Vermont Center for Photography (VCP) - “Why We Look: Questioning the World Before Us” Open Call

This year’s exhibition invites photographers to look outward—questioning the social, political, and environmental forces that shape our world. We seek work that confronts how we see, what we overlook, and the truths that demand our attention in a time of cultural and ecological reckoning.

We’re looking for images that grapple with the present: portraits about work, identity, and power; scenes at borders and in neighborhoods; landscapes marked by climate, extraction, or recovery; the built systems—water, housing, transit—that shape daily life; moments of protest and civic care; and conceptual work that questions evidence, authorship, or memory.