WAFDF Calls Artists Worldwide to Work With Papyrus & Light

The World Art Forum for Development Foundation has announced the second edition of its open call programme, inviting artists across disciplines to create original works using papyrus as their primary material. 

The Cairo-based foundation, recognised across Egypt and the wider Middle East for its work at the intersection of art and the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, has built this initiative around a commitment to repositioning papyrus as a living creative medium rather than a historical curiosity.

This edition centres on the theme of Aten — the ancient Egyptian concept representing the eternal sun, the life-giving energy of the universe.

Artists are asked to explore how light moves, transforms, and is received. The foundation draws on the Egyptian tradition of ‘Coming Forth by Day’, the ancient understanding of rebirth through light, as a conceptual anchor. Interpretations can be as literal or as abstract as the artist chooses.

The call is open to a wide range of practices: painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, collage, mixed media, calligraphy, illustration, textile art, embroidery, sculpture, and installation.

Three-dimensional and installation-based works must fall within a footprint of 50–200cm in both height and width. Selected artists will receive a prize and exhibit alongside established names at the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square, Cairo.

The previous edition drew artists from across the region, producing work that ranged from traditional mark-making to experimental mixed media, demonstrating the unexpected range that papyrus can hold as a contemporary surface.

Applications for submissions close on September 1st, 2026, and can be made through the World Art Forum for Development Foundation's website.