The Curious World of Unusual Portraits

The Curious World of Unusual Portraits is a group photography exhibition to be held at Arabi Visual Arts during the PhotoNOLA Festival in New Orleans!  The works will be curated by gallery owner Christopher Ryan.

This is a truly unique photography exhibition which will be listed on the PhotoNOLA Festival website and map.  Aside from the unique images themselves, other unique features of the exhibition include our Acceptance Guarantee, Ease of providing Work, and the ease of dealing with unsold work.

Saturday December 9th through Saturday December 23rd, 2023

The Deadline to apply is Sunday November 26th at midnight!!

Opening Reception Saturday December 9, 2023 (time TBD pending PhotoNOLA schedule)

Exhibition hours: Friday through Sunday 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Arabi Visual Arts

6707 St. Claude Avenue

Arabi, LA 70032

We are located on the St. Claude Arts Campus in the Arabi Arts District next door to Zeitgeist Theatre & Lounge

New Orleans Metropolitan Area

Curator and Venue

Curator - Christopher Ryan

Christopher Ryan is the owner of Arabi Visual Arts, an international conceptual photographer and passionate self-portrait photographer.  Christopher has produced a wide variety of art exhibition at Arabi Visual Arts and other venues and his own works have been exhibited throughout the United States and Thailand.  

Arabi Visual Arts

Arabi Visual Arts is an umbrella group for multiple operations and is located in the St. Claude Arts Building, which is part of the St. Claude Arts Campus located in the Arabi Arts District.  Arabi is a small, historic, artsy town located in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana.  Arabi is approximately a ten minute drive from the New Orleans French Quarter.  The physical exhibition will be held in the Arabi Visual Arts Gallery (a 43' X 27' space).  In addition, Arabi Visual Arts operates a small gallery for the owner's photography, and two other galleries in the same building.  In addition to these four spaces, there are 8 other studios in the St. Claude Arts Building.

Unique Features of this Exhibition

Acceptance Guarantee  

Every artist is assured that at least one of their submitted works per five will be accepted in the physical exhibition.  All submissions will appear online in the Web Gallery.  

Ease of Providing Work

Our goal is to make the process of exhibiting your work as painless as possible!  Photographers will have the option to deliver their work in person, shipping their work directly to the gallery, OR transmitting it electronically to a local and professional lab and we will pick it up for you.  A final option is to declare that you do not intend to provide the work at all in which case it will still appear in the Web Gallery.  It is that easy!

Ease of Handling Unsold Work

Having work shown in a gallery can be very expensive.  Costs add up quickly due to the necessity to provide proper shipping carton and paying shipping fees.  Although we are happy to return the works in in the traditional way (photographer provides shipping carton and pre-paid shipping label), we also offer the ability to donate unsold work to The Untitled Film Project or we will destroy and discard your photos to save on return shipping costs.

The Untitled Film Project

The  gallery owner and curator is in the conceptual phases for creating a short film to convey the idea of how difficult it is for photographers to make it in this world.  This will be a very short film (3 minutes or less) which will feature a giant bonfire of photographs literally going up in smoke.  The location for the bonfire scene will likely be on the beach on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.  Often one of the biggest expenses (and the most dreaded) is returning unsold work after an exhibition.  By opting into this film project, photographers are not obligated to pick up their work.  All photographers who participate in this will be credited in the film as well as in the details section of the YouTube page where it will be published.   The goal is to storyboard and film this in the spring with a fairly fast turn-around time (less than one month) for post production.   

Submission process, selection, and eligibility

The Deadline to apply is Sunday November 26th at midnight!!

Note that it is perfectly acceptable to complete these steps at different times.  Feel free to register and create the profile on one day and submit works one by one on other days.  It is also easy to edit your profile and submission details at anytime up until the date and time the call for art closes.

Registration - The first step to submitting work is to create an artist profile on the platform.  

Submission - The second step is to submit each image to be considered for this exhibition.  

• Category/Subcategory - please select one of the options (individual, couple, group, self-portrait, other).  This helps with the Web Gallery presentation.
• Dimensions - this is the outside dimensions of the work starting with the width.  If the work is framed, it is the outside dimensions of the frame  For print only, it is the dimension of the paper.
• Description - description of the submission which will appear in the detail view of the Web Gallery.  For clarification see "Wall Label" below.
• Wall Label - Short description that will appear on a label adjacent to works presented in the physical gallery.
• Hanging - Please let us know if the work will be framed OR if it is an unframed print that we may install using pushpins.  Note that work installed with pushpins WILL likely be damaged with indentation or holes.  We will NOT accept unframed works mounted on foamboard, matboard, or in sleeves.  
• Technique - Optional field to describe the techniques used to capture the portrait.
• Printing - Type of paper or alternative medium used to print the image.
• Model's Name - Optional field to credit the model.

Entry Fees

• First five entries are $9 each for a total of $45
• Artist may submit less than five entries, but is still required to purchase five
• After the first five, the rate will be discounted to $4.50 and there is no minimum
• The total maximum number of entries is 20

Selection 

The selection process is determined by a variety of factors listed below as assessed by the curator, Christopher Ryan.  Pending the number of submissions, a guest juror may be invited to score some entries.  

• Quality of work
• Creative license
• Unusual lighting, poses, subjects, and backgrounds
• Aesthetics of the gallery space
• Representative of the wide variety of media used

For full disclosure please be aware that Christopher Ryan will have his own works as part of this exhibition.  Pending the number of submissions received, this could be as much as 30% of the physical space.  However, the Acceptance Guarantee definitely applies and the percentage occupied by Christopher Ryan works can be as low as ZERO if there is a great response.

Eligibility

There are generally no restrictions on who can submit work.  Photographers may be of any age, nationality, experience level, or previous status on showing work at Arabi Visual Arts.  However, all work must be legal to display online and in the physical gallery.  Fine arts nude work is accepted, but we will not accept outright pornography.  The photographer must have the legal right to show the work and it must be work produced by them.  In no case may anyone submit photographs taken by another person.

This is a PHOTOGRAPHY exhibition.  We will accept digital manipulations, alternative process, film & digital prints.  However, we will not accept other art such as oil paints, pastels, pencil drawings, etc.

Awards

Christopher Ryan has recused himself from award eligibility, though his work will appear in the show.   The following awards are for bragging rights only.  However, awarded submissions appear first in the Web Gallery.

People's Choice

Artist's Choice

Self-Portrait Curator's Choice

Curator's Choice

Sales & Commission, Shipping, Terms &  Conditions

Please carefully review the terms and conditions before submitting work!  Arabi Visual Arts retains a 30% commission on all works sold.  The remaining 70% will be paid to the artist within ten business days of