kaluznick is Assistant Curator, Photography at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A). She is currently working on the development and inaugural displays for five galleries that make up the second phase of the V&A Photography Centre, opening early 2023. She has contributed to displays including Known & Strange: Photographs from the Collection (V&A, 2021), Valérie Belin / Reflection (V&A, 2019), and Kodak Canada: The Early Years 1899-1939 (Ryerson Image Centre, 2018), among others. Her main research interest is the scientific progression of colour photography during the first half of the 20th century.

Jean-Christophe Godet Founder and artistic director of the Guernsey Photography Festival Normandia

Born in Normandy, France, Jean-Christophe Godet is the founder and artistic director of the Guernsey Photography Festival, created in 2010. The Guernsey Photography Festival brings together major names in international photography with a host of emerging talent, for a packed month of exhibitions, projections, talks, educational workshops, and community events on the island. The festival is now firmly established as one of the most important and successful cultural events in Guernsey and has positioned itself amongst the best festivals of photography in Europe.

Julie Jones Photography Curator at Centre Pompidou France

Julie Jones has a doctorate in art history and is curator of photography at the Musée national d’art moderne - Centre Pompidou.

She curated the exhibitions « Louis Stettner. Ici et ailleurs » (Centre Pompidou, 2016) and « Brancusi. Photographs and films » (Centre Pompidou Málaga, 2015 and 2018), « L’image et son double» (Centre Pompidou, 2021). She is currently preparing a retrospective on Moï Ver (Centre Pompidou, 2023) and a major exhibition on experimental photography (CaixaForum, 2022).

She has published numerous articles, exhibition texts and reviews on the history of photography and contemporary art.

Max Fergusson

Max is a photographer, writer and curator. He is the Founder of Oval Press, the Founding Editor of Splash & Grab Magazine, the Photo Editor of Granta Magazine. He was previously the Director of Photography of Port Magazine and is currently a lecturer in photography at the London College of Communication.

Roberto Villalón Magazine Director Clavoardiendo Madrid

Roberto Villalón (Ermua, Bizkaia, 1973) is a photographer and journalist. After years working as a photojournalist in several newspapers, he studied a master's degree on New Documentary that changed his way of understanding photography. Since then he has worked as curator of exhibitions, jury of prizes, collaborator and organizer of festivals, cultural promoter, editor and even photographer. But, above all, creator and director of Clavoardiendio, the leading photography magazine in Spain.

He understands photography as something playful, creative, critical and relative (it's just photography), without trenches. And enjoy meeting authors and authors who have something to say.

Roberto has been on both sides of the table in a portfolio review and knows how “hard” it is to give or receive feedback from a stranger. His motto is to be honest with what he sees and try to help where he can.

Susana Lourenço Marques Curator Portugal

Susana Lourenço Marques is a assistant teacher at the Faculty of Fine Arts in the University of Porto and a PhD in Communication and Art at the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences at the University of Lisbon. She was part of the program Recherches Doctorales Libres (2010/2011) at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (Paris). She is an investigator and an integrated member of I2ADS/Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Porto and author of the books "Ether/um laboratory of Photography and History" (Dafne, 2018), "Pó, cinza, nevoeiro - um ensaio sobre a ausência" (2018), "Lições de Hospitalidade" (2006), and co-edited Pedagogy of the streets, Porto 1977 (2018) and Ag, reflexões periódicas sobre fotografia (2009). As a curator and editor the exhibition that stand out are: Quem te ensinou? Ninguém, by Elvira Leite (Porto, 2016), Galeria Portátil PLF, (Porto, 2018) and Pedagogy of the streets, Porto 1977 (New York, 2019), Imagem/Técnica, the inventários de Emilio Biel (Porto, 2020), Opacity of Water (Porto, 2021). Susana co-founded in 2014 the book editor Pierrot le Fou (www.pierrotlefou.pt).

Tanvi Mishra Photo editor, Curator and Writer India

Tanvi Mishra works with images as a photo editor, curator, and writer, based in New Delhi, India. Among her interests are South Asian visual histories, representation within image-making as well as the notion of fiction in photography, particularly in the current political landscape. Until recently, she was the Creative Director of The Caravan, a journal of politics and culture published out of Delhi. She is part of the photo-editorial team of PIX, a South Asian publication and display practice. She works as an independent curator and has been part of the curatorial teams of Photo Kathmandu, Delhi Photo Festival as well as the upcoming BredaPhoto Biennial in 2022. Her writing on photography has been featured in various publications including FOAM magazine, Aperture, The Caravan, and she has also contributed to books such as WHY EXHIBIT: Positions on exhibiting photographies and exhibition catalogues such as Taxed to the Max (Noordelicht International Photography Festival). She has served on multiple juries, including World Press Photo, Chennai Photo Biennale Photo Awards and the Catchlight Global Fellowship. She has also been a mentor for the Women Photograph program and is part of the first international advisory committee of World Press Photo.

More names will be announced soon