While political events dominate the news, every day the individual enters into small battles with life, yearning for recognition. In this Special issue of PIX, titled RENEWAL, we seek a depiction of the search for one’s own significance in the changing political landscape. These may be images of family life that never make it to newspapers or magazines – about personal victories and unavoidable defeats. It is about Afghanistan beyond the headlines. 

In an attempt to generate a new language of cultural engagement within Afghanistan, this call for submissions seeks to focus on social norms, personal lives, family, migration and gender through documentary and conceptual art practices.

We would like also like to explore emerging strains of practice that could unravel how visual culture and local photo-traditions may have changed through social media interventions and other practice- driven initiatives, as an alternative glimpse at evolving histories of representation that run parallel to news media, in a country where documentary and evidence photography have more likely been the predominant forms.

Some of the larger questions the issue may address are: What emerging trends tell us about the country’s new cultural agendas and visual trajectories? How will such images add to our understanding of realities on the ground? Can current visual developments shape the way we explore Afghanistan’s changing social fabric? 

NOTE: The call for submissions is open to photographers from any nationality, though the work must be related to Afghanistan as a geographical location. Special features may also include submissions from Afghani photographers residing outside the country.