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Spotlight Exhibition

Overcoming

what remains standing

Curatorial Statement

We overcome things every day, often without even noticing. Something that feels impossible today may one day become something we look back at and realize that somehow, we made it through. Maybe changed, maybe still carrying parts of it with us, but no longer in the same place. Through Overcoming, people I had never met let me into very personal parts of their lives. I spent time with their photographs, read their stories, and somewhere along the way, they made me look differently at parts of my own life too. Maybe this is what happens when someone shares something deeply personal with us. We enter another person's story and, sometimes, unexpectedly find a part of our own. Who would we be today without everything we have already overcome, everything we are still trying to get through, and everything we may have to face tomorrow? To every photographer who became part of Overcoming - thank you for letting us come so close to something that belongs to your life. Some of these stories were difficult to look at, and I can only imagine how difficult they were to live through, and then to share. I will carry many of them with me long after this exhibition is over. And I hope that somewhere, someone looking at your photograph will find something they need in that moment - perhaps even the quiet realization that they, too, will make it through.

Teona Machavariani, August 2026

Recognition

Award Winners

EXIT WOUND by Pardis Hesami & Mahan Abasian1st
First Place

EXIT WOUND

Pardis Hesami & Mahan Abasian
Tehran, Iran
FLOATING SURVIVAL by Istiyak Ahamed Srabon2nd
Second Place

FLOATING SURVIVAL

Istiyak Ahamed Srabon
Nilphamari, Bangladesh
TIME TO SAY GOODBYE by Hardijanto Budiman3rd
Third Place

TIME TO SAY GOODBYE

Hardijanto Budiman
BSD City, Indonesia
TOMORROW by Paula Rae GibsonHM
Honorable Mention

TOMORROW

Paula Rae Gibson
London, United Kingdom
DEEP REST by Susan KauferHM
Honorable Mention

DEEP REST

Susan Kaufer
Los Angeles, CA
EYES HOLDING LIGHT by He Liu★
Human Presence

EYES HOLDING LIGHT

He Liu
Chengdu, China
The Exhibition

Selected Works

Overcoming catalog
The Catalog

Take the exhibition home

A printed catalog of Overcoming, published by Decagon Gallery - the full exhibition in a beautifully produced edition.

Order the Catalog →
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