RISE Africa Annual Photography Showcase Competition

The RISE Africa Annual Photography Showcase encourages imaginative and novel thinking to collectively envision the futures of African cities. It aims to promote citizen photography and grassroots storytelling, as well as curated photo-journalism, as a way to excite and encourage citizens and decision makers about their homes. The resulting photography entries will be used to elicit ideas from city officials, urbanists, decision-makers, private sector and civil society who will explore and engage with the exhibition through a number of workshops. These annual showcases intend to produce realistic, novel and positive demonstrations of Africa which are curated from within.

In order to achieve this, ICLEI Africa will be running an annual photography competition to which anyone who is passionate about the future of African cities is encouraged to contribute. Each year there will be a new theme to explore key thematic areas of RISE Africa.

Themes

• RISE Africa is framed around Inspiring Action for Sustainable Cities and will explore the following themes:
  • Africa is the 21st century changemaker – global outcomes of sustainable urban development
  • The urban continent – exploring AU Agenda 2063
  • Covid-19 in the City – how a global pandemic realigns the priorities and visions for the future
  • Facilitate and demonstrate – the role of local government in shaping collaborative movements
  • They built this city on stocks and flows – promoting productive urban resource consumption
  • Smarter cities for empowered citizens – behavioural science for wellbeing
  • Climate crisis and the cities – embracing a new normal of uncertainty
  • Urban intelligence for the discerning decision maker – using sound data and evidence
  • Looping the cities into the global circular economy – key principles for urban resource management
  • Good development is good business – private sector roles in urban wellbeing
  • African wisdom in the digital present – traditional knowledge for modern living
  • Shaping and owning urban African narratives – using media, art and literature to rewrite the African city
  • The nature, the city – enhancing the benefits of urban ecosystem services
  • Bouncing forward – crafting resilient societies
  • Financing the future [of the cities] – unlocking investment for transformative infrastructures and services
  • Collaborate Create Celebrate – promoting the individual and collective actions

Theme for 2024: Everyday Possibilities…[from neighbourhoods to cities]

• The environments are dynamic storytellers, ceaselessly whispering tales of interconnectedness, resilience and untold narratives. From the bustling cityscapes to the serene wilderness, every corner, every rustle and every ray of sunlight carries a profound story waiting to be unravelled. In conversations between individuals and their cities, the simplest materials often hold unlimited potential through imagination. A piece of chalk can transform a pavement into childhood nostalgia, or in the hands of a teacher inspire a generation of thinkers and doers. As African storytellers, they are raised on parables steeped in symbolism, bringing larger-than-life ideas into the homes. That same storytelling tradition can reveal the power of tangible, everyday actions working towards thriving urban spaces in images and languages that resonate with the experiences.
• This year, the RISE Africa Photography Competition invites you to listen closely to your cities, your neighbourhoods and the streets coursing through them. Question your daily experiences and see the possibilities your environment presents to the world around you. Tell a story about the transformation of everyday elements of urban life in the collective hands of passionate, creative people in pursuit of adaptable, prosperous African cities.
• This theme can be explored through literal representation or creative abstraction, celebrating the present or exploring the future — and everything in between. As a creative catalyst, your images could consider questions such as:
  • Which inspiring people, places and projects in your everyday life can serve as examples for others to follow?
  • When seen through a different lens, what new possibilities does your urban environment reveal?
  • How can the imaginative use of light, colour and composition champion the existing triumphs and limitless potential of your African city?

Eligibility Criteria

• All entrants must be over the age of 18.
• Entries must be photographic in nature (still images captured using a camera) — no other media form will be considered.
• No synthetic or artificially generated images are allowed. The use of smart tools or AI-powered enhancement tools is permissible (e.g. colour correction or contrast adjustment), as long as these tools do not significantly change the image as a whole, introduce new information to the image or remove information from the image that was captured by the camera.
• The content and context of the images must be of, or in, African cities.
• Images must not be degrading to the dignity of the subject.
• Please, only share portraits with permission. All images received will be deemed to have been taken and submitted with the necessary permission of their subjects.
• No images in which children are identifiable by their faces will be considered eligible.

For more information, visit RISE Africa.