The submission deadline for this new cycle of grants is Monday, 10 March 2025
10×10 Photobooks is pleased to announce a new grant cycle and call for applications as part of its ongoing photobook research grants program to encourage and support scholarship on under-explored topics in photobook history.
For this cycle, we are looking for submissions related to 10×10’s recent Flashpoint! Protest Photography in Print project. In particular, we invite proposals relating to photobook history from any geography that addresses topics of protest, resistance, or social and cultural conflict from 1950 to the present. The past seventy-five years have been a time of extreme social and cultural transformations including migration, territorial disputes, gender inequity, class divisions, racism, war, and violence, environmental concerns, and other ideological and tribal conflicts which photobooks have engaged with as a tool and/or document of protest.
The concept of the photobook is interpreted in the broadest sense possible: classic bound books, portfolios, personal albums, unpublished books, zines, digital media, scrapbooks, posters, or other ephemera. The evaluation of proposals will consider the importance of the proposed topic (how significant and/or unknown is the subject) and the strength of the proposed approach.
The Grant
10×10 Photobooks will award three grants this cycle for 2025-2026 in the amount of $2,500 each, which will be paid in two increments during the course of the project.
With the generous support of Dayanita Singh, one of these awards is for researchers residing in India and addressing the history of the photobook in the region. Applicants qualifying for this specific grant should indicate their eligibility via the check-box on the submission form. Applicants may submit multiple proposals and a single application may include multiple researchers (note that the grant amount is for the entire project, not per researcher).
Grantee Expectations
Grantees are expected to produce a presentation (and optionally a paper) within a year of the grant being awarded. Material needs to be in English. The result of the research will be presented and discussed during an online zoom event organized by 10×10 Photobooks.
10×10 will also assist where able and desired with in-progress review, identifying information, making introductions, etc.
Application process
- Applicants must complete the grant form in English. The application includes a description of the project (less than 1000 words) and a brief bio and must be submitted by midnight (ET) on 10 March 2025. If there are multiple applicants on the proposal, information on additional researchers may be included in the Notes field.
- There is no fee for applying.
- Grant awards will be announced in May 2025
Program Rules
Grantees retain all rights to their work and are free to submit or use the results of their research as they wish with other platforms and programs so long as they acknowledge that support for initial research was provided by 10×10. 10×10 has the right to share the results on their website and platforms.
Applicants may submit multiple proposals, and a single application may include multiple researchers (note that the grant amount is for the entire project, not per researcher).
The program is open to anyone (researchers, writers, editors, curators, etc.) regardless of organizational affiliation, academic status or discipline, or nationality.
Applicants should not have a pre-existing grant for the specific work being proposed. Priority is given to new research (not currently funded). If there is existing support applicants should describe that support in the Notes field along with how the proposed research differs from that already funded.
>> Grant Application Form here
For questions contact David Solo at grants@10x10photobooks.org
The Jurors:
Elisa Medde is a photography editor, curator , writer and educator, with a background in Art History, Iconology and Photographic Studies. Medde has nominated for prizes and chaired juries, including the Luma Rencontres Dummy Book Award, Prix Elysée and MAST Photography Grant on Industry and Work, and her writing has appeared in FlashArt, PhotoEye, Time, Foam, Something We Africans Got, Vogue Italia / L’Uomo Vogue, YET magazine, the Aperture PhotoBook Review, British Journal of Photography and many artists’ books. Between 2012–2023, she served as editor-in-chief of Foam magazine, twice the recipient of a Lucie Award for Best Photography Magazine. She is the recipient of the 2023 Royal Photographic Society Award for outstanding achievement in photographic publishing.
Photo by Fiona Makkink
Jon Evans is the Chief of Libraries & Archives at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), where he has spent the past three decades connecting scholars, students, and the general public with art research materials. During this time, he has helped to develop an internationally recognized photography book collection that complements the museum’s world-class photography collection. Among the premier research collections acquired during his tenure is the Manfred Heiting Book Collection, particularly noted for its strength in Japanese, Russian, and German photobooks. He has organized over two dozen book exhibitions, many of which have focused on photobooks such as post-war Japanese photobooks, photobook maquettes, and jazz photobooks, as well as installations featuring the publications of Lee Friedlander, Bea Nettles, and Beaumont Newhall. In 2017, Evans arranged to host the CLAP! 10×10 Contemporary Latin American Photobooks pop-up display organized by 10×10 Photobooks at the MFAH. He has taught a series of workshops in conjunction with the Houston Center for Photography devoted to the photobook that have addressed topics as diverse as history and highlights, photo periodicals, advocacy and social justice, and pre-publication works. Evans regularly presents on the topic of photobooks in an art museum context, including collection building, community engagement, and issues of discovery and access. He has also been an active member of the Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA) for more than two decades, serving as President of the Society in 2012.
Photo by Emma Evans
Marc Feustel is an independent writer, editor and curator based in Paris. A specialist in Japanese photography, he has curated several exhibitions in the field, including Tokyo Stories (Kulturhuset, Stockholm), Eikoh Hosoe: Theatre of Memory (Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney), and New Japanese Photography 1974→2024 (T3 Photo Festival, Tokyo). He regularly contributes to contemporary art and photography publications including I’m So Happy You Are Here (Aperture, 2024), Flashpoint! Protest Photography in Print, 1950-Present (10×10 Photobooks, 2024), and At the edge of the everyday world by Rinko Kawauchi (Arnolfini, 2024). A regular speaker and jury member at photography festivals and events, since 2019 he has been one of the hosts of the Artist Talks at the Paris Photo art fair.
Photo by Gianluca Tamorri
The 10×10 Photobooks Grants Program is coordinated by David Solo with assistance from 10×10 work-scholar Kun Ling Shen.
10×10’s Research Grants for Cycle 4 (2025-2026) are generously underwritten by Frédérique Destribats, Dayanita Singh and the Grace Jones Richardson Family Trust.