We recently celebrated the opening of the Second Edition of the Open Call Winners’ Exhibition at Elliott Gallery, showcasing the work of this year’s selected artists: Birte Kaufmann, Naïma El Kadi, and Olivier Tuinier.

The exhibition presents three very different yet equally compelling photographic voices, each offering a unique way of seeing and engaging with the world.

Birte Kaufmann’s The Travellers (2011–ongoing) gives insight into the everyday life of Ireland's largest minority group, now looking for a new identity within 21st-century Western European society. Her work captures moments of vulnerability, connection, and quiet intensity that stay with you long after leaving the space.

With an evocative approach, Naïma El Kadi’s What We Choose Not to See focuses on former landfill sites in Flanders, Belgium. Naima develops analogue photographs using polluted water collected from these sites — chemical residues react directly with the photographic emulsion, leaving visible marks on the images. The pollution becomes part of the image-making process, not as an illustration, but as a physical presence.

Olivier Tuinier’s Take Notice is an ongoing series in which Olivier documents small, often overlooked scenes encountered in the streets. Drawn to the unspectacular and the unfiltered, the series reflects the real not by documenting dramatic events or obvious beauty, but by highlighting the subtle and honest poetry found in ordinary spaces. In a visually saturated world, Take Notice is, above all, an invitation to pause and really look.

Thank you to everyone for being part of such a fun and memorable opening! We’re excited to keep the conversation going!

The exhibition will be on view from until 16th May. We are open by appointment.