Picture the Power Volume II
Visual Stories of What Happens After We Vote
Picture the Power Vol. II: Counted Photography Competition and Exhibition
COUNTED is a traveling photography and visual storytelling exhibition centering the people, places, and communities that continue the work long after election day.
Voting is often framed as the final step in civic participation, but COUNTED asks a different question:
What happens after we vote?
This exhibition invites photographers and visual storytellers across Louisiana to explore the realities of community care, advocacy, organizing, survival, joy, and collective responsibility. Through documentary and artistic interpretation, COUNTED highlights the ways people continue showing up for one another beyond the ballot box. The idea of seeing community in action is a force that is undeniably impactful.
We are seeking work that reflects themes including:
- Immigration
- Criminal Justice Reform
- Housing Justice
- Health Advocacy
- Early Care and Education
- Environmental Justice
Artists are encouraged to approach these themes through their own lens and lived experience. Documentary, portraiture, conceptual, archival, and experimental visual storytelling approaches are all welcome.
Submissions may focus on:
- Community spaces and gathering places
- Mutual aid and grassroots organizing
- Family, identity, and belonging
- Public demonstrations and civic engagement
- The impact of policy on everyday life
- The ways communities adapt, resist, heal, and build together
Continuing the Work
COUNTED builds upon the foundation of the first exhibition, which centered civic engagement, participation, and the importance of showing up at the ballot box. The inaugural exhibition brought together artists committed to documenting the energy, emotion, and urgency surrounding voting and collective voice. And with clear messaging that the people will not be ushered into spaces where the messaging is cleaThis second volume expands the conversation beyond participation alone. It asks audiences to consider what it means to remain engaged after the election cycle ends. If the first exhibition focused on being counted at the polls, COUNTED focuses on what it means to be counted within our communities.
Together, these exhibitions create an evolving visual archive of Louisiana communities in motion—documenting not only moments of decision, but the everyday work of care, advocacy, accountability, and collective action.
Submission Guidelines
- Open to photographers residing in Louisiana
- No submission fee
- Works must relate to the exhibition themes
- All work must be submitted digitally
- Accepted file formats: high-resolution JPEG or PNG
- Artists may submit up to three works
- Documentary, conceptual, portrait, experimental, and mixed-media photography approaches are welcome
Important Updates
Open Call Launch:
May 15, 2026
Submission Deadline:
June 21, 2026
Tour Stops
Lafayette, Louisiana
Lake Charles, Louisiana
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Exhibition Awards
We invite artists to submit work that challenges perspective, encourages conversation, and reflects the many ways communities continue to show up for one another every day.
This is more than documentation.
This is community memory.
This is real life.
This is how we continue to fight back. OUR WAY.
Selected artists will be considered for the following awards:
Legacy of Power Award: $1,000
Honoring a photograph that powerfully documents the emotional weight, humanity, and lived reality behind civic participation and collective action.
Voice of the People Award: $500
Recognizing an image that preserves the presence, resilience, and visibility of communities too often overlooked in conversations around democracy and representation.
Light of Democracy Award: $350
Celebrating a work that reflects the tenderness, mutual support, and acts of care that sustain movements, neighborhoods, and people beyond election day.
Previous Winners
Khaelyn Jackson
President's Legacy of Power Award
$1,000
Honoring the most compelling image that captures the enduring legacy of civic action and the generational struggle for voting rights in Louisiana.
Dorcus Brandon
The Voice of the People Award
$500
Recognizing a powerful photograph that elevates the stories, strength, and agency of communities advocating for inclusive democracy.
Antione Lacey
The Light of Democracy Award
$350
Celebrating a work that illuminates the resilience, hope, and everyday acts of courage that define voter participation across the state.