EXCLAIM! Open Call
During times of international conflict, political strife and growing economic inequality, art serves as a powerful and urgent means of expression. EXCLAIM! is a juried group exhibition organized by the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition (BWAC) that presents artwork that makes a statement, evokes emotions or is a call for action. Whether bold or subtle, personal or political, literal or figurative, the works in this exhibition express compelling perspectives that are meaningful to the artist and speak to the present moment.
BWAC encourages artists to explore subjects that are of particular importance to them and to share work that reflects their individual voices, lived experiences and creative vision. Works by artists working in all mediums (printmaking, painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, clay, glass, installation, video, sound, text and performance) and addressing all issues (social, personal, political, economic, technological, international, domestic and local) and perspectives will be considered.
EXCLAIM! celebrates the ability of art to communicate, connect, challenge, inspire and heal. Through diverse personal and artistic perspectives, the exhibition invites viewers to experience, reflect, discuss and discover the many ways artists respond to the changing world around them.
Juror: Chella Man
Chella Man is a multidisciplinary artist, director, author, and curator whose practice interrogates the power of perspective. Rooted in the body as a site of reclamation, Man's work traverses’ performance installation, film, tattoo, athletics and education. Through careful interrogation of how society systematically weaponizes words against marginalized bodies, Man exposes the deficiencies of dominant narratives around gender, sexuality, race, and ableism.
Man emphasizes joy as both artistic tool and activist strategy. Their work does not center trauma or exclusion, though not for lack of intimate experience with both, but instead foregrounds pleasure, resilience, curiosity, and care as a radical path forward. This commitment extends to how the work is shared: Man's social media presence functions as praxis, circumventing institutional gatekeepers to build direct channels to community and populate the media landscape with expansive, empowered visions of a proudly fluid self.
Man is an honoree of Forbes 30 under 30 and a writer for Time whose work has been featured in Frieze, Brooklyn Museum, Performance Space NY, Powerhouse Museum, and served as a Nike ambassador, advocating for disabled and LGBTQ+ equity in movement spaces.
IMPORTANT DATES:
Show Dates: September 17-Ocotber 18, 2026
Submission Deadline: Thursday, August 20, 2026
Ready to submit? CLICK HERE
Show Location:
BWAC @ The Whale Building
14 53rd St.
Sunset Park, Brooklyn, NY 11220