Art Grants for South Asian Projects - Funding Opportunities | ASAP

Alkazi Photobook Grant 2025 1. HOME 2. Call for Entries JURY BIOS Diwas Raja Khatri is currently the Head of Research and Archives at Nepal Picture Library, where his work has focused on engendering a research-based approach to art, archival, and curatorial practice. His curatorial projects include Dalit: A Quest for Dignity(2016), The Public Life of Women(2018), and The Skin of Chitwan(2020). He is also a documentary film editor and an Assistant Professor at Kathmandu University, The School of Arts. Charmaine Toh is Senior Curator, International Art (Photography) at Tate. Her research interests include alternative histories of photography and the colonial photographic archive. In her former role as Senior Curator at National Gallery Singapore, she curated Living Pictures: Photography in Southeast Asia (2022), which was the first major survey of photography in the region. She was also co-curator of the Singapore Biennale (2013). Toh is the author of Imagining Singapore: Pictorial Photography from the 1950s to the 1970s (Brill, 2023) and is currently working on an exhibition about the expanded global histories of Pictorialism. Murtaza Vali is a critic, curator, and art historian based in Sharjah and Brooklyn. As Adjunct Curator at the Jameel Arts Centre in Dubai, Vali organized the widely-acclaimed group exhibitions Crude (2018-19), which explored the relationship between oil and modernity across West Asia and North Africa, and Guest Relations (with Lucas Morin) (2023-24), a sequel exhibition examining hotels and the hospitality industry across the Global South. He is also the curator of Proposals for a Memorial to Partition , an itinerant research and curatorial platform investigating the lingering trauma and legacy of partitions in South Asia and beyond. First appearing in Manual for Treason , a publication commissioned for Sharjah Biennial 10 (2011), subsequent iterations of this project have been presented at the Jameel Arts Centre (2022-23) and Twelve Gates Arts, Philadelphia (2023). TERMS AND CONDITIONS * All entries should be given a project title and should be accompanied by a short written statement (in English, in addition to your native language) describing the project as factually as possible. * The material must be original and be presented as an actual book – a physical copy (if possible) and/or a digital format (PDF). Projects conceived as anthologies (rather than as clearly themed projects) are not acceptable. The photographer must hold the copyright of the work and must not have entered into any book publishing agreement in relation to the work being entered. * Whilst the decision of the Advisory/Jury will be based on the quality of the project submission, this should not be interpreted in any way as acceptance by the publishers that the proposed format, page size, number of pages, number of photographs, any proposed texts or other aspects of the presentation will be appropriate or acceptable for the final publication. AFA in consultation with the winning project will determine the appropriate format and extent of the book. * Each entrant agrees not to submit any entry that (1) infringes any third party’s proprietary rights, intellectual property rights, industrial property rights, personal or moral rights or any other rights, including without limitation, copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, privacy, publicity, or confidentiality obligations; and (2) otherwise violates the applicable state, federal, provincial, or local law. Therefore, AFA also reserves the right to reconsider or not publish projects that have received the grant if in due course, before the realization of the project, any new information about any form of violation of the above comes to light. * All materials must be delivered, at the photographer’s own risk to AFA. If not accepted, a provision to receive the book back will be made by the author. * AFA’s decisions shall be final. AFA reserves the right to reject entries that are submitted without the required information, or that do not meet the criteria of eligibility, without any obligation to enter into any further discussion regarding their decisions. * AFA accepts no responsibility for entries that are lost in transit. * Details of particular entries may be at the discretion of AFA and may be released to the press as part of publicising the grant, including before the announcement of the awards. ELIGIBILITY * The fellowship is open to South Asia, and the focus of their suggested project should be from the region. * It is open to all photographers above the age of 25 years. The applicant does not have to be a professional photographer. * Applicants should not hold any other fellowship or grant relating to the proposed project. This is a one-time grant for this project. POST SELECTION * The winner will be notified as soon as a decision has been made. The deliberations of the jury will not be disclosed to anyone, including entrants. * Within 10 days of notification the winning photographer will confirm in writing his or her acceptance of the Grant. * The winner will provide the publishers with hi-res scans of the photographs for publicizing the work. * While copyright of all work submitted for these awards remains with the respective entrants, the entrant grants to AFA a worldwide, irrevocable, and perpetual license to reproduce representative examples of the submitted entries in any of their publications, websites, and/or in any promotional material, strictly in connection with the Grant, and with reference to the photographer/artist, as relevant in each case; and to exhibit the books entered anywhere in the world for public display. IMPORTANT * Alkazi Foundation for the Arts will be credited as the grant giving organization which enables the publishing of the book, together with an imprint of its logo. * AFA will work with the photographer to realize the final book. * 25% of the total number of books produced by the author will be given to the Alkazi Foundation for promotion of the book. * To assist in the promotion of the book, the winner will provide free of charge publicity rights for the publication. * AFA will, wherever possible, seek to facilitate the release of the book. The photographer will also use his or her best efforts to research possible exhibition opportunities for the work. Kindly write to us at alkazifoundation01@gmail.com for any queries.