Open Call for Female Photographers in the Western Balkans: Framing Peace Behind the Lens

What does it mean to see peace — and who is given the space to define it?

In many smaller and post-conflict communities across Bosnia and Herzegovina and Western Balkans, access to cultural and creative platforms remains uneven. Particularly for women and girls, opportunities to engage in public dialogue, articulate their perspectives, and contribute to shaping collective narratives are often limited. This absence is not only a question of representation, but of participation and agency: of who is able to imagine, question, and influence the social realities we inhabit.

Within this context, photography and visual storytelling hold a particular potential. As mediums that transcend language and institutional barriers, they can open spaces for reflection, challenge dominant narratives, and foster forms of dialogue that are both personal and collective. Yet, despite this capacity, they remain underutilized in many of these communities.

At the same time, women photographers and cultural practitioners continue to be underrepresented in both institutional frameworks and public-facing platforms. Their perspectives on peace, resilience, memory, and everyday life are often absent from the visual narratives that circulate most widely. This absence shapes not only what we see, but how we understand the world around us.

Framing Peace: Women Behind the Lens emerges as a response to these gaps.

This open call invites women photographers and visual storytellers to engage with the concept of peace as a lived, contested, and evolving condition. Rather than approaching peace as a fixed or idealized state, this platform seeks to explore its complexities: its tensions, contradictions, and transformations. We are particularly interested in works that engage with themes of everyday peace, invisible labor, memory, intergenerational dialogue, and the subtle negotiations that shape coexistence in post-conflict and transitional societies.

Through this Open call, one selected project will be supported and presented within the framework of the Sarajevo Photography Festival, and further amplified through platforms of initiative “Women Lead the Way Towards Peace and Security in Bosnia and Herzegovina”. In doing so, the initiative aims not only to increase visibility, but to contribute to a broader conversation on whose perspectives are recognized, and whose stories are carried forward.

To frame peace is not only to document it: but to question it, expand it, and, perhaps, to reimagine it.

What are we looking for?

Participants are invited to submit:

• A single photograph or
• A photo series (3–10 images)

All submitted work must be original and may not be older than 3 years.

 Submission guidelines

We encourage submissions that:

• explore peace as a lived, everyday practice
• engage with themes such as memory, resilience, coexistence, and identity
• challenge dominant narratives and offer alternative perspectives
• reflect voices that are often underrepresented
• are grounded in authenticity and ethical storytelling

Selection & Prize

• One project will be selected by a jury of experts in photography and cultural practice
• Selected work will be showcased within the Sarajevo Photography Festival
• Total prize: 1000 BAM

Eligibility

• The call is open to women photographers and visual storytellers
• Submissions can come from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Serbia, Kosovo*, Montenegro, North Macedonia 

How to apply

Applicants should submit:

• A single image or a series (3–10 images)
• Project title
• Short project description (100–300 words)
• Artist bio (up to 150 words)
• Contact information

To apply, please submit all of the above to [email protected] with the subject line: Open Call Submission – Framing Peace Behind the Lens.

 Timeline

• Open Call Deadline: 27 May 2026

 Additional notes

• Images should be submitted in high resolution 
• The artist retains full copyright of submitted work
• Selected works may be used for promotional purposes with full credit
• Incomplete or late submissions will not be considered

“Framing Peace” is part of a broader initiative “Women Lead the Way Towards Peace and Security in Bosnia and Herzegovina”, jointly implemented by UN Women, UNFPA and IOM, in cooperation with the Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the support of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Peacebuilding Fund (PBF).