Unpublished Africa calls for a photographic series exploring architecture, urban memory, and the ways African cities record histories of change through the built environment.
21 July 2026
Open Call:
Unpublished Africa has launched an open call for ‘Streets as Archives: Second Edition’, inviting photographers from across the African continent to submit work for a forthcoming group photography exhibition. The exhibition seeks projects that examine architecture and the built environment through the lens of street photography, revealing how cities preserve histories of resilience, migration, aspiration, and transformation.
Institutional Context:
Organised by Unpublished Africa, ‘Streets as Archives’ positions African cities as living repositories of memory and experience. The exhibition encourages photographers to move beyond conventional street photography by considering how buildings, public spaces, and urban landscapes document social, political, and cultural histories. Through exhibitions, workshops, publications, and community programmes, Unpublished Africa supports African visual storytellers and creates opportunities for emerging and established practitioners to develop their careers.
Eligibility and Criteria:
The call is open to African photographers aged 18 and above, including both emerging and established practitioners. Applicants should submit a photographic series of three to five images that engages with architecture, buildings, or the built environment from a street-photography perspective. Projects should foreground overlooked perspectives, remain rooted in place and context, and avoid reproducing familiar or touristic representations of African cities. Applications must include up to five JPEG images (maximum 5 MB each), a 200 to 300 word artist statement, and a biography of no more than 100 words.
Evaluation Process:
Submissions will be reviewed for the strength of their visual storytelling, originality, relevance to the exhibition theme, and their ability to present African urban environments as sites of memory, history, and contemporary change.
Practical Information:
The submission deadline is 28 July 2025.
Image captions should include the artist’s name, nationality, title, and year. Applications must be submitted through the online submission form provided by Unpublished Africa.
Applications and Queries:
Full submission guidelines and the online application form are available via Unpublished Africa’s website.
