UnBound10! Selected Artists
TENTH ANNUAL
JURIED + INVITATIONAL PHOTO SHOW
July 2 – August 7, 2021
To all who applied this year,
THANK YOU for submitting work to our UnBound! exhibition, like most years, it was difficult to narrow down the final selection. We received almost 700 submissions, which is another record-breaking year for this annual show. Each year we enjoy seeing a mix of familiar names and new talent. Because there are so many new faces and this is our TENTH year hosting this exhibition, we want to take a moment to highlight who we are as a gallery and what we hope to achieve with UnBound!
Over the last nine summers, UnBound! has supported Candela’s overall mission to educate and inspire both artists and patrons by pulling together a range of photographic processes, techniques, and diverse subject matters. The Unbound! exhibition was conceived as a survey of the medium and a celebration of photographers. All proceeds raised from UnBound!’s fundraising efforts provide a sale and collection opportunity for select artists from the show. Our goal is to eventually donate this growing collection to a prominent institution that could best benefit from its acquisition. We are always grateful to have so many outstanding submissions to consider each year and we hope you’ll take a moment to discover and explore new work out of this year’s UnBound! show.
With an appreciation for the object and its craft, our small staff of three works year-round to expose followers and visitors to contemporary applications of the medium. Our intention is to pay close attention to the ever-evolving role photography has as an art form, to mark this moment, and to be a source of inspiration. Our programming serves to foster education and provide a place for accessibility and community engagement, including:
- UnBound!
- Our Annual Exhibition Programming
- The Candela Collection
- Candela Books Publication Initiatives & Exhibition Catalogs
- In-Person & Remote Educational Artist Talks, Lectures, and Community Events
Thank you again for allowing us to view and consider your work. If you have questions about our jurying process please visit the FAQ listed below. We hope you’ll continue to follow along as we roll out this year’s UnBound! show as well as future programming.
-- The Candela Staff
Ashby Nickerson, Gordon Stettinius, & Whitney Cole
PARTICIPATING ARTISTS
Kyohei Abe
Francesco Amorosino
Ryan Bakerink
Sophie Barbasch
Michael Borowski
Annette LeMay Burke
Adrienne Catanese
Elizabeth M. Claffey
Jasmine Clarke
Isabella Convertino
Robin Crookall
Nancy Daly + Kim Llerena
Shannon Davis
Carol Erb
Brandon Forrest Frederick
Ryan Frigillana
Teri Fullerton
Paul Guilmoth
Soomin Ham
Alice Hargrave
Jessica Hays
Kevin Hoth
Kei Ito
Giovanna Lanna
Christian K. Lee
Jiatong Lu
Holly Lynton
Sarah Malakoff
Noelle Mason
Caroline Minchew
Robyn Moore
Rachel Phillips
Miora Rajaonary
André Ramos-Woodard
Megan Ratliff
Gregorio Reche
Renee Romero
Katherine Demetriou Sidelsky
Paul Stephenson
Dana Stirling
Elizabeth Stone
Vaune Trachtman
Aaron R. Turner
Tricia Wright
UnBound! Book Artists
Barbara Ciurej + Lindsay Lochman
Pam Connolly
John Freyer / Anne Massoni / Betsy Schneider / Becky Senf
Dana Fritz
Daniel George
Iris Grimm
Joe Johnson
Elizabeth McGrady
Colleen Mullins
Scott Murphy
Jerry Takigawa
Paul Thulin-Jimenez
Julie Wolfe
FAQ ABOUT UNBOUND!
What exactly are you looking for in this show?
In short, we were looking for great, stand-alone work. When considering over 2,600 images and looking for just 35-40 works, we reluctantly let go of a lot of great work. We have many talented and accomplished friends who are passed over most years, but we honestly have an interest in everyone’s work. We are always looking for other opportunities that may allow us to work with even more of you.
There are times when we recognize a really great project which feels important to learn more about. This is not to say that project-based images are discouraged. However, in mounting a large survey-style exhibition, these images are taken out of their context and often overlooked if not compelling enough individually. The rest of the year, we mount 8-10 more cohesive exhibitions. So, if the work cannot stand up in isolation, then we often will pass on it, or make a note to study it more for a possible feature exhibition. In the past, we have gone on to mount feature shows by artists who did not make it into the summer exhibition.
What is the theme behind UnBound?
Though there isn’t an official theme, part of our mission for Unbound! is to put together a cross-section of contemporary photography each year. The work ranges across genres, processes, scale, and value. We want a ‘stone soup’ survey of an exhibition, featuring a little bit of everything from artists that vary widely in experience. Generally, work includes; landscape, contemporary events, portraiture, abstraction, narrative work, mixed-media work, and so on.
A conversation about representation and inclusion informs the process. As this is usually our only juried event each year, we have to be serious about discovering new (to us) talent. But we are also intentional about the artists we have previously worked with, and we really do want some familiar faces in the mix as well. We make a point of including a few students each year, who often require developmental conversations. This might mean conversations with younger artists about material choices or business practices or presentation or pricing. We want their work to hold up alongside their professors and other established artists. And we want to maintain quality for collectors and the collection and this requires a bit of vigilance when starting up so many new relationships.
What does it mean to not have work accepted into UnBound?
We suspect a lot of really great photographers are a little surprised to find their compelling and/or very timely work did not make it into this year’s Unbound!. Unfortunately, we cannot offer specific feedback to nearly 700 people, but if you manage to engage us in a conversation somewhere, or catch us on a slow day at the gallery, we would be happy to get into specifics with you. The truth is, it can be difficult to explain how this work gets in and that work does not.
There are a lot of moving parts in this jury process, with three individuals, each bringing different strengths to the table. Out of almost 700 submissions, we spend several days discussing formal concerns, artist’s intentions, ethics, representation, context, quality of craft, and more. The resulting 150-200 submissions are debated over the next few days until we ultimately land on 40-50 for the show.
This is a really competitive opportunity, and sometimes, there just isn’t room for your great work. We hope you’ll continue to submit work year after year. We do our best to celebrate all of you by throwing as much energy as we are able into the exhibition, into the fundraising, into the collection, and into sales. We cannot do this without your support.
What is the Candela Collection?
To date, we have been privileged to exhibit over 500 or so works in our summer Unbound! exhibitions. We are proud to say we have acquired 90 of these artworks and artist’s books over the years. It is these 90 works which comprise our collection. We will add several more works this year.
As you know, we do not charge a submission fee to submit to Unbound! The proceeds we use to acquire work from the exhibition come from a single fundraising gala event. Usually, we sell tickets to a party with live music, Back Alley Chicken, specialty drinks, and our goal is to celebrate photography in a big way. A good time ensues and we will then use all proceeds from this event to acquire work and/or conserve and maintain the works we already have.
NOTE: The collection is starting to incur new expenses for storage and conservation and so we are accepting contributions year-round. If you would like to support this initiative, you absolutely can help us by supporting the mission HERE.
For now, the Candela Collection remains in the possession of the gallery, but the works are not available as part of our traditional inventory. We exhibit pieces from the collection in different ways throughout the year, and have loaned work for exhibition to other institutions as well.
Eventually, we have promised to donate this work to a notable permanent collection or collecting institution. We have some ancillary ideas about the work as well, such as compiling a library of published works that feature the collected artists, but to keep this simple, we’ll say that we feel that offering a collection opportunity offers support to artists by not only cultivating awareness of the work but also by directly purchasing their work.
You can view the collection HERE.
Do we accept donations to the Candela collection?
We do not. The offer of donation comes up each year and while we sincerely appreciate the gesture, it is simpler for us to decline, because we would rather pay artists for their work.
IMPORTANT DATES
TUESDAY, JUNE 15TH, 2021: Participating Artist Delivery Deadline
FRIDAY, JULY 2ND, 2021: UnBound10! Show Opening Reception
SATURDAY, AUGUST 7TH, 2021: UnBound10! Show Closing