CALL FOR ARTISTS — FIGURES Mentorship Program 2026/2027

FIGURES is renewing its mentorship & dummy book program for a second year, dedicated to supporting emerging artists in developing and finalising new photographic projects.

Through this open call, we will select projects that are in the very early stages of creation. It is not required to show any picture of the project to participate, as we are interested in supporting the concept from birth. Projects that are too advanced will not be considered. Selected artists will receive personalised, in-depth guidance through a monthly meeting, with mentorship structured around all key phases of the creative process, up to the point of printing a dummy book.

We encourage projects with a strong connection to what we call Slow Photography: a sensitive, personal, meaningful approach to the creative process, placing the story at the center.

To ensure fairness, the number of selected artists will scale with participation. For every 150 entries, we will select:
– 1 program winner
– 10 extra projects for a 1-hour individual project review meeting each.

Program-winning artist(s) will benefit from support and feedback with one 1.5 hour mentorship online meeting per month, 12 meetings in total, at every stage of their project, from the deepening of the initial concept to production, picture reviewing, and image sequencing.

The final layout of the dummy book will be overviewed by our team, which can also offer technical support, or taking over once the final sequencing is agreed on. 

Artists will be mentored by Nicolas Blanchadell, founder and editor-in-chief of FIGURES. Focusing mainly on curation and publication for several years, he also has a background in photography, film direction, and fine art printing.

• A renowned artist/curator will join for one meeting in the middle of the program to give new perspectives.

• A professional graphic designer for art books will also step in the last stage of the program to help finalise the cover, and other pages requiring a more in-depth design work.

At the end of the program, each artist will receive a printed dummy book as well as the ready-to-print PDF and all necessary material, ready to use for publications and other applications.  

The “extra projects” selected will receive a one-time 1h project review through an individual online meeting.

– All types of photographic practices are welcome, including documentary, portrait, street, experimental, fashion, and more. We also welcome mixed-media projects, as long as photography is either a key part of the creative process (performance captured through photography, collage, etc.), or constitutes at least 50% of the final work when combined with other media (painting, drawing, poetry).

– Artists of all nationalities, backgrounds, and levels of experience (must be at least 18 years old) can participate, as meetings will be online, on an agreed monthly schedule, also possible on weekends.

Notes: We uphold strong values related to human and animal rights. Submissions depicting harm will only be accepted if the work critically engages with or condemns that harm. We stand in solidarity with oppressed populations, including the people of Palestine and Ukraine. If your values conflict with this, we kindly ask that you refrain from submitting. Artists of any nationality are welcome to apply, provided their work does not romanticise or promote oppressive regimes.

Two options are available to participate in the open call:

– 10€ submission fee

– by purchasing our FIG001 issue at discount price during the time of the open call (25€ instead of 35€, shipping not included, while stock available)

No additional fees will be asked to the selected artists.

The money collected will cover the various costs of this open call. Any additional profit will be used to support future projects from FIGURES.

If you are facing financial struggles as a student, refugee, or any other reason, you can contact us directly at
We are unfortunately not able to offer an automatic 100% discount for all students and refugees but every request will be carefully looked at. Students and Refugees can also apply for free online publications via our SUBMIT page.

STEP 1 : Go to the open call – mentorship 2026/2027 product on our website 

STEP 2 : Upload up to 30 images, which can include the first images of the project, previous work, moodboard, etc. Be mindful to name your files accordingly. Limit of 1500x1500px per image, and 15mb in total 
You can also upload a .pdf that includes all images and text.

STEP 3 : Fill the textbox with:
– Artist Name
– Project Name
– Artist biography
– Exhibition and prize list (if any – not mandatory)
– Artist website, instagram, and email
– Project intention
– Current stage of development of the project

Notes: In case of issues with the upload, you can alternatively add a direct link to your files in the text box (swisstransfer allows free upload with up to 30 days availability, but any other platform is accepted as long as the files are available for at least 1 week).

Start: July 21st, 2026
End: August 23rd, 2026

Selection announcement: September 28th, 2026

Artists retain full ownership of their underlying images and project text. FIGURES grants the artist a perpetual, royalty-free license to use the final graphic design layout and PDF created during the program for any personal or commercial publication purposes.

If you have any questions on the submission procedure, please write us:  (object : opencall)

The mentorship includes up to 12 meetings, the dates of which will be mutually agreed upon before the program starts. Each meeting date is flexible and may be rescheduled by up to one week before the meeting date. Cancellations made less than 48 hours in advance will be considered as completed sessions and counted as one of the 12.

We reserve the right to terminate the mentorship if the selected artist shows insufficient engagement, defined as making no documented progress toward the project over the course of two consecutive monthly cycles, failing to attend two consecutive scheduled meetings without 48 hours notice, or failing to respond to official communication for over 30 days.

If the project is completed before the 12 sessions, the dummy book may be produced earlier. Conversely, if the project remains unfinished after 12 sessions, we reserve the right to end the mentorship and withdraw from producing the dummy book.

The number of selected program-winners will scale with the total number of valid submissions. A minimum of 1 winner is guaranteed if the application threshold of 150 entries is met. For every additional block of 150 valid submissions, an additional winner will be selected (e.g., 150–299 entries = 1 winner; 300–449 = 2 winners; etc).

For each program-winner, we will select 10 extra projects for a 1-hour individual project review meeting each.

If the open call does not receive a minimum of 150 valid applications by the deadline, we reserve the right to cancel the program, as it would not be financially viable to run. In that case, all participants who paid the €10 submission fee will be fully refunded. If the program is canceled, applicants who entered by purchasing FIG001 will keep their copy of the magazine. Because the physical product is delivered, the purchase price cannot be refunded; however, as compensation for the canceled contest entry, these applicants will receive free entry to the next FIGURES open call.

Any publication of the project and communication relating to the work undertaken with the support of the mentorship program must include: “This project was conceived during the FIGURES mentorship 26/27 program” or a similar mention with @figuresphotography

If you have any questions or problem while uploading your project, contact us at

Mentorship program 25/26

– Grand prize : Catharina Leth – Delivery of an enhanced dynamic lifestyle
– Jury Prize : Kate Shcherbakova – Les Lis

Summer 2024 (Borders and Boundaries publication)

Alberto Herrera, Alice Jankovic, Anais Jourdan, Antigoni Papantoni, Antonina Baygusheva, Artur Leão, Cheryl Newman, Chiara Benzi, Chochana Rosso, Chuyuan Ning, Claudia Fuggetti, Claudia Sicuranza, Daniel Casares-Roman, Daria Nazarova, Dmitriy Vasilev, Dominique Bartels, Edie Nightingall, Eftychia Vlachou, Emilia Martin, Fabienne Watzke, Francisco Gonzalez Camacho, François Boutaud, Giorgi Nebieridze, Ioannis Trifonopoulos, Josefine Rauch, Julia McLean, Khrystyna Fedorak, Klym Kutsevskyy, Lars Kemnitz, Laure d’Utruy, Linda Zhengova, Lolita Chaprak, Marcel Top, Marco Castelli, Mark Veljkovich, Michaela Nagyidaiová, Nadezda Nikolova, Nurlana Udovenko, Olga Belova, Olha Lobazova, Raisan Hameed, Rui Costa, Sarah Hinds, Sunny Attias, Xiao Zhang, Yorgos Kapsalakis

October 2023 (solo shows)

– Michael Swann – Noema
– Noemi Comi – Lupus Hominarius
– Simon Vansteenwinckel – Wuhan Radiography

May 2023  (solo shows)

– Alan Jeuland – Contre-Coups
– Rosa Lacavalla – Sana Sana
– Ludovica de Santis – Untitled