EXPERIMENTAL SELF-PORTRAITS
Pushing The Boundaries
Following the success of our first AUTOPORTRAIT open call last year, we are excited to announce the 2025 Interim Edition once again with the theme Experimental Self-Portraits. Often involving a stretch of the imagination and pushing beyond the practice of traditional self-portraiture, experimental self-portraiture may utilise unconventional techniques and materials to explore identity, emotion, and the self in new and abstract ways. KLPA welcomes the use of diverse methods and processes, be it analogue or digital techniques, to create engaging thought-provoking portraits. Note that AI-generated images are not allowed. A new panel of selectors is specially brought together to look for uniqueness, process, and the narrative behind these self-portraits, as standalone studies.
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Experientially driven
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Often, artists practising self-portraiture would utilise diverse media and processes, from film, performance, digital manipulation, or even create unique tools for posing. Some artists construct props from household objects, experiment with different light and shadow, or utilise unconventional surfaces like mirrors or reflective materials for self-portraits.
Artists may use editing software to create surreal or abstract self-portraits, exploring themes of identity, perception, and the blurring of lines between the real and virtual. And yet some artists focus on the process of creating self-portraits, using the act of daily self-representation as a form of self-discovery or a way to confront personal challenges. We look forward to your creations with eagerness for this Interim Edition to close 2025.
Deadline 31 October 2025.
Jury
Andrialis Abdul Rahman
@andrialis
Andrialis Abdul Rahman is a fine art photographer from Malaysia. She uses her camera as a mirror to look at identity, memory, and the silent parts of herself.
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She is a senior lecturer in the Creative Photomedia Department at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM). She has a Master's in Art (Photomedia) from the University of New South Wales in Australia. Her art is very personal, and she often mixes experimental and alternative photographic processes to make pictures that feel both close and surreal.
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In her continuous series of auto-portraits, Andrialis uses the camera to show herself, combining past and present in layered compositions that tell stories that words cannot. These pieces are more than just portraits; they are ways for her to talk to her own past, recollect, and take back her identity. Her careful attention to arrangement and light turns personal introspection into universal resonance, encouraging viewers to see parts of their memories in her pictures.
Benedetta Donato
@benedettadonato
Benedetta was born in Rome and lives today between Italy and France. She organises exhibitions and publishing projects related to visual culture. Among some of the different organisations and entities with which she has collaborated - Giart, for the Fotografia Italiana documentary film series, distributed by Contrasto; Istituto dell Enciclopedia Treccani, for which she worked on the Contemporary Japanese Photography section, included in the publication Enciclopedia dell Arte Contemporanea, in 2021 (Enciclopedia of Contemporary Art); Triennale Milano; Gallerie Italia; national and international photography festivals.
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In 2021, she won RESET Call for Papers, promoted by Sistema Festival Fotografia, launched as part of the 2020 competition Strategia Fotografia of the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity (DGCC) of the Italian Ministry of Culture. She has also curated several exhibitions and edited many photographic publications, including: Nicola Tanzini TokyoTsukiji; Esplorazioni Collective Exhibition, Palermo, Italian Capital of Culture 2018; Alberto Gandolfo What remains, Habitat; Romano Cagnoni. The Human Revelation; Iole Carollo, Out of Africa, Nicolò Filippo Rosso Exodus.
Recent exhibitions include: VIVA! Sensitive horizons on the female universe, collective exhibition until December 2025 on the occasion of Agrigento Italian Capital of Culture. In 2025; Two hearts and a hut by Daniele Ratti, at Gallerie Italia, Napoli.
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She is a highly engaged portfolio reviewer, member of the jury for international events, and a nominator for the Leica Oskar Barnack Award. Benedetta is a contributing editor at Style Magazine and at IL FOTOGRAFO and a member of GRIN – National Iconographic Editors Group.
Eiffel Chong
@eiffelchong
Eiffel Chong graduated with an MA in International Contemporary Art and Design Practice from the University of East London and a BA (Hons) in Photography from London College of Communication.
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Besides his production of photographic work, Chong is highly engaged with the Malaysian photographic community, taking on the role of mentor for the Malaysian Pixel Shooting Stars programme. In addition, he has been appointed to the panel of judges for the Kuala Lumpur Photography Awards and Annual Nikon Photo Awards, Malaysia.
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He is also an academician at Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management and Technology. Eiffel Chong’s work considers abstract concepts of life and death through the banal details, silent landscapes and curious obsessions he observes from daily life. He is interested in how the photographic medium can translate a particular time and space, memories and thoughts into something permanent. He personally thinks that the images say more with less, and make one just want to stare and think about it. He is currently based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Stephanie Fong
@fostgallery
Stephanie Fong is the owner of the eponymous FOST Gallery. The gallery name bears the combination of the first two letters of her name. She was trained as a lawyer but found her interests really lay in the arts.
After completing a Masters in art history, she established FOST Gallery in 2006 and, from the outset, was committed to showing artists whose works reflect our time and place. Her aim then, as it is now, was to showcase contemporary art from with a special focus on artists based in Singapore. FOST Gallery quickly gained a reputation for being one of the more progressive local galleries, constantly and consistently producing critically acclaimed exhibitions.
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The gallery represents and works with some of the most respected Singapore contemporary artists like John Clang, Donna Ong, Grace Tan, Wyn-Lyn Tan and Ian Woo as well as nurturing up-and-coming artists like Jon Chan, Lavender Chang and Ong Si Hui. It also represents international artists such as Adeel uz Zafar (Pakistan), Elaine Roberto Navas (Philippines), Bovey Lee (USA), Phi Phi Oanh (Vietnam), Luis Antonio Santos (Philippines). FOST Gallery has been featured in various local and international press. Stephanie is deeply involved in the Singapore art scene. She is a past-Council Member of the Association of Art Galleries Singapore, and was a past-member of the Arts Industry Advisory at LASALLE College of the Arts, the Industry Advisory Group, and the School of Creative Industries at LASALLE.
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Stephanie currently sits on the National Arts Council’s Industry Advisory Panel for Arts Manpower. Her fundraising efforts for the National Gallery Singapore were recognised with the Patron of the Arts award in 2024.
Louise Fedotov Clements
@photoworks_uk
Louise has been the Director of Photoworks since 2023, where she leads the strategic vision and artistic direction of the organisation. Established in 1995, Photoworks is an international platform focused on the development of photography through a programme of exhibitions, residencies, publications, engagement, the biennale Photoworks Festival, the Ampersand Photography Fellowship and the Jerwood Photography Awards.
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She is the CoFounder/former Director FORMAT Festival. Previously she was Artistic Director QUAD, a centre for contemporary art and film; National Curator of Contemporary Art, Forestry England, and currently Jury Chair of Earth Photo with the Royal Geographical Society, Forestry England and Parker Harris.
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As a creative director since 1998, Louise has curated commissions, festivals, publications, mass participation, film/photography programmes/exhibitions, juried and mentored worldwide.
Prizes and Benefits
Open to international photographers at all levels
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1st Prize Euro €1,000.00 ​
2nd Prize Euro €500.00​
3rd Prize Euro €300.00
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The Best 35 entries will have their portraits screened at the KLPA2026 finalists exhibition and partner festivals.
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ENTRY FEES​
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1 image Euro €10.00
2 images Euro €20.00
3 - 6 images Euro €45.00
7 - 10 images Euro €65.00
STUDENT ENTRIES
FREE ENTRY 1 image
Euro €200.00 each will be awarded to the three best entries.
CONCESSIONARY ENTRIES
This year, KLPA are providing 3 concessionary (free) entries to photographers who are based in countries where the use of credit and debit cards is unavailable. See RULES for further details.
Entrants may submit through the KLPA website SUBMIT link or at the Picter.com page. Closing date for submissions: Sunday, 31 October 2025 Midnight Malaysian (UTC+8), unless extended.
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Timeline
SEPTEMBER 7, 2025
Open for submissions
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OCTOBER 31, 2025
Deadline
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NOVEMBER, 2025
Jury sessions take place online
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DECEMBER 7, 2025
Finalists notified and announced
Previous Editions
PORTRAITS FROM THE STREET
Exhibition at Hin Bus Depot
George Town, Penang
6 - 21 September, 2025
© JUDITH KRASINSKI USA Green People
© ANIA MOUSSAWEL USA Mom and I
Submissions Host
FESTIVAL PARTNERS
Festival Partners
