Changes

With David Bowie as one of the original architects of gender fluidity in popular culture, Changes explores the beautiful, shifting territory between masculinity and femininity, identity and performance, intimacy and self invention.

This second room of the Face The Strange Gallery invites artists to create work that explores identity as something alive, personal and constantly evolving. We are looking for paintings, portraits, photography, costume, mixed media and visual storytelling that reflect sexuality not as something fixed, but as a living spectrum of desire, vulnerability, strength and transformation.

Masculine and feminine forms may merge. Faces may be painted, concealed or reinvented. Bodies can become canvases, clothing can become language, and identity can become an act of imagination.

We welcome submissions from LGBTQ+ and non binary artists, drag performers, photographers, painters, designers, students and emerging creatives, each offering their own vision of sexuality, transformation and the freedom to become. We are also interested in deeply personal stories from people who found courage in Bowie’s refusal to be defined, people who saw in him permission to dress differently, love differently, move differently and live without apology.

Bowie did not simply change his appearance. He challenged the boundaries of gender, sexuality and identity, creating a space where difference could become beauty and transformation could become liberation.

A open call to fans to create works representing Gender and Identity

Submission Guide

Changes is the second room of the Face The Strange Gallery, inviting artists from around the world to explore identity, gender, sexuality, transformation and the freedom to become.

With David Bowie as one of the original architects of gender fluidity in popular culture, Changes explores the beautiful, shifting territory between masculinity and femininity, identity and performance, intimacy and self invention.

There are deliberately very few rules. We want this gallery to be personal, challenging, beautiful, provocative and completely open to interpretation.

Your Work. Your Identity. Your Interpretation.

Your work can be created in any medium of your choice. Painting, portraiture, photography, drawing, collage, mosaic, sculpture, costume, fashion, textiles, digital art, mixed media, body art, printmaking, recycled materials and experimental forms are all welcome.

You can work on canvas, paper, board, wood, metal, fabric, photographic material or any other background or surface you choose.

There is no prescribed shape or scale. We will accept works from 10 cm × 10 cm through to 2 metres × 2 metres. If your chosen medium takes you somewhere different, feel free to explore it.

The Brief

Create an original work that explores identity as something alive, personal, and constantly evolving.

Masculine and feminine forms may merge. Faces may be painted, concealed, fragmented or reinvented. Bodies can become canvases. Clothing can become language. Portraiture can become abstract. Identity itself can become an act of imagination.

Your work might explore gender, sexuality, desire, vulnerability, strength, transformation, self expression or the relationship between the person we are and the person we choose to present to the world.

It does not have to be a portrait of Bowie. His influence can simply provide the starting point.

The question is not necessarily “Who was Bowie?” It can be “Who are you?”

Who Can Enter

We particularly welcome submissions from LGBTQ+ and non binary artists, drag performers, photographers, painters, designers, students and emerging creatives, while the open call itself welcomes artists from every background and identity.

We are also interested in deeply personal stories from people who found courage in Bowie’s refusal to be defined. People who saw in him permission to dress differently, love differently, move differently, create differently and live without apology.

Your story can form part of the work or accompany it as a short written statement.

The Spirit of Changes

Bowie did not simply change his appearance. He repeatedly challenged conventional boundaries around gender, sexuality, performance, and identity, helping create a cultural space where difference could become beauty and transformation could become liberation. Changes is about taking that spirit forward rather than looking backwards.

Selection

A judging panel will select 50 original works to form the Changes Gallery as part of Face The Strange at Factory International, Aviva Studios, Manchester.

Selection will focus on originality, imagination, emotional impact and the strength of the artist’s interpretation. Established artists, students, emerging creatives and first time exhibitors will all be considered.

How to Submit

For the initial submission, artists should provide clear photographs or digital images of the completed work, together with the title, dimensions, medium and a short explanation of the story or idea behind it.

Artists whose work is selected will then receive full instructions regarding delivery, installation and collection.

Submissions for Changes will be open from 15 September to 15 October. Any medium. Any identity. Any interpretation.

Change. Reinvent. Become.