The second edition of FOTO Bali Festival invites photographers, artists and storytellers working with lens-based media to respond to the theme AFTERIMAGE.
This edition turns its attention to what remains once something has already happened; after the moment has slipped, after transformation has taken hold, after attention has drifted elsewhere. We’re looking for works that reflect on endurance rather than the immediacy of the image. Projects that engage in what lingers: unresolved histories, altered landscapes, or lived conditions shaped by power, control, resilience and care.
AFTERIMAGE approaches photography as a medium that unfolds over time, shaped by flux rather than finality. Images resist being fixed or settled; their meaning does not resolve at the moment they are made. As photographs circulate and persist, questions of visibility emerge: Which lives, places and experiences continue to be seen, and which slip from view? How are control, structural violence, resilience and survival made visible or normalized through familiarity? The theme invites practices that attend to persistence rather than climax, and that consider photography as a site where meaning and imagination are quietly and continuously negotiated.
Rather than focusing on events as they unfold, AFTERIMAGE looks toward their aftermath: consequences, traces, quiet continuations and prolonged season of uncertainties. This edition of FOTO Bali Festival invites practitioners to ponder upon photography as a long perpetual conversation with time instead of a single instance. We are interested in practices that stay with places, bodies, communities, or images over time, where life does not end but carries on into altered conditions.
What We Are Looking For
We welcome submissions that engage with one or more of the following:
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Aftermath, residue, or continuation of events
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Personal and/or collective memory carried through places, objects, bodies, or images
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Landscapes shaped by intervention, extraction, repair or abandonment
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Archival, vernacular, or re-photographic practices; images that continue to be carried forward, altered, remembered or misremembered, and absorbed into new contexts through circulation and reinterpretation
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Critical reflection on how the medium of photography itself deal with events, people, places and objects that have since changed and/or passed
Submissions may include still photography, moving image, photobooks, installation, or multimedia works. Projects may be documentary, conceptual, or hybrid, but should demonstrate sustained engagement rather than a single moment or event.
AI-based or generative works may be submitted, but will be considered only where their use is conceptually grounded in the afterlife of images, such as archives, circulation, reproduction, or transformation and not as technical display. The concept must clearly lead the use of tools.
FOTO Bali Festival is an international photography-led cultural festival developed within Nuanu Creative City. Rooted in Bali’s social, ecological and artistic rhythms, the festival approaches photography and image-based practice as a living, social medium—encountered through public space, shared experiences, learning formats, and everyday circulation.
Following its inaugural edition in 2025, the 2026 edition marks a shift from launch to consolidation. The focus is not expansion in scale, but refinement: clearer structure, fewer formats, stronger public engagement, and responsible delivery.
At its core, FOTO Bali is about connection, between photographers and audiences, images and place, practice and livelihood.
General Information
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The call for submissions is open to applicants of all nationalities. Participants must be 18 years of age or older at the time of submission.
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Applicants are welcome to submit one or multiple bodies of work or projects. Each submission should be accompanied by a clear project description (max 300 words).
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Submissions are free of charge.
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Selected works will be professionally exhibited at the Nuanu Creative City during the FOTO Bali Festival. Please bear in mind that no monetary prizes or fees will be awarded. However, production cost and installation will be covered by the organizer.
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Only selected applicants will be contacted.
Submission Guidelines
Photography
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All digital images must be submitted in JPEG format.
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Images should be 2,000 pixels on the long side, at 100 dpi, and saved at quality level 8.
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Each project may contain a minimum of 5 images and maximum of 20 images.
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Files must be named sequentially, using the photographer’s name and project title.(Example: Name_ProjectTitle_01, Name_ProjectTitle_02, etc.)
Text
All text materials (project descriptions, captions, bio, etc.) must be submitted in Word document format.
If applicable, applicants may submit an installation manual (PDF) outlining spatial layout, technical requirements, and setup instructions to support installation-based works. Final presentation will be subject to feasibility and curatorial discussion.
Selected Works
Selected works will be publicly announced on 3rd of April 2026.
All selected applicants will be required to provide high-resolution digital files for exhibition and promotional purposes.
Applicants must confirm that they own the copyright to the submitted works and have the right to submit them.
Applicants must agree to allow FOTO Bali to use the selected images and photographers' names for the festival’s exhibition. Proper credit will be given to the photographers and/or copyright holders.
Applicants must also agree to allow FOTO Bali to use the selected images and photographers' names for festival promotion and publicity across official platforms, including invitations, posters, flyers, newsletters, brochures, advertisements, program books, catalogs, social media, the website, as well as media coverage in newspapers, magazines, and more. Photographers will be credited whenever their images are used.