A new initiative for 2026, the CCA’s Photography Research Fellowship Program supports advanced research to reexamine the spectrum of interactions between photography and architecture and our photographic holdings.

The CCA holds one of the most significant photography collections in North America. Founded in 1974, before the formal establishment of the CCA, the collection has been integral to the development of new understandings of the relationship between photography and architecture and to establishing this relationship as a distinct field of visual and historical scholarship. It is rich in names and images canonized in traditional histories of photography as well as in unpublished works and series by understudied or unidentified photographers. The collection’s roughly 65,000 photographs document their subjects—buildings and building sites, infrastructure works, archeological sites, built environments and their inhabitants, landscapes, architectural details—but also, crucially, reveal the subjectivities of their photographers and the historical conditions in which they worked. While the subjects and photographers represented are mainly Western, the collection includes thousands of photographs made across Asia, in North Africa, and elsewhere, primarily in the context of nineteenth-century European and British expansionist aspirations and colonial rule.

For the CCA Photography Research Fellowship’s inaugural year, we seek applications from researchers investigating any aspect of nineteenth-century photography—the most substantive part of the collection—as it intersects with the natural and built environment. We are particularly interested in the role of photography in visual and architectural culture, especially in relation to evolving technologies; the relationship between photography and the environment; and the functions of photographs in imperialist frameworks. Proposals may address materials held in our archives and library as well as our photography collection. Photographs in a variety of formats can be found across all three of these collection areas.

We welcome applications from photographers and artists with a research-driven practice, researchers from all disciplines whose current projects are oriented specifically toward photography, and historians of photography and image making. This program builds on The Lives of Documents—Photography as Project, which was the first of a projected trilogy of research and exhibition projects exploring the medium of photography as a means to investigate the built environment.

Photography Fellows are offered a residency at the CCA between June and August for a period of one to two months, with the goal of creating a community of researchers on site, particularly alongside our Research Fellowship Program, Indigenous-led Design Fellowship Program, and Doctoral Research Residency Program. Each Fellow will receive a monthly stipend of CAD 5,000, as well as additional financial support for travel expenses. Based on the scope of the proposed research project, the CCA’s curatorial committee will determine the duration of the residency in discussion with each candidate to best support their project. In addition to a public presentation of their work in progress, Photography Fellows are expected to participate in discussions, seminars, and workshops organized at the CCA, exchange with CCA staff, and engage with the local academic, artistic, and architectural community.

Applicants whose proposals centre photography as a central question of inquiry should apply exclusively to the Photography Fellowship Program. All other proposals that address visual media as forms of historical evidence and exploration should apply to the CCA Research Fellowship Program. If you are unsure whether to apply for the Photography Fellowship Program or our longstanding Research Fellowship Program, please reach out to studium@cca.qc.ca.

One fellowship is available for 2026. Applications (in English or French) must include:

• a proposal (750–1,000 words) addressing how the research project relates to any aspect of nineteenth-century photography in connection to the CCA Collection
• an abstract of the research proposal (250 words)
• a brief project schedule (300 words) for a one- or two-month period of research, describing key milestones
• a curriculum vitae
• a short biography (80–100 words)
• one representative research outcome (article, exhibition, etc)
• the names of two potential referees. Letters of recommendation are not required at the time of application and will only be requested in the case of shortlisted applicants.

Candidates for the 2026 Photography Research Fellowship Program are invited to submit an application online through the CCA application portal.

Deadline: 10 October 2025 at midnight (12am EST)

You can consult the application Guidelines and Terms for more details on the requirements. Photography Fellows are selected by an Advisory Committee made up of five members who will be announced by September 2025.

The Advisory Committee will meet in October 2025 to select candidates. The results will be communicated in November-December 2025. Once granted for a specific year, the Photography Fellowship is non-renewable or transferable.

For questions regarding the program, please contact studium@cca.qc.ca.

For updates on the CCA Photography Fellowship Program, please subscribe to the CCA newsletter.