We’re launching a new ongoing series—Soft Territories—through Pup and Tiger, a queer-run art space in Canterbury, UK. This evolving project offers a platform for interviews, showcases, and creative conversations with artists. It focuses on LGBTQ+ and underrepresented voices.
We’re launching a new ongoing series—Soft Territories—through Pup and Tiger, a queer-run art space in Canterbury, UK.
This evolving project offers a platform for interviews, showcases, and creative conversations with artists. It focuses on LGBTQ+ and underrepresented voices.
The term Soft Territories evokes spaces that are porous, shifting, and open to redefinition.
We want to explore how artists shape or inhabit these spaces.
They might do this through memory, identity, practice, resistance, care, or play. In a world that urgently needs this kind of work, these creative acts matter deeply.
Through this series, we invite you to explore the edges and overlaps—imagined geographies, creative rituals, experimental forms, and the spaces we build to survive and thrive.
These are the kinds of spaces where we can reimagine the world we want to live in.
This is an open and ongoing call. We’ll feature selected artists on our social channels, as well as in related events, exhibitions, and collaborative projects.
We’re looking for artists who are thoughtful, curious, and unafraid to take risks. Surprise us—whether your work is visual, time-based, sound-driven, hybrid, or still emerging.
Soft Territories is curated by Jared Pappas-Kelley, artist, writer, and co-founder of Pup and Tiger.
His work has appeared in Art Monthly, The Guardian, 3:AM Magazine, Cabinet, and The Rumpus.
He is the author of Solvent Form: Art and Destruction, To Build a House That Never Ceased, and Stalking America.
Pappas-Kelley has curated exhibitions internationally and has led several independent art spaces and collaborative initiatives, including Critical Line, Tollbooth, and Don’t Bite the Pavement.
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Contact the curator
Who is eligible for this opportunity?
Anyone who feels a creative pull and aligns with the spirit of Soft Territories is welcome to apply. This call is especially for LGBTQ+ artists and those from underrepresented or marginalised communities. We welcome artists at any stage in their journey, from emerging to established, working in any medium including visual, sound, time-based, hybrid, or forms still taking shape. If your work explores identity, memory, place, or transformation, or if you’re just beginning to find your voice, this space is for you. If based in the South East of England, you are strongly encouraged to apply, though open to all internationally.
When is the deadline?
The deadline to submit your work for Soft Territories is 17th June 2025. Submissions received after this date may not be considered for the first exhibition, so we recommend sending yours in with plenty of time to spare. This is an ongoing call however, so late submissions may be considered for a future exhibition.
How many works can I submit?
You can submit between 3 and 8 works. These can be images, video links, sound files, or a mix—whatever gives us a good sense of your practice. If you’re showing a series or connected body of work, feel free to include that as well.
How much does it cost?
There is no fee to apply or take part. Soft Territories is a free and accessible opportunity. We believe in creating space without financial barriers.
Are there payments to artists?
No, we aren’t able to offer payment for this opportunity. Soft Territories is a free, non-commercial platform designed to share and uplift creative work without barriers. While we can’t offer fees, we do offer visibility, community, and a chance to be part of future exhibitions, events, and collaborations through Pup and Tiger.
What publicity will be provided as part of the opportunity?
Selected artists will be featured across Pup and Tiger’s social media, website, and newsletter. We’ll share your work as part of the Soft Territories series through dedicated posts, interviews, or digital showcases. Your name, work, and artist statement will be credited and highlighted as part of our ongoing effort to platform voices that deserve to be seen and heard. There may also be opportunities to be involved in future exhibitions, events, or collaborative projects.
Do I need to be present?
No, you don’t need to be physically present at Pup and Tiger to take part. This opportunity is open to artists regardless of location. However, if you’re based locally or can travel to Canterbury, there may be additional chances to be involved in video interviews, in-person showcases, or future events. We love connecting with artists in real life when possible, but it’s not a requirement.
How do you decide on proposals?
Proposals are reviewed by the Pup and Tiger team with a focus on thoughtfulness, originality, and how your work resonates with the themes of Soft Territories. We’re not looking for perfection or polish. We’re looking for honesty, curiosity, and creative voices that challenge, comfort, question, or reimagine. We consider how each submission contributes to the wider dialogue we’re hoping to build, and we welcome work from across disciplines and experience levels.
What happens if my proposal is chosen?
If your proposal is selected, we’ll get in touch to confirm your participation and discuss how best to share your work. This might include featuring you on our social media, website, or in digital interviews. We may also invite you to take part in future exhibitions, events, or collaborative projects connected to Soft Territories and Pup and Tiger. You’ll have the chance to shape how your work is presented, and we’ll support you throughout the process.
What kind of proposals are you looking for?
We’re looking for work that feels honest, thoughtful, and alive with curiosity. Soft Territories is about the in-between spaces—memory, identity, transformation, resistance, care, play. We welcome proposals that explore these ideas in any form, whether visual, time-based, sound, hybrid, or something still taking shape. You don’t need to fit into a box. We’re drawn to work that lingers, disrupts, questions, or comforts. If it speaks to the world we’re trying to reimagine, we want to see it.
What are the selection criteria?
We’re looking for proposals that connect meaningfully with the themes of Soft Territories—such as identity, place, transformation, care, and resistance. We consider clarity of intention, originality, and whether the work feels grounded in your own perspective or experience. Most of all, we’re drawn to work that resonates emotionally or intellectually, whether it sparks curiosity, invites reflection, or opens up new ways of seeing. Professionalism or polish isn’t the priority—we care about what the work says and how it contributes to the wider conversation.
