Deadline for proposals extended to 28. April, 2022.

Photography has proven to be a productive (even overproductive) subject and object of histories. Both the photographs themselves and the act of photographing anticipate the processes of storytelling, of constructing a connection between social groups and their understanding of time, of past, present and anticipated future. Consequently, examining the question of what kind of socio-historical connection photography offers – or, more precisely, attempts to offer – is of paramount importance.

Such critical enquiry can focus on the role of photography in our understanding of history/histories, question photography as a historical endeavour itself, or examine photography as a means of challenging existing histories or actively creating alternative histories. These issues are by no means new. The uncovering of alternative histories, marginal voices and peripheral visions is as important today as it was when they were being explored in the last decades of the 20th century. However, changing social and economic conditions call for a reformulation or expansion of the questions being asked in order to take into account the changing conditions of social communication (e.g. algorithmization), the changing nature of the media, the assertion of knowledge (e.g. “alternative” facts, post-truth), the resurgence of undemocratic forms of governance (e.g. illiberalism) and the restructuring of neoliberal capitalism (e.g. platformisation, techno-feudalism, etc.).

Membrana Vol. 7, No. 1, 2022 welcomes contributions addressing (but not limited to) the following topics:

– Questioning the evidential aspect of photography.
– Photography, factuality and evidence in the post-truth society
– Photography and the narration of alternative histories
– Alternative histories of photography
– Photography, history and power (of dominant institutions)
– Photographs between traces of history and traces of historians
– History as (re)creation (historiography and visuality)
– Photography and collective memory
– Vernacular visual archives and alternate histories
– Visual archives, social movements and counter-publics
– (Re)interpretations of visual archives
– Photography in the social sciences and humanities
– The colonial and postcolonial legacy of photography
– Historiography, visual culture and politics
– The construction of the “Other” in place and time

Format of contributions

• Essays, theoretical papers, overview articles, interviews (approx. 2,500–6,000 words), visuals encouraged
• Short essays, columns (1,200–3,000 words), visuals encouraged
• Photographic projects and artwork: proposals for non-commissioned work or samples of work

More information about the contributions can be found at: https://www.membrana.org/guidelines-for-authors/. The contributions will be published in the English edition – journal Membrana (ISSN 2463-8501; eISSN: 2712-4894) and/or in the Slovenian edition – magazine Fotografija (ISSN 1408-3566; eISSN: 1855-8941).

Proposals and deadlines

The deadline for contribution proposals (150-word abstracts and/or visuals) is April 28, 2022. The deadline for the finished contributions from accepted proposals is July 4, 2022. Please send proposals via the online form or contact us directly at editors(at)membrana.org.