Open Call for Artists

The following are the upcoming residency programs for 2025-26, and their respective deadlines.

6 to 8 week residencies from

mid October to December 2025

December 2025 to January 2026

February to March 2026

About the residency

Last Ship’s residencies are opportunities for the experiencing the heartland of ancient India, in a unique small, intense region that is probably the only place in India that has prehistoric and historic sites showing the evolution and links from the Mesolithic through the golden age of the Indian civilisation all the way to the present.

Photo courtesy RB van Heesch

This is the region between the UNESCO World Heritage site Khajuraho, and Kalinjar, a yet unknown hill, fort and temple, roughly at a distance of 134 kms.

Because of being cutoff from the the progress and urbanisation that the rest of India has been going through, this region has kept a lot of its natural and archaeological beauty and ecosystems intact. But this is fast changing. The relentless march of progress, and the changes India is now going through with its complex political and ideological shifts, is changing this landscape.

Please read the following very carefully

Residency features

The residency at Last Ship does not ask for a tangible outcome from the artist. The artist can choose to create work or not, or may spend time in contemplation, research, exploration without tangible results. What is expected is respect for Last Ship, and some degree of participation and engagement with its community, as much as the artists personal space and own rules of engagement permit.

Selected artists will have to bear the costs of their travel to and from Khajuraho, and of their work material and production costs as applicable. No stipend will be provided. The costs of accommodation, food and local travel will be borne by Last Ship.

Artists will be required to stay with Last Ship at any of its spaces within the Khajuraho-Kalinjar region for the whole agreed duration of their residency, and not be permitted to travel outside unless required for work or an emergency.

• Life in the residency

  Each residency program will have two to three artists selected. It is designed to be a residency that provides the peace, solitude, and focus for the artist to think and create. The unique mix of the intense energy of the thousand year old temples and the laidback simplicity of rural India can clear the mind of a lot of programming, and almost always makes artists go through a journey of self exploration and realisation, with enlightenment as it is seen in India, not the Western definition of enlightenment, being an inevitable part of discussions very often.

  To that end, not all artists may seek the same kind of experience. Some artists seek community, which is a very popular trend in a lot of residencies, with shared meals and experiences. Others may seek solitude. So the dynamic of each group of artists will be created by the artists themselves. Last Ship and its team plays a background role in this, so that artists can find their own way. Above all, the choices of each artist must be respected by the rest.

  So, it could be either a silent residency of solitudes, or a gregarious one of sharing and community, or anything in between. This is up to the artists. Our team will participate, or be available for conversation, or as a sounding board, as the case may be.

• Life outside the residency

  For the sake of safety, artists are requested not to form friendships and relationships with local people in Khajuraho, unless they are verified by our local staff. Khajuraho has a history of being suddenly exposed to western tourist in the hippie generation arriving in Khajuraho for sex and enlightenment. It is not so much anymore, but as soon as a foreigner is spotted alone, men try to leech on and try and become friends, with the goal of getting money or sex or both.

  It has been difficult sometimes to convince some of our artists from the west that the innocence, simplicity, trust, emotional openness, etc. that they have just encountered on the street from someone who has introduced themselves and maybe invited them home, or to a wedding , or to a secret beautiful place is a lie, when a part of them is responding strongly to a kind of human connection being offered that they have never encountered before. Especially the complete acceptance and seeming subservience and devotion that is being offered. It is very similar to the westerners experience in Thailand, in that case, western men.

  Just like if a economically poor stranger walked up to you on the street in New York, L.A., Berlin or London and wanted to be your friend and take you home or someplace else, you are required to do the same sane thing. Walk away!

• Noise!

  Khajuraho is also a religious site for Hindus, and now a very popular wedding destination for Indians who want a loud wedding. Noise pollution laws are ignored so that locals can make money out of the weddings of rich Indians from the rest of the country. On days when there are weddings, and sometimes for no reason at all, there is a lot of horrendous deafening noise of really bad music blasted on mobile sound systems which use public address speakers as tweeters for the high range, and humongous earth-shaking subwoofers for the bass, with not much else in between, or prayers and chanting on public address speakers from random houses and temples.

  All this is not all the time; it is off and on. Some days and nights this is there, some it's not. Some parts of the day it's there, some not.

  When it's not, it's heaven, because all else is exactly like it has been for the past fifty years in the case of the little town around the temples, and for the past thousand years in the case of the temples, and the past thousands of years in the case of the atmosphere because there has been no development here. No traffic, no modernity, just ancient India.

  The rooms where the artists will sleep are away from the town center and almost completely soundproofed, and the day work studios offer some degree of insulation from noise, but artists are advised to carry some kind of ear plugs to keep out noise when it gets noisy.

• Work

  While tangible outcome is not expected from the artist, nor necessary, in case the artist is creating some amount of artworks, it is expected that they will donate one or more artworks for the Last Ship collection and community. Last Ship is entirely self funded and does not receive any outside funding, nor is it affiliated to any other body. It is a labor of love, and the work given by the artist should reflect a giving back of love to the ship and the community.

  This is only in the case when work is created by the artist.

Each artist will be provided

• A private furnished studio with a work sink and toilet, fully accessible 24/7, at Last Ship, less than 20 meters away from and in front of the 999 BC Viswanath Temple. The studios are part of the Last Ship space, along with a shared study/library, and other guest accommodations. They are also suited for sleeping over, with a couch/bed, and food available.

• All day food and drink from our on site outdoor/indoor restaurant, coffeeshop and bakery.

• A large room with a comfortable bed and attached toilet at the Last Ship farmhouse on our 2 acre farm about 20 minutes away from the residency. The farm has two shared bathrooms and a shared kitchen, with a lot of outdoor sitting space. This will be shared between the two or three artists of each program, so there is ample space.

• A bicycle, and shared use of a car and driver, coordinated with other artists/guests (usually 2-3 others).​

• A dedicated artist page on Last Ship's website.

Application procedure

Applications should be emailed to jmilastship@gmail.com. They should include the following:

1. ​An artist's statement describing your work and motivations. What is important is what the artist stands to gain uniquely from Last Ship, and/or Khajuraho/Kalinjar.

2. Images of recent work, or extracts from video and/or other media, with captions.

3. A CV/Resume.

4. A statement describing your plans if offered the residency. These plans can be changed during the course of the residency.

5. Any other relevant documentation.

6. A cover sheet with name, contact address, email and telephone numbers, along with the preferred date of arrival in Khajuraho for the start of residency, and confirmation that you will stay in Khajuraho for a duration of two months from that date.

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Selected artists will be notified by email by within a week after each deadline. We are unable to reply individually to other applicants.