• Head On Photo Festival
• Deadline: February 20th, 2022
• Prize: Festival Exhibition
• Theme: Open
• Entry Fees: AU$20
• REGISTRATION: CLOSED, Click HERE For More Opportunities •
Head On Photo Festival is the leading photography organization in Australia. The annual festival is run by Head On Foundation, a not-for-profit organization that provides a multi-faceted platform for nationally and internationally acclaimed artists as well as emerging talent across all genres of photography.
The centerpiece of the festival is the Head On Photo Awards, and the Head On Portrait Prize, Australia’s most critically acclaimed photographic portrait prize.
Head On works collaboratively with public institutions, education providers, commercial galleries, professional bodies, businesses, and local councils.
The festival attracts tens of thousands of visitors from across Australia to over 200 events at more than 100 venues across Sydney. The festival is unique in that it provides opportunities for thousands of artists to meet, exhibit and sell work.
Head On has put Sydney on the global map as a center for photography.
All work submitted to the Festival and the Awards is judged without the artists' names attached, ensuring the work is selected on merit alone.
The Festival is held in various venues across Sydney with the Festival hub based in Paddington. In 2020, Head On held six exhibitions along Bondi Beach in Sydney.
Head On Photo Festival at Bondi Beach, Sydney, July 2020
Head On Photo Festival has exhibited work by Australian and international photographers. In 2012, the Festival premiered the exhibition and book (Based On a True Story) by David Alan Harvey at the Australian Centre for Photography and exhibited Burn in Print at Bondi Pavilion with work by James Nachtwey, Davide Monteleone, Laura El Tantawy, and others. In 2013, Head On collaborated with New York gallery, Yossi Milo Gallery to exhibit Doug Rickard and Tim Hetherington's work at Stills Gallery, Sydney. In 2013 Head On exhibited Afghanistan at the State Library of NSW by Benjamin Lowy who works with a mobile phone, plastic cameras, and cutting-edge DSLRs. In 2014, 2016 and 2017 Head On Photo Festival included exhibitions of Christian Thompson AO at Michael Reid Gallery. In 2016 Head On exhibited Hendrik Kerstens and Erwin Olaf at Customs House with their exhibition Dutch Masters of Light and Roger Ballen's Theatre of the Mind at Sydney College of the Arts gallery. The 2016 Festival also premiered the exhibition The Lost Rolls by American photojournalist Ron Haviv and a show by German photographer, Sven Marquardt of Berlin's nightclub, Berghain. In 2017 the Festival premiered the exhibition Secret Garden of Lily La Palma by Maggie Steber at UNSW Art and Design. Another exhibition from Head On Photo Festival 2017, was Targets by German photographer Herlinde Koelbl at Paddington Reservoir Gardens.