JacquesCDs
Hosts it
Louis Wright. Jewellery, garments and the Chain Breakers project, putting on events in east London with photography on the walls.
Submissions close 20 September. Free to submit. Kachette Shoreditch, 14 November.
FINAL DEADLINE 20TH SEPTEMBER , APPLY ONLINE
Kachette, Shoreditch , Saturday 14 November 2026
WHERE
YOU
REALLY
FROM?
Live music, photography and a panel talk, about the people who built this country.
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14 November, Kachette
Panel and private view, then live music, then DJs.
Exhibition and pop-up throughout. Arch 1, bare barrel vault and polished concrete, with hard light. The work goes up against that.
Everything below is being built now. This page is where each one lands.
THE EXHIBITION
The hang tells the story. We place each picture for what it says next to the one beside it.
Speakers TBA
THE PANEL
Shy leads it, powered by Ode To Them. Speakers announced as they are confirmed.
Announcing
THE LINE-UP
A live band leads the music, then artists, then DJs. Names announced closer to the night.
Filming
THE SERIES
Where You Really From, on film. People asked the question, and what they answer.
In build
THE GAME
Skate, ride or walk the streets the show is about, from the station to the door.
The name
A question a lot of people of colour in Britain get asked.
Really is the word doing the work.
Where are you really from.
It is never the first question. It is the second. You say Manchester, or east London, and the answer is not accepted. Really is the word doing the work. It says the account you gave of yourself cannot be true, because of how you look.
Nobody asks a white Mancunian where they are really from.
If you have never been asked it, but you have asked someone, that is worth sitting with too. The night puts the question to everyone in the room.
It is one of those questions where you feel ostracised and isolated, because you feel as if you are perceived differently just because of the way you look.
What we are looking for
This is the register.
Street and documentary. People in their own streets, their own front rooms, their own night buses. Photographed from inside the community, not visiting it.
Unposed. We are not after studio portraits or fashion. We are after the frame you got because you were already there.
Colour or black and white, both work. Any format, any camera. Some of these were shot on film thirty years ago and some on a phone last winter, and that is the point.
Look at the range below, then send us yours. We are not asking you to copy these. We are showing you the territory.
Shot from inside, not looking in.
Scroll the wall , 16 frames
Reference only , these photographs are not ours and are shown to describe the kind of work we are asking for. All rights remain with their photographers.
The open call is live , free to submit
Send us your work.
We want to see street and documentary photography. People. Communities. Everyday life. Photographed from inside, not looking in.
Send a body of work with a clear thread and enough range to build a show around. Minimum four images, up to fifty.
New work or old work. First exhibition or fiftieth. Any format, any camera , 35mm, 120, 5x4, digital, instant, phone. Colour or black and white.
Free to submit, and open to anyone who can travel to London. Submissions close 20 September.
347 Old St, London EC1V 9LP
Trouble with the form? Open it in a new tab
Free to submit , open to anyone who can travel to London
Share the call
Send it to someone who should be in this.
Four graphics for Instagram. Repost them, put them on a story, send them to a photographer who is sitting on a body of work and has not shown it.
We have done this before
CHAIN BREAKERS GATHERING
KOJEY RADICAL & KWOLI BLACK
with V.I.C , guest DJs
Galleria Objets, 92 Brick Lane. November 2025. The photography hung through a full party and came out fine.
- Billed
- JacquesCDs & Ode To Them presents
- Campaign
- Seven flyer variants, fly-posted and filmed in 4K
Who is putting it on
The people behind the night.
Follow along as it is built.
@mxzvita
Mxzvita
Works on it with us
Afro R&B artist, Zimbabwean heritage, born and raised in Manchester. The standpoint is hers as much as ours.
Ode To Them
Powers it
They co-presented the November 2025 event with JCD. This time they are backing it, and Shy is leading the panel.
Early access
GET FIRST LOOK AT TICKETS
Early bird tickets go to the list first, before anyone else. Plus the line-up and the selected photographers as they are announced.
No noise in between , unsubscribe any time
As it builds
Updates
10 Sep
Ten days left to submit
Final stretch on the open call. Any format, any camera, free to enter.
02 Sep
Kachette confirmed for 14 November
Arch 1, Old Street. Panel and private view, then live music, then DJs.
28 Aug
Ode To Them are powering the night
They co-presented the November 2025 event with JCD. This time they are backing it, and Shy is leading the panel.