Found photo courtesy of Ben Alper’s The Archival Impulse

Loss is a universal experience that transcends class, culture, age, and history. We all deal with it at some point in life, whether it's the death of a loved one, a breakup, or an indescribable feeling of lack or emptiness. It can also go beyond straightforward representation and into the degradation of images as a metaphor for personal loss or something more abstract.

For Humble's next online exhibition, as a followup to our 2018 show "On Death," we're partnering with photographer, writer, and founder of the Too Tired Project Tara Wray to curate an exhibition about these many forms of loss. Think wide, wild, metaphoric and introspective.

As an added "bonus" at least one submission will be considered for Tara Wray's Too Tired Project book, to be published by Yoffy Press in 2020.

Deadline: March 20th, 2019

From Ben Alper and Joy Drury Cox’s claustrophobic photos of tourist caves to Ka-Man Tse’s photos capturing LGBTQ communities in Hong Kong, these photobooks are worth your time (and – hint-hint – money!)

As we declared last year, just like our open calls aren’t “photo contests,” this is not a “Best Photobooks" list. It’s not a competition, and with just a few editors running the Humble show, feels disingenuous and unrealistic to declare it as such. Instead, this is simply a collection of photobooks that made an impact on us in 2018.

As editors and curators with a broad spectrum of tastes, we responded to critical socio-political discussions, adventurous technical or conceptual potential, new takes on photo historical icons, or just damn beautiful image collections. As you move through this list, we encourage you to dig deeper into these photographers’ work and show your support for their careers and practice by buying a few, preferably directly from the publishers or photographers themselves. Without further ado…

Open Call: Group Show 61 – Loss

Humble Booklist: 32 Photobooks That Dropped Our Jaws in 2018