The Surreal 2026

Photography is often associated with evidence, documentation, and the visible world. Yet the camera has always had the power to unsettle reality as much as preserve it. Through framing, light, staging, chance, distortion, and imagination, a photograph can transform the familiar into something strange.

The Surreal seeks photographic works that move beyond literal representation and into the realms of dream, ambiguity, fantasy, psychological tension, and the uncanny. The exhibition invites images that question what is real, disrupt ordinary perception, or reveal the bizarre qualities hidden within everyday life.

We are interested in photographs that feel mysterious, symbolic, disorienting, theatrical, absurd, or otherworldly. Works may be staged or found, quiet or chaotic, humorous or unsettling. They may emerge from dreams, memory, fiction, myth, altered states, or the strange logic of the subconscious.

• Dreams, nightmares, and the subconscious
• Strange encounters and uncanny moments
• Psychological landscapes
• Fantasy, myth, and imagined worlds
• Altered perception and distorted reality
• The absurd, theatrical, or irrational
• Surreal uses of light, shadow, color, and form
• Staged photography and constructed scenes
• Symbolism, metaphor, and visual ambiguity
• Memory, hallucination, and fragmented experience
• Displacement, transformation, and the unknown
• The body, identity, and self as surreal subject
• Everyday scenes made strange
• Architectural, natural, or domestic spaces transformed by imagination
• The relationship between photography and the impossible

• Open to photographers and visual artists worldwide, ages 18 and older.
• Digital photography, film photography, alternative processes, staged photography, constructed images, experimental photographic work, and mixed-media works with a photographic base are welcome.
• Individual images and cohesive series may be submitted.
• All submitted work must be original and created by the submitting artist.
• Artists are responsible for ensuring that submitted works do not violate copyright, privacy, publicity, or other rights held by any third party.

Approximately 35 images will be selected for The Surreal 2026, an online exhibition presented by TCG Gallery.

Exhibition: August 1 – August 31, 2026

Selected artists will receive notification by email on or before July 25, 2026.

Submissions may be retained for up to one year for administrative purposes and possible consideration in current or future TCG Gallery opportunities.

Submissions are reviewed with attention to image quality, originality, theme relevance, and overall exhibition cohesion.

TCG Gallery uses a blind review process whenever possible. Submitted images and titles are reviewed with emphasis placed on the strength of the work rather than artist biography, résumé, or prior exhibition history.

Providing an image description is optional but strongly encouraged.

Artists may choose whether their selected work is listed as available for sale. Artists may also mark work as not for sale.

If an artist chooses to make work available, TCG Gallery may direct interested collectors or inquiries to the artist or may assist with communication when appropriate.

TCG Gallery retains a 30% commission on any work sold through TCG Gallery.

Artists retain copyright to their submitted work.

By submitting, artists grant TCG Gallery the non-exclusive right to reproduce submitted images for jurying, exhibition presentation, archival documentation, and promotion of the exhibition. This may include use on TCG Gallery’s website, social media, email newsletters, exhibition catalogs, and related promotional materials.

TCG Gallery will credit artists whenever work is displayed or promoted whenever feasible. Artists may request removal of their work from future promotional use in writing.

Submitting work created by or substantially altered with artificial intelligence is prohibited unless a specific call explicitly states otherwise.

The entry fee is $15 USD for up to 3 images.

Entry fees help support the administrative, promotional, web hosting, and production costs involved in organizing online exhibitions.

Financial circumstances should not prevent artists from sharing their work. Fee waivers are available on the honor system for artists who need one. Artists who need a waiver may contact TCG Gallery before submitting.

You may submit up to 3 images per entry. You may submit more than one entry.

There is no size or production year restriction for submitted images unless a specific call states otherwise.

Please list print dimensions in inches or centimeters if the work is available for sale. If the work is not for sale, you may mark it as NFS.

Please upload JPG or JPEG files with a minimum of 1200 pixels on the longest side and a minimum file size of 500 KB when possible.

Suggested file format: firstname_lastname_title-01.jpeg

TCG Gallery cannot accept submissions or provide services where doing so would violate applicable United States sanctions, export, payment-processing, or compliance restrictions.