Open Imagination
 February 13, 2026
Manifest - OUCH!: A Call for Art About Pain
 Exhibitions

The Cincinnati based non-profit arts organization and gallery, Manifest, invites visual artists and designers to submit works about the myriad things that hurt and the ways pain moves us. Open to all traditional and non-traditional genre and media, including 2D, 3D, etc. Pain happens within the body. It is hard to name, hard to prove. Empathy isn’t enough—without visible wound, we rely on communication to express it. Sometimes expression, a call to be seen, a call for someone else to help heft the burden, is the only path to relief. Still, we are fascinated by it. We press the bruise, nudge the hot tooth, and wallow in the miasma of a sad song. A part of us craves to see it echoed in art, and to share in the recognition, the naming of the thing that hurts us. When pain is shared, it eases, if only a little. $45 for up to THREE entries submitted. $5 per each additional entry. Includes honorarium of $50 for each exhibiting artist, and Grand Jury Award of $1,000 for one jury-selected work from among the exhibits on view.

 Includes honorarium of $50 for each exhibiting artist, and Grand Jury Award of $1,000 for one jury-selected work from among the exhibits on view.
 International
 
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