PROV seeks street photography capturing Victoria’s changing public spaces

The Public Record Office Victoria (PROV) is calling on photographers to help capture the spirit and evolution of Victoria’s public spaces for an upcoming exhibition, Rehearsing the City, opening in May 2026 at the Victorian Archives Centre Gallery.

The exhibition will explore how streets, parks, laneways and other shared spaces continually transform through both planning and the spontaneous rhythms of daily life –from redevelopment and protests to pop-up art, street parties and community gardens.

Pairing archival photographs from Victoria’s state collections with new contemporary images, Rehearsing the City aims to show how people shape – and are shaped by – the spaces they inhabit.

PROV is seeking street photography taken anywhere in Victoria that reveals how public spaces are used, changed, or reimagined, whether through official projects, grassroots creativity or simply everyday behaviour.

Eleven photographs will be selected for inclusion in the exhibition, with each photographer receiving a $300 fee and the opportunity for their work to become part of the State Archives’ permanent collection. There’s no cost to enter, and submissions close at 9am on Tuesday, January 27, 2026.

“Public space is always changing, not just through policy and planning, but through the improvisation and everyday actions of people,” the PROV said in its announcement.

Photographers, documentarians and anyone with an eye for the unexpected are encouraged to submit.

Guidelines and entry details are available at: prov.vic.gov.au/vac-gallery-2026-call-submissions •