where do we roam
open call
Artists Examining Movement, Migration & the Politics of Belonging
open call
The Starving Artist invites artists from around the world to submit work for an upcoming exhibition and publication, Where Do We Roam? This project examines migration, mobility, and displacement as lived, political, and deeply human experiences.
Our objective is to centre movement as agency, not only crisis: the right to move, to stay, to return, to remain undocumented, to cross, to root temporarily, or to exist in-between.
Through artistic practices, we ask: Who is allowed to roam? Who is stopped, surveilled, displaced, or rendered invisible? And how do policies fail to reflect the lived realities of movement?
Set against ongoing climate breakdown, conflict, economic inequality, and border militarisation, Where Do We Roam? explores migration as a condition of the present, not an exception.
why this matters
Human mobility is at its highest level in recorded history with globalization and our travel networks being stronger than ever before. However, dominant narratives continue to frame migration through fear, emergency, or extraction rather than dignity, complexity, and autonomy.
Currently, over 280 million people live outside their country of birth, with many more experiencing internal displacement, cyclical migration, or informal movement.
Whereas now migration policy often erases nuance, perpetuates stereotypes & flattens stories into statistics, borders into binaries.
Artists are essential in reclaiming narrative power, exposing policy gaps, and making visible the emotional, embodied, and relational dimensions of movement. Art allows us to sit with liminality to understand roaming not only as loss, but also becoming.
details
Locations: Global submissions welcomed
Ages: Open to artists 18+ due to sensitive topics
Number of works: Each artist may submit up to 10 pieces
🎨 artistic mediums
Artists are encouraged to explore diverse artistic mediums that can be displayed in a 2D Gallery Space, including but not limited to:
Painting, drawing, and illustration
Sculpture and installation (Images of work)
Photography and digital art
Mixed media and collage
Performance and interactive art
Video art and animation
No AI AI-generated content
🗓️ please apply here
Google Form: https://forms.gle/v5t5xAvAArKWBkKu6
Submission Deadline: March 31, 2026
📍 contact
There is no submission fee and no participation fee as we firmly believe in providing an accessible platform for artists to share their voices and stories.
🌍 themes to explore
🧭 migration & liminality
Works exploring in-betweenness, transience, waiting, borderlands, and states of non-arrival.
🏛️ policy gaps & structural violence
Artistic critiques of borders, visas, asylum systems, surveillance, detention, and the bureaucratic realities of movement.
🌱 climate, land & displacement
Connections between environmental degradation, extractivism, land loss, and forced or adaptive migration.
🧠 memory, identity & belonging
How movement reshapes identity, language, family structures, and cultural continuity across generations.
🧳 where do we ROMA!
A special collection is also included for works that centre Roma, Gypsy, and Traveller histories, cultures, and contemporary realities. We are seeking works that explore nomadism beyond stereotype, the criminalisation of mobility, forced sedentarisation, and the ongoing impacts of anti-Roma racism across borders.
stay in touch
✉
️If you have any questions or require further information, please feel free to reach out to the same email address: hello.thestarvingartist@gmail.com
Disclaimer
By submitting your artwork to The Starving Artist for “Where Do We Roam?” exhibition & publication, you agree to the following:
The Starving Artist Initiative has permission to use & showcase your artwork for marketing, image use, & publication purposes. We do not sell your artworks or charge for participation. Any funds raised from sales of publications will support The Starving Artist Fund.
The Starving Artist Initiative has permission to use & showcase your artwork for marketing, image use, & publication purposes. We do not sell your artworks or charge for participation. Any funds raised from sales of publications will support The Starving Artist Fund.
We can feature your work in the exhibition & publication indefinitely unless agreed upon otherwise. We can reproduce & edit images of your artwork for promotional, design & documentation purposes.
Publication and Exhibitions: Your artwork may be included in the publication, exhibitions & media publicity. Each artist will receive a digital download, but no monetary compensation will be provided. The Starving Artist is not liable for any harm, loss or damage during any stage of the project process.
Publication and Exhibitions: Your artwork may be included in the publication, exhibitions & media publicity. Each artist will receive a digital download, but no monetary compensation will be provided. The Starving Artist is not liable for any harm, loss or damage during any stage of the project process.
By submitting your artwork, you confirm your understanding and agreement to these terms.
the starving artist © 2026
All images and content are copyright of The Starving Artist & the artists featured.
They cannot be reproduced without explicit authorization and credits.