PLATFORM 2020 x Through the Lens Collective: Call for Entries
POINT ZERO
An 8-month photography studio for women photographers across Africa & SWANA
We’re inviting women photographers across Africa and SWANA to build a body of work inspired by Nawal El Saadawi’s searing novel, Woman at Point Zero. Not as a tribute, but a spark. A permission slip. A refusal.
This programme is for photographers who are done asking politely. For those making images that confront the systems that shape women’s lives: patriarchy, colonial residue, state violence, religious policing, family silences, “honour”, economics, the surveillance of bodies, the price of survival. For those who want their work to carry both beauty and bite. Tenderness and teeth.
Saadawi’s writing doesn’t decorate reality, it exposes it. It names the structures that profit from women’s fear and the private spaces where power hides. This programme asks: what does it look like to translate that clarity into photographs? Not performative empowerment, but authored, embodied, politically awake work.
“They said, ‘You are a savage and dangerous woman.’ I am speaking the truth. And the truth is savage and dangerous.”
“A new world was opening up in front of my eyes…”
Why Nawal El Saadawi
“I want nothing. I hope for nothing. I fear nothing. Therefore I am free.”
Nawal El Saadawi (1931-2021) was an Egyptian feminist writer and physician who spent her life naming what power tries to hide. She wrote like a blade: not to comfort, but to reveal. Woman at Point Zero is her groundbreaking novel based on the real life testimony of a woman imprisoned in Egypt - inside a system designed to break her. It’s a story about violence, survival and the cost of truth. It’s not a gentle book. It’s a clarifying one. And we’re using it as a provocation: what becomes possible when you stop asking for permission?
What you’ll make
A photo project (new or in-progress) that takes Woman at Point Zero as a starting point and a guiding force. Think of it as a line, a rupture, a question that builds outward into your own context: your home, your history, your community, your archive, your daily life, your resistance. Work made from what you know, what you’ve lived, what you’ve witnessed.
We welcome documentary, diaristic, staged, archival, experimental, poetic work as long as it is authored.
What we’re calling in
Work that refuses the tidy frame. Work that doesn’t sweeten itself for institutions, funders, audiences or the gaze.
We’re drawn to projects that can hold complexity without blinking. Experiences carried through images that express rage and softness, pleasure and grief, contradiction and truth… and still stay precise.
A Studio rhythm, made by women for women
Led by Laura El-Tantawy (PLATFORM 2020) and Michelle Loukidis (Through the Lens Collective). Two women, two ends of the continent, North Africa and South Africa, bringing our communities into the same room. We’ve spent decades making work, mentoring photographers and building creative spaces rooted in empathy, rigour, care and truth-telling. This collaboration feels both natural and necessary: a studio shaped by women who understand the stakes and the possibilities.
“She no longer fears anything, for everything which can hurt her, she has already undergone.”
Who the programme is for
Women photographers across Africa and SWANA (based there, from there or deeply connected) who want a serious studio container: committed, protective, politically awake and held by other women who understand what it takes.
If you’re carrying a project that needs a stronger spine, a sharper ethic and a steadier rhythm, this is for you.
Studio Rhythm
This is a held, rigorous container. A monthly rhythm of critique, 1–2–1 support and peer pods that keeps you accountable to the work. It culminates in a digital zine and online showcase, with midpoint and final talks to bring the projects into the world.
-
Every month includes:
Group session: live critique, prompts, practical next steps (Laura & Michelle)
Monthly 1–2–1: one month with Michelle, the next with Laura
Virtual peer-to-peer breakout sessions: small pods for accountability, solidarity and honest feedback between the main sessions
Plus two public moments:
Mid-programme online talk (moderated by Michelle & Laura): Q&A with participants and spotlight on works-in-progress
Final online talk (moderated by Michelle & Laura): a closing showcase with participants presenting final work
-
A refined edit and clear project spine
A collective digital zine featuring participant work
A curated online showcase on PLATFORM 2020 and Through the Lens Collective websites
Visibility and context through the midpoint and final talks
-
A sliding scale that keeps it accessible while honouring artistic direction, curation and production:
$150: Solidarity rate
$200: Standard rate
$300: Sustainer rate (supports solidarity places & zine/showcase production)
“My skin is soft, but my heart is cruel and my bite deadly.”
How to apply
Short proposal: Tell us what you want to make & how El Saadawi’s influence is guiding your approach
10-20 images OR a clear starting point if early-stage
Short bio and link to your work
Bring us work that tells your truth, “savage and dangerous” as it may be. We’ll select for clarity of intent, courage, depth and voice. Work that feels like it could only be made by you.
All quotes used are from Nawal El Saadawi’s Woman at Point Zero.