About

GAZE is an activist cultural project with a nationwide presence in Germany and an international reach, created by and for the LGBTQIA+ community. Through an annual open call, GAZE invites participants to use photography to give visibility to queer realities, preserve stories, and create spaces for dialogue and intergenerational exchange. Photography is conceived as part of a practice of resistance and as a tool for self-empowerment. Under the title HOW TO / GATHER — Queer Communities in Photography, GAZE 2026 is seeking photographic works that explore queer spaces, forms of community, care and so-called chosen families. With HOW TO / GATHER, this year we will be focusing on queer spaces as places of gathering where identities can unfold freely and develop in all their facets. We are exploring relationships that exist outside heteronormative-patriarchal structures: what do friendship, romantic love or family mean beyond these norms? What happens when queer communities are under threat, when access to queer spaces is denied and the free expression of one’s own identity is not possible? We invite LGBTQIA+ lens based artists to engage with this year’s theme in their own individual way.

Participants may submit a project consisting of 1 to 5 individual photographs or a series of up to 5 photographs, taken no more than 5 years. For further details, please refer to the Terms and Conditions.

GAZE will award four prizes in 2026:

1. National Prize: 1st Place: €1,000 (voucher from MPB)
2. International Prize: 1st Place: €1,000 (voucher from MPB)
3. Audience Prize: artist selected €500,

MPB is the exclusive sponsor of this year's GAZE Photo Awards. As Europe's leading camera reseller, MPB is committed to promoting circularity in photography and supporting creative communities. Winners will receive vouchers to spend on MPB-approved used gear, and winning entries will be featured in an exhibition in Berlin in winter 2026 (date to be announced).

About GAZE

GAZE is an initiative that aims to increase the visibility and acceptance of the LGBTQIA+ community through photography. The project is run by Nadja Brendel, Judith Weber and Han Vogel. Nadja Brendel (she) has been campaigning for queer visibility for over 20 years. After graduating in print and media technology and training as a media designer, she founded the agency Vielformat in 2014, which focusses on LGBTQIA+ issues in marketing strategies. Judith Weber (they) studied education, sinology and visual communication, has been working as an illustrator since 2016 and in graphic design and communication since 2021. Judith is part of the collective Reiberei, which pursues a discrimination-sensitive, collaborative and sustainable design practice. Han Vogel (they;he) studied art history and photography theory. After working at the Berlinische Galerie, Han has been working as a freelance curator and artist since 2022, focussing on queer identities, bodies and power structures.

Fundamental to the GAZE team is that the initiative was created from the queer community FOR the queer community.