Final Yr Recipients On Receiving The PhMuseum 2025 Photography Grant

Amy Kim, Billy H.C. Kwok and Zekun Wang focus on how grants and open calls form their tasks, opening new alternatives whereas turning into a part of the artistic course of. They replicate on progress, risk-taking and supply recommendation to future candidates.

As submissions are open for the PhMuseum 2026 Photography Grant, we reconnected with final yr’s prize recipients to replicate on their expertise and discover how their work has developed since.

What motivated you to use for the PhMuseum Photography Grant, and what makes this a worthwhile alternative for you?

Amy: I first utilized as a result of I felt like I had a superb challenge. I used to be additionally motivated to use by taking a look at previous winners of the grant and their work, and profession progress. I respect the curatorial strategy of PhMuseum. Rather than being tied to the standard well-made picture or “documentary” strategy of pictures, the curators at PhMuseum are keen on artists and works that discover each the documentative and ambiguous properties of the medium. Finally, I appreciated the eye that’s put into the jury choice. The jurors are constantly internationally numerous, high-caliber, and fluent in up to date dialogue. 

Zekun: Applying for the PhMuseum pictures grant isn’t solely a pure extension of my creative creation but additionally an important alternative for me to interact in a dialogue with international pictures. As a world platform devoted to selling up to date pictures, PhMuseum has been dedicated to discovering tasks which might be each thought-provoking and socially involved. This worth aligns completely with my artistic course – I hope my works can transcend mere visuals and set off viewers’ deep reflection on Shimenkan. Therefore, making use of for this funding is a vital step for me to finish the challenge and combine it right into a broader creative dialogue. I’m trying ahead to leveraging the assist of PhMuseum to remodel this visible exploration into a piece with lasting affect.

Billy: For me, this grant is a useful alternative and assist to proceed the challenge and likewise for its publicity. More importantly, it confirms that the work has its personal worth and trustworthiness, which provides me the boldness to proceed creating.

How do you personally strategy the world of grants and open calls, and is there any particular approach you’re employed via your functions?

Zekun: My earliest publicity to grants and open calls was primarily via Instagram accounts of artwork establishments, magazines, and curators that I adopted. These accounts typically posted open alternatives from around the globe. When it involves making use of, I tailor the picture choice and modifying logic of my work in another way for every name. This differs from making ready for a bodily exhibition—exhibitions emphasize spatial consciousness and on-site expertise, whereas presenting work for an utility is extra like making ready a “visual narrative.” I take into consideration the best way to clearly and rhythmically convey the core of the challenge via a restricted variety of photographs on a display screen. Over time, I’ve come to understand that the appliance course of itself is a type of creation—one which requires you to reimagine how your work “breathes” in several contexts.

Amy: There are many varieties of grants and open calls. I pay shut consideration to the calls that match my artwork observe. I take a look at the earlier winners and observe the sort and energy of the works. The jury can also be an essential consideration. Some jurors can have a spotlight in my discipline or subject, and a few juries will stand out for his or her achievements or affiliations. I began to maintain a calendar and tracker in Google Sheets for submission deadlines. Checking this calendar each day has helped from lacking name deadlines.

Billy: For me, making use of for grants was by no means simply in regards to the funding. Before receiving any assist, I noticed the appliance course of as an opportunity to step again and rethink the challenge—the way it ought to be structured, edited, and finally introduced. That course of helped me make clear my very own considering first, and solely then might the challenge talk its significance extra clearly to others.

An worldwide grant typically acts as a catalyst for an artist’s profession. Looking again over the previous yr, what has been probably the most important or sudden door that has opened for you?

Billy: The grants gave the challenge wider publicity, however what mattered extra have been the individuals who genuinely linked with the work. Their responses led to new exhibition invites and alternatives for additional improvement, which have been each sudden and inspiring.

Zekun: The PhMuseum 2025 Photography Grant was my first systematic try at submitting work to a world open name. It marked probably the most important efforts I revamped the previous yr. Winning the New Generation Prize for Before Falling Into the Deep Valley was a pleasant shock. This recognition holds milestone significance in my journey of pursuing visible storytelling—it acts as a catalyst, propelling me ahead on this path.

Amy:  I’m trying ahead to opening this door in 2026, both as solo or group exhibits.

Recognition can generally herald a brand new form of strain. How have you ever navigated the ‘What’s subsequent?’ query whereas attempting to remain true to your personal observe’s tempo?

Zekun: Recognition does convey a delicate form of strain—particularly when others begin anticipating your ‘next work.’ For me, sustaining authenticity in my tempo is actually practising a type of immersive focus: returning to the core of the challenge itself, relatively than being pushed ahead by exterior voices. Take Before Falling Into the Deep Valley for example. I’ve by no means handled it as a collection that have to be concluded rapidly. Instead, I would like it to stay alive, rising. Each exhibition invitation or open name turns into a chance for the challenge to evolve. With each presentation, I modify and reply—rearranging photographs, sequences, and even show codecs—tailoring them to the area, medium, or context. It’s like writing completely different chapters for a similar story, or capturing its aspects via alternate lenses. In this manner, strain transforms into nourishment. Change turns into inherent to the artistic course of. There’s no have to power a pivot for the sake of ‘innovation’; as an alternative, the challenge grows its personal natural trajectory. Slow progress, ultimately, feels quicker—and more true.

Billy: Before receiving the grant, I already knew what I needed to pursue subsequent. In that sense, the funding didn’t change my course—it added an additional layer. What I discovered most useful have been the unpredictable outcomes that got here with it, relatively than any fastened expectation of progress.

Amy:  Because of a job supply, I needed to transfer from Texas to Michigan, which is the opposite finish of the United States. Being distant from my analysis and pictures web site posed a variety of challenges concerning entry and bills. I used to be compelled to suppose creatively. What helped me was taking a web based collage workshop with artist Nathalie Kirk at a corporation referred to as Santa Fe Workshops. Collage is a style that’s, in fact, uniquely photographic. I had little expertise with collage, and I needed to strive it. Along with this class, I’ve additionally began to combine beading and appliqué into my work. Working with a brand new type, each day, has helped me with the query of what’s subsequent. These varieties open up new methods to articulate my creative ideas, which is the rise of American nationalism foregrounded by the colonial historical past of oil extraction.

Reflecting in your utility, how has the challenge developed? Did the grant assist you to take a artistic danger – stylistically or conceptually – that you simply might need prevented in any other case?

Zekun: Looking again on the whole challenge, its evolution stems from an inherent pressure: the story of Samuel Pollard is profoundly remembered in Shimenkan, but stays enveloped in a fragile silence because of historic complexities. My preliminary hesitation sprang exactly from this weight—a want to honor this legacy, coupled with a visceral concern of its erosion beneath the tides of time. Thus, the challenge was by no means conceived as mere documentation. As articulated within the proposal, it grew to become an “experimental ground”—an area to re-examine and reanimate its significance for the current. In this manner, the work mirrors Pollard’s personal pilgrimage to Shimenkan: a pursuit of idealism, retraced.

Billy: Definitely. Without the funding, the challenge would have moved ahead way more slowly. I feel taking dangers is an important a part of being a creator, however the assist allowed me to be extra adventurous—to suppose extra freely about each type and idea.

Amy: Yes. The grant juror Sheida Soleimani’s assertion, gave me the affirmation that I used to be “on to something.” Based on the PhMuseum Photography Grant, I’ve utilized for different grants, together with a $5,000 inner grant at my educational establishment. I’ve began a brand new, associated physique of labor, Viscous Empire. It expands the scope of Wolfcamp Catalogue, which was awarded by PhMuseum.

Grant recipients use their funding in vastly alternative ways, from financing a selected journey to easily ‘shopping for again’ their time to suppose. Where does your collection stand as we speak? Are you continue to engaged on it, or has it culminated in a photobook or exhibition?

Billy: The challenge continues to be ongoing. It has gone via a number of mid-term displays and exhibitions, and that in-between part has been particularly essential to me. It created area to pause, soak up completely different views, and reorganize the work earlier than transferring extra intentionally towards the following stage.

Zekun: Currently, I’ve allotted many of the funding to on-site analysis in Shimenkan, aiming to delve deeper into the tales and traces linked to Samuel Pollard. This course of goes past mere information assortment—it feels extra like an prolonged dialogue, a gradual dialog with the individuals, the land, and the reminiscences veiled by time. As for the ultimate presentation, I envision it as a photobook or an exhibition. But for now, what issues extra is permitting this historical past to emerge steadily, in its personal time. Once it feels absolutely realized, the best type will reveal itself naturally.

Amy: Wolfcamp Catalogue isn’t completed but. I’ve an thought on the best way to develop it right into a photobook. 

Photography is commonly a gradual course of. How have you ever developed this physique of labor prior to now yr? Have you found any hidden themes or particular photographs that you simply now wish to revisit or broaden upon?

Amy: I’m keen on amassing and amassing historic photographs from the oil producing areas. Archival photographs are nice, however I’m extra keen on amassing pictures from albums of abnormal individuals. In addition, I plan to broaden on the oil excavation analysis that has been to date based mostly in Texas out to worldwide territories, together with the oil producing areas of the Niger Delta, Middle East, and Alberta, Canada. 

Billy: Yes, many. Stepping again allowed new angles to floor—issues I merely wouldn’t have observed with out stopping and giving the work time to unfold.

Zekun: Over the previous yr, I’ve revisited and reconsidered this challenge. I’ve come to see your complete journey as a seek for “utopia” — not some unattainable very best, however relatively a spot the place my thoughts finds stillness. For me, Shimenkan has grow to be exactly that form of place.

What is your finest piece of recommendation for candidates who’re at the moment coping with their submission course of?

Zekun: Through the PhMuseum platform, one can discover multidimensional creations by artists worldwide and have interaction with probably the most important mediums of our period. To fellow artists making ready their utility supplies, I’d say: Be daring and take a look at. Regardless of the result, this course of itself shall be a useful studying expertise.

Amy:  Allow your self sufficient time to construct a powerful utility. Research the group and the form of work they’re keen on. Also, decide if and the way the group will profit your creative improvement. In addition to the assertion, it generally helps to incorporate data on single items that want contextual rationalization. 

Billy: Choose a topic you really care about, and inform the story clearly from an angle that feels proper for that challenge.

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Over the final 14 years, the PhMuseum Photography Grant has established itself as a key worldwide prize, championing up to date pictures and supporting rising artists via monetary awards, exhibitions at main festivals, academic packages, and on-line visibility. To be taught extra and apply, go to phmuseum.com/g26. Early Bird Deadline: 29 January. Final Deadline: 19 February.