Call for contributions for the themed issue:
Arts activisms and gender-based violence through transnational perspectives.

The 1948 United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (OHCHR, 2024) states all humans are ‘born free and equal in dignity and rights’ and, ‘no one shall be subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.’ And yet, the World Health Organization (WHO 2023) reports gender-based violence (GBV) remains a ‘systematic crisis’. Several arts activist interventions across the globe have responded to the recent intensification of GBV, advocating for women’s rights to a life free of violence.

Visual arts can be instrumental in providing platforms for resistance and solidarity, giving voice and revealing the complexities of the diverse forms of GBV. We are seeking additional article contributions to a themed issue of Image&Text (University of Pretoria) that we guest edit. The issue aims to provide critical insights on arts activisms as a particular means of advocacy in exposing different forms of GBV. We are particularly interested in submissions centred on arts activist practices attending to instances of GBV in Latin America, South-East Asia, Oceania, and the Middle East.

If you are interested in contributing with your work, please submit an abstract (max. 200 words) and a short CV by 21 February 2025 to M.Photiouderby.ac.uk and bsliwinskafcsh.unl.pt. Submissions should not have been published previously and will be subject to revisions and acceptance by the editors and peer reviewers. The deadline for submissions of complete articles is 31 March 2025 to meet the timelines of the themed issue. Length of articles must be approximately 5,000 – 7,000 words (including references).

Themed issue editors:
Dr Maria Photiou (University of Derby) and Dr. Basia Sliwinska (Universidade Nova de Lisboa)

For further information on Image&Text see https://www.imageandtext.up.ac.za/imageandtext/issue/archive