Date: August 19 2026
Press release on the results of the IX International Theatre Photography Competition THEATRE EXPOSED 2026
Dear All,
The competition THEATRE EXPOSED has been held since 2018 with the support of ASSITEJ, the International Organization of Theaters for Children and Young People. The main theme of the competition is theater as art. The results of the competition are announced every year on World Photography Day.
THEATRE EXPOSED accepts photographs in four categories: artistic photography, portrait photography, movement in art, and a separate open category, which we call experimental. The competition is open to professional photographers who work in various theatres around the world, as well as anyone who loves theatre. Participation is free of charge.
ASSITEJ Korea, together with ASSITEJ International, announced a call for submissions for the ASSITEJ 2027 World Performing Arts Congress & Festival, which will take place in Suwon, Korea, from July 22 to August 1, 2027. In keeping with the spirit of “Bold Futures,” the organizers particularly welcome productions that at some point involve children and youth, or that meaningfully reflect their voices, experiences, and perspectives. In anticipation of this important event, this year we have created a dedicated category for photography of performances for children and youth.
This year, photographers from more than thirty countries submitted entries: Azerbaijan, Algeria, Abkhazia, Armenia, Argentina, England, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Brazil, Germany, Greece, the Dominican Republic, Zambia, Israel, Italy, Iran, Spain, Kazakhstan, China, Colombia, Cuba, Costa Rica, Mexico, Oman, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, San Marino, Slovenia, Ukraine, France, the Czech Republic, Ecuador, and other countries.
To determine the winners, an International jury is formed each year from people close to the arts (directors, artists, theater managers, actors, photographers, etc.) from different countries who have many years of professional experience and knowledge, as well as an impeccable reputation.
In 2026, the international jury of the competition THEATRE EXPOSED included:
Yuri Mechitov (Georgia)— chairman of the jury, legendary Georgian photographer, author of many books, including the photo album Sergei Parajanov. Chronicle of Dialogue”;
Jelena Vilt (Estonia) — photo artist, theater photographer;
Izya Shlosberg (USA) — competition curator, artist, writer;
Seok-hong Kim (Korea) — director of the Korea Arts Management Service (KAMS), Producer, When Summer Begins, Board Member of ASSITEJ Korea, Vice President of ASSITEJ International;
Sergei Zhdanovich (Belarus) — photo artist;
Makinde Adeniran (Nigeria) — President of the National Association of Theatre Arts of Nigeria (NANTAP, Lagos State);
Jovan Vidakovic (Bosnia and Herzegovina) — photographer;
Aki Tonaka (Japan) — photographer, member of the Japan Society of Performing Arts Photographers (JSPS), member of Doogaphoto;
Daniel Cesar Antonio Huarocc Huamán (Peru/Colombia) – theater director, physical and scenic dramatist, actor – puppeteer and set designer;
Vahid Amonpour (Iran/France) – theatre photographer, participant and winner of previous competitions;
Borut Bučinel (Slovenija) – theatre photographer, participant and winner of previous competitions.
We hope that the next, anniversary, tenth Competition will also be supported by our Esteemed Experts and professional theatre photographers from all over the world!
In 2026, 57 contestants from Abkhazia, Armenia, Argentina, England, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Germany, Zambia, Israel, Iran, Cuba, Mexico, Mongolia, Poland, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Slovenia, Tunisia, Ukraine, France, Togo, Chile, and other countries advanced to the finals of the competition.
In the end, the international jury selected 87 photographs in four categories: ART (30 photos), PORTRAIT (30 photos), MOVEMENT IN ART (38 photos), and the OPEN category, dedicated to theater performances for children and youth (31 photos).
The Grand Prix of the competition was awarded to participants from Kazakhstan, Israel, Serbia, Slovenia, and Ukraine in three categories: ART, MOVEMENT IN ART, and PORTRAIT. The photographs by these participants were recognized by a majority of the competition’s expert jury.
Based on the results of the online voting on the project’s Facebook page, the Audience Choice Awards were determined in all four categories. Works by photographers from Bolivia, Germany, Israel, Iran, Mexico, Ukraine, and other countries were recognized.
In addition, the Special Prize from the organizers in the Open category went to a photograph by Achref Bokri from Tunisia, while the Special Prize from the contest’s experts in the ART category went to Kokou Djagbavi from Togo.
We hope that the 10th Anniversary Contest in 2027, which we will announce this fall, will introduce us to new and interesting names!
You can view all participants’ albums in the four categories on the contest’s Facebook page: Theatre Exposed: https://www.facebook.com/groups/157152981673728
For any questions or additional information, please contact us by email at: theaterexposed@gmail.com
Sincerely,
The Contest Organizers
Feedback from a respected Expert of the International Theatre Photography Competition THEATRE EXPOSED 2026
As always, reviewing the photographs of Theatre Exposed has been an inspiring and awakening experience for me. This year, once again, I found myself deeply moved by each photograph. Looking at them, I felt as if I could sense and follow the breath of the actors and dancers captured in the images, and even the breath of the photographers at the very moment they pressed the shutter.
I have always been drawn to photographs that feel vivid and alive, images through which I can almost feel the breath, movement, and energy of the performers. I was very happy to encounter many such moments again this year. They made me feel refreshed and inspired, and reminded me once again of the special power of theatre photography.
Thank you again for sharing these wonderful photographs. Please continue to surprise, inspire, and awaken us through your work!
Seok-hong KIM (Korea)
Producer, When Summer Begins
Board Member, ASSITEJ Korea
Vice President, ASSITEJ International
Expert of the International Theatre Photography Competition THEATRE EXPOSED
Theatre photography fascinates me because it is a unique field that brings together the work and artistic visions of many different creators. The world that is created on stage both constrains the photographer—through its technical and narrative framework—and, at the same time, offers the opportunity to enrich the moments captured through the lens with a personal artistic perspective.
One of the greatest challenges is to become a silent co-author of the moment: to remain unheard, unseen, and unobtrusive while documenting the performance.
Capturing the unrepeatable nature of a live performance is a challenge in itself. It requires a deep understanding of the production, its rhythm, its dramatic highlights, and the limitations imposed by the lighting design.
I am delighted that, as a member of the Theatre Exposed jury, I had the opportunity to experience so many different approaches to theatre photography. I would like to sincerely thank and congratulate all the applicants for entrusting us with their remarkable photographs and for sharing their work with us.
Theatre Exposed is an outstanding platform that makes a significant contribution to the development and recognition of theatre photography.
Borut Bučinel (Slovenija)
theatre photographer,
participant and winner of previous competitions
Expert of the International Theatre Photography Competition THEATRE EXPOSED 2026
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to judge this competition.
Among the photographs submitted, I selected the ones that captured truly memorable theatrical moments. They were the images that made me feel as if I were actually sitting in the theater, standing alongside the theater photographer and experiencing the performance firsthand.
What impressed me most about the photos I chose was the photographer’s boldness. I especially enjoyed their artistic quality and visual approach.
Most importantly, theater photography is about capturing the decisive moment. I’d like to thank everyone who participated, and thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve as a judge for this edition of this major theater photography competition.
Vahid Amanpour (Iran/France)
theatre photographer,
participant and winner of previous competitions
Expert of the International Theatre Photography Competition THEATRE EXPOSED 2026
Theatre photography has always attracted me precisely because of its unusual position between documentation and authorship. A photographer enters a space that has already been shaped — by the director’s vision, scenography, costume, lighting, movement, and acting. Much of it is predetermined and, at first glance, seems to leave little room for intervention. And yet, it is precisely within those limitations that the photographer’s work begins.
For me, a good theatre photograph is never simply an accurate record of what happened on stage. It must carry something of the performance, but also something of the photographer who made it. The choice of viewpoint, framing, and distance from the action always reveals how the photographer understood what was unfolding before them. In that sense, two people can photograph the very same performance and produce two entirely different images.
This diversity of perspectives was one of the things I found particularly interesting in this year’s selection of Theatre Exposed competition. The submitted works revealed a wide range of approaches — from photographs relying on strong acting expression and dramatic stage presence, to those observing the performance through space, light, gesture, or an almost abstract relationship between figures on stage. The most successful images were not necessarily those depicting the most visually attractive scenes, but those that managed to convey the feeling that something was genuinely happening.
This is probably one of the criteria I return to most often when looking at theatre photography: can the image convey at least part of the experience of the performance to someone who was not sitting in the auditorium?
A photograph does not need to explain the plot or retell the performance. Often, a single glance, the relationship between two bodies, the movement of a hand, an empty area of the stage, or the way light separates an actor from the darkness is enough. When a photograph works, the viewer senses that there is something beyond the frame. It can draw us into the performance without requiring us to know anything about it beforehand.
Because, in the end, what I look for in theatre photography is life. I look for a sense of movement, energy, tension, or silence.
A photograph through which we can almost feel the rhythm of the actor or dancer, the relationships between performers, and the atmosphere that existed on stage. Such photographs do not always need to be technically perfect. Sometimes a certain degree of imperfection — movement, grain, darkness, or slight blur — can further emphasise the fact that we are looking at something that belonged to a live performance.
Today, this quality seems perhaps more important to me than ever before. At a time when it is possible to produce an almost perfect visual image without any real event preceding it, photography of live theatre gains a new kind of value. It becomes a trace of an actual encounter between people in a particular space and time.
The performance ends, the actors leave the stage, the scenography is removed, but the photograph can preserve something of that event.
The photographer needs to recognise something.
Perhaps that is the essence of theatre photography: to be present enough to understand the performance, yet unobtrusive enough not to interfere with it; to follow its rhythm, understand the relationships on stage, and from everything unfolding before you build your own photographic vision.
When all of these elements come together, the photograph stops being merely a document of the performance.
It becomes an independent work that continues to live beyond it.
Jovan Vidaković (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Photographer,
Expert of the International Theatre Photography Competition THEATRE EXPOSED
