'Chordata' wins an honorable mention at TPS 30

Click video above to play; music is the only audio for this Instagram Reel.

We hear the term Over the Moon now and then, and for this piece of news I may have nearly levitated… My image Chordata has been juried into a coveted photography exhibit at the Texas Photographic Society for its 30th International Competition. Called TPS 30, this is a big win for an art photographer, as a total of 1,369 prints were submitted with just 50 selected for exhibition - yes, an in-person exhibit! - at The Center for Contemporary Arts in Abilene, Texas . Shortly after I received the initial good news I learned that Chordata received one of five honorable mentions!

It’s wonderful to be acknowledged, and it means even more having work recognized by such an esteemed member of the photographic community as Liz Wells, juror for TPS 30.

Following is an excerpt from Ms. Wells’ remarks which can be found in full at https://texasphoto.org/tps30 :
”… Selecting 50 photographs from the 1369 submitted was challenging.. There were difficult decisions to be made; Originality, story-telling and contemporary relevance were key criteria, along with integrity of form and content, and how each exhibition print would be experienced as a distinctive physical object.”

Liz Wells is a writer, curator and lecturer on photographic practices. She is Professor Emeritus in Photographic Culture, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business at the University of Plymouth in England. Liz Wells served on the Board of Directors at the Society for Photographic Education, USA (2011-18). In Autumn 2020 she joined the International Advisory Council at ICP (the International Center of Photography, New York {also my alma matter though we didn’t cross paths there}).

Ms. Wells also contributes to MA Photography programs at the Universitat-Politécnica, Valéncia, Spain, and at Valand Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, where she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in 2017.

Needless to say, and worth stating explicitly, I absolutely treasure her honorable mention.

You can view the virtual exhibit by clicking here (https://texasphoto.org/tps30).

And if you happen to be within driving or hot-air ballooning distance of Abilene, you can view the physical exhibit from January 13th to March 12th, 2022.
As always, I would love to know your thoughts and impressions.

Warmly,

Laura

Post Script: For a blog post about “the why” of Chordata click here.