Why Tender Photos Matters

Learn more about our new project

In the last three months, Tender Photos has been proud to feature the work of our brilliant editorial fellows. Those features will continue next week. Today, I’d like to share some more about Tender Visions, our new commissioning project.

When I launched the Tender Photo newsletter in 2022, my interest was in dialogues between photographers and the meanings and impact of their images. We have come a long way since then: the tripartite format of the newsletter has enabled us to develop a dynamic collection of photographs and commentary by 170 photographers from 30 African countries. In addition, on occasion, we have engaged writers, asking them to find patterns in the published images and reflect on their choices. Those collaborative forms of criticism and attention (including Correspondences and Kindred) has shaped our sense of how our platform can develop. At this point, I would like to thank you for supporting the newsletter with your subscription and your engagement.

Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ and I are working on building Tender Photos as a digital platform for African visual storytelling. This will continue to include the Tender Photo newsletter as well as other projects and exciting partnerships we have lined up. The first of these is Tender Visions, the commissioning project we announced ten days ago.

Tender Visions is our most audacious step forward. Through it, we hope to invest in cross-disciplinary conversations between photographers and writers, visual storytelling and literature, and between communities in Africa and their diasporas.

Having the means to match resources with ambition—through the generosity of the Open Society Foundations—enables us to think not just about scale or quantity, but a deepened engagement with the visual culture of the African continent. The project will enable us work with a select group of photographers and writers over the course of a year, culminating in extensive dialogues with the local communities in which the photographs are taken.

We have more to say about what our aims for Tender Visions are, and how you can be a part of it. If you are interested in applying—or you have applied and wish to know more about the project—join us on Saturday for a webinar. Sign up here.

The world is immersed in a deluge of both real and synthetic images. It matters to be literate about photographs, to be aware of the context in which they are produced, and their relevance in an age of artificial intelligence. In addition, the need to present nuanced and layered perceptions of the African continent remains as cogent as ever. Both facts, combined, make the work of Tender Photos urgent and vital.

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Two additional opportunities that might be of interest

• No Wahala! Magazine has launched an open call for Issue 4 of the magazine, inviting African photographers to submit photography projects exploring what spirituality means to them. Learn more here.

• Apply for PARA, a fellowship supporting new critical writing about contemporary art. The project is organized Sharjah Art Foundation, in collaboration with Alkazi Foundation for the Arts, Asia Art Archive and Contemporary And (C&), targeted at emerging and mid-career art writers living and working in Asia and Africa. Learn more here.

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The TENDER PHOTO newsletter is the flagship project of Tender Photos, a digital platform of African photography, founded by Emmanuel Iduma and Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀. Our aim is to engage with life on the African continent through photography. We publish narratives about the people, places, and events pictured in photographs, contributing to nuanced and layered perceptions. The newsletter also read on web (best for viewing images), and via the Substack iOS/Android apps.

Every Wednesday we feature a photograph, a short caption about it, and a statement from the photographer. In the past, we have published commentaries or photo-essays in response to photographs previously featured on the newsletter, including CORRESPONDENCES, CONCORDANCE, KINDRED, INDEX, and AFFINITIES.

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