About

"Braiding Indigeneity"* invites photographers, artists, and visual storytellers to revisit how images construct identity, land, and relational memory. Developed within the framework of Der Greif’s Pulse online exhibitions series and grounding itself in the ethos of Issue 19, "I Am, Because of You, Mother Earth," guest-edited by Zanele Muholi with the support of Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung, and rooted in Ubuntu "umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu," a person is a person through other persons – this open call carries that relational ethic forward in conversation with Indigenous visual sovereignties and non-linear ways of knowing.

It is open to anyone, who engages with these ideas through genuine collaboration, consent, and accountability to the Indigenous individuals, knowledge-holders, or communities whose ways of framing life and relationality inform the work.

For centuries, Western and automated gazes have categorized, archived, and extracted Indigenous image-making, reducing living cultures to static historic artifacts or algorithmic metadata. "Braiding Indigeneity" asserts that visual interpretation is an act of dynamic connection. It aligns with Muholi’s vision that the body is landscape, the community is voice, and the environment encompasses everything that lives within and across us, into conversation with the distinct cosmologies of land and kinship held by Indigenous nations: *Because of environment, I am. Because of you, I am.

*The title pays tribute to a reading that inspired us for the Open Call's take: Robin Wall Kimmerer's Braiding Sweetgrass.

Selected participants will join a hybrid workshop integrated into the FUTURES Hub program in Paris, engaging in collaborative image analysis, reciprocal critique, and public auditory sessions. The collective outcomes will be published as a permanent exhibition on dergreif.org in November 2026.

We invite submissions engaging with one or more of these core strands:

• Sovereign Gazes & The Body as Landscape: Work that disrupts colonial archives and external surveillance, framing identity, self-determination, and the human form as living extensions of the environment.
• Relationality as Method: Collaborative projects shaped by intergenerational exchange, community care, and shared authorship between artist, subject, and land—embodying “I am because you are.”
• What the Machine Misses: Images that honor sacred knowledge, oral traditions, cultural subtext, and living memories that resist algorithmic classification, digital extraction, and reductive definitions of space.

Important note before submitting to the open call

Please note that as a participant, you must already be in Paris on November 14, 2026 to apply, as we can not compensate for travel or accommodation costs.

Note all selected candidates will have their work showcased in our November "Pulse" online exhibition on dergreif.org.

Collaborative Workshop

The core of the workshop comes from the foundations of Der Greif and focuses on deconstructing images in a group setting. Selected participants (12-16 artists chosen via the open call) convene for a structured intensive built around reading images together, out loud, as a curatorial act.

The power of co-editing and collective curation lies in the transformation of a solitary image into a dynamic dialogue, shifting the focus from what a photograph is to what it does within a specific environment. When images are curated collectively, they are stripped of their singular, fixed intent and recontextualized through a shared lens, revealing how meaning is not inherent but fluid. This collaborative friction exposes the "connective tissue" between disparate works, demonstrating that an image's communicative power is entirely dependent on its neighbor and its stage. In this space, editing becomes an act of social translation; it proves that by reordering the visual sequence, we can amplify hidden narratives and challenge the viewer's perception, turning a passive viewing experience into an active investigation of how context dictates truth.

The time is organised around collective reading sessions where participants present work (their own or others') and the group practises the discipline of slow, shared interpretation.

From these sessions, the group collaboratively begins building connections, sequences, and tensions between the submitted works: the raw material of a curatorial proposal shaped by collective intelligence. On November 14, we will collectively work in FUTURE’s Paris Hub on Der Greif’s November online Pulse exhibition.

Voluntary Donation

Der Greif is a registered non-profit. In these challenging economic times - especially for arts organizations and artists - we are convinced to provide a vital platform for our community. If you're in the position to support this mission, we value your support.

Since launching Guest Room in January 2015, we've invited a broad range of professionals (gallerists, editors, curators) to create opportunities for artists to share their work and get it in front of an international network they might not have access to otherwise. We are more committed than ever to continue this work.

We suggest a voluntary 15€ donation to help us sustain these efforts. If you'd like to support us further, we also accept regular donations via our Raisely page.

If you're unable to contribute financially, please email voucher-special@dergreif.org to receive a 50% or 100% discount code. Your artistic and financial contributions enable our continued growth.

About Der Greif

Der Greif is an award-winning organization for contemporary photography.

We unite diverse voices in the arts, providing a vital platform for talent at early stages in their career. Through monthly grants, a vibrant community, and increasing visibility, we create a springboard for emerging artists, image makers, and photographers, guiding their path into the art world.

Our initiatives are uniquely rooted in crowdsourcing. This consistent approach enables genuine participation for young artists who often lack the resources to join competitions, festivals, and exhibitions or to travel and expand their network.

With our accessible formats and global network, we're democratizing the art world. Our collaborators - guest curators, grant recipients, and featured artists - are among contemporary photography's most significant voices.

Since issue No. 10, Der Greif's annual print edition has been guest-edited by leading contemporary artists, including Jason Fulford, Broomberg & Chanarin, Penelope Umbrico, Sylvie Fleury, Shirin Neshat, Torbjørn Rødland, and Hank Willis Thomas.

The first ten issues always featured poetry next to photographic images.

Der Greif collaborates with renowned cultural institutions worldwide, realizing projects with C/O Berlin, Pinakothek der Moderne, Haus der Kunst, Münchner Kammerspiele, FOAM, the Aperture Foundation, Fotomuseum Winterthur, and many others.