OPEN CALL
Deadline: 27 July 2026, 2359hr Singapore Time
The Objectifs Photo Fellowship aims to support Southeast Asian photographers and visual artists who have a creative documentary practice. The fellowship comprises an online mentorship, sharing sessions and seminars, and peer discussions. It will culminate in an in-person photo intensive in April 2027, where participants’ projects will be showcased in a slideshow evening as part of the inaugural Singapore Documentary Festival.
Participants can expect to expand their creative strategies, hone their professional skills by learning from established visual storytellers and creative professionals based in the region, and build a peer network. This fellowship is particularly suited for practitioners seeking to be challenged in their modes of working and gain new perspectives on their practice.
What Participants Receive
6-month mentorship programme to develop personal project
Opportunity to attend seminars on professional development
SGD$2,000 honorarium to cover costs associated with developing the work
Opportunity to showcase in a curated evening slideshow at the Singapore Documentary Festival in April 2027
Budget return flight to attend the photo intensive and slideshow evening in April 2027 in Singapore
Accommodation in Singapore to attend the photo intensive and slideshow evening in April 2027
Meet The Mentors
NayanTara Gurung Kakshapati
Co-Founder and Director of Photocircle and PhotoKTM, (Kathmandu)
NayanTara Gurung Kakshapati lives and works in Kathmandu, Nepal. She is the co-founder and artistic director of photo.circle, Nepal Picture Library and PhotoKTM – platforms and initiatives that nourish image-making, history-telling, and dialogic engagements with diverse publics. NayanTara is committed to creating possibilities for people who think, make, speak and organize in different ways to come together in “imperfect solidarity” to learn, question, disrupt, and resist and also work towards repair.
NayanTara has mentored photographers through various programs, including the PhotoKTM Southasia Incubator and the 2020 World Press Photo Joop Swart Masterclass. She served as Jury Chair of the 2021 World Press Photo Contest, and as a jury member of the 2022 Howard Chapnick Grant organized by the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund. From 2020- 2022, NayanTara was a Jane Lombard Fellow, at the Vera List Center for Art and Politics, The New School, New York.
Wei Leng Tay
Artist, (Singapore)
Artist Wei Leng Tay works across photography, video, and installation and explores constructions of identity, memory, and history through her practice. Her works draw on long-term engagements with individuals, families, and communities, and include research into photographic archives, interviews, and collaborative processes. Central to her practice is a sustained inquiry into the medium of photography through its materiality, modes of circulation, and communicative possibilities. By working at the intersection of the intimate and the structural, Tay unpacks the complexities of belonging, displacement, and the politics of representation, bringing attention to what it means to be human within today’s shifting political and cultural contexts.
Tay’s work has been exhibited internationally, including at National Gallery Singapore; ARTER Space for Art, Turkey; Daegu Photo Biennale, South Korea; Asian Art Biennial, Taiwan; and is in collections including the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Singapore Art Museum, and Morgan Stanley Art Collection. Tay received the Alexander Tutsek Photography Grant, Munich (2025), Wyng Foundation WMA Prize, Hong Kong (2017), and was a Yale University Poynter Fellow, New Haven (2015). Tay has also worked in journalism. She was previously Deputy Picture Editor of TIME Magazine’s Asia Edition, and a Photo Editor for Bloomberg in the Asia Pacific region, assigning photographers and researching archives for award-winning stories and packages. She was most recently a lecturer of art practice at Yale-NUS College and remains invested in teaching as a form of knowledge exchange and artistic inquiry.
Who Should Apply
We welcome applicants working primarily in still images who have a creative documentary practice.
Applicants should:
The fellowship is open to applicants from the following countries:
How To Apply
Please provide a short biography and an up-to-date CV outlining your photographic practice, relevant experience, exhibitions, publications, awards, and other professional achievements.
Your project synopsis should respond to the following prompts:
Share 15 to 20 images to support your proposed project
Suggest how you will utilise the project stipend of SGD$2000
This could include, but are not exclusive to: editing, grant-writing, working with editorial and commercial clients, book-making and distribution.
Fellowship Commitment
Fellows will be expected to work on their proposed projects and attend monthly meetings with their mentors and fellow participants, as well as sharing sessions and seminars. These meetings will be a mix of 1-on-1 consultations and group critique sessions, where feedback on projects will be shared. At the end of the programme, fellows are expected to produce a slideshow presentation of their project.
Timeline
27 July 2026,
2359hr Singapore Time
Application deadline
Early August 2026
Mid August 2026
End September 2026
– April 2027
April 2027
Application & Selection
Shortlisted applicants will be contacted for an online interview in early August, and successful applicants will be informed by mid-August. While we endeavour to do so, we may not be able to provide feedback to all applicants.
Applicants that demonstrate the following will be at an advantage:
Deadline: 27 July 2026, 2359hr Singapore Time