Photography submissions wanted for COVID-19 project to ‘share our storied experiences’

Deadline extended to Aug. 3
A grandmother and her grandson make a stop on Third Street in Dayton Wednesday July 8, Gov. Mike DeWine announced new mask requirements for seven counties, including Montgomery. JIM NOELKER/STAFF

A grandmother and her grandson make a stop on Third Street in Dayton Wednesday July 8, Gov. Mike DeWine announced new mask requirements for seven counties, including Montgomery. JIM NOELKER/STAFF

The Contemporary Dayton and the Dayton Daily News are seeking photography submissions related to life during the pandemic.

The digital submissions will be reproduced for In the Balance: Reflections of Our Community During COVID, an insert that will be published in the Sunday, Sept. 6, edition of the Dayton Daily News.

Any individual regardless of age or photographic experience is welcome to submit. There is no application fee and the deadline for submission is Aug. 3.

The project will be curated by Tracy Longley-Cook, professor of photography at Wright State University.

“We live in a strange and complicated moment in history, the likes of which we will, hopefully, never see again during our lifetimes,” Longley-Cook wrote in her curator’s statement.

“We have collectively watched the death count due to COVID-19 escalate to alarming heights. We have adjusted our daily routines, livelihoods, and social interactions in various ways to accommodate a new normal. We have witnessed individuals expressing doubts about the pandemic and claims that personal freedoms are at risk. We have observed and likely experienced tremendous loss — with our plans and goals in the foreseeable future, positions of employment, moments of celebration, and most appallingly, the loss of life of those we know, love, and care for.

“In our socially distanced separation, we are mutually adapting as best we can. This call for photographs is an endeavor to examine and share our storied experiences, whether they are negative, positive, or solely neutral observations.”

Submission and eligibility information can be found at thecontemporarydayton.org.

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