Can you do something with old photos from Djerba?
Join us in reimagining Djerba’s heritage for today and tomorrow
SEE DJERBA is a community-driven initiative dedicated to promoting environmental awareness, reducing waste, and fostering innovative forms of cooperation through public art. SEE DJERBA invites artists, researchers, and creative practitioners worldwide to participate in the SEE DJERBA Photo Project, a collective reflection on Djerba’s natural and cultural heritage through the lens of historic and vintage photography.
The land of Djerba is both a foundation and a living archive. It holds the traces of ancient settlements, agricultural practices, and the ongoing negotiation between tradition and change. Earth as a material connects to questions of heritage, sustainability, and belonging. Artists may explore how land is shaped, cultivated, divided, and remembered, as well as how environmental pressures threaten it.
With the Photo Project, we aim to foster new perspectives, encouraging a sense of exploration and discovery that transcends clichés and familiar narratives. Djerba’s unique position in the Mediterranean has shaped its history, settlement patterns, and ways of life. For centuries, communities on the island have adapted to a semi-arid environment, developing ingenious systems to manage scarce water resources and cultivate the earth. This symbiotic relationship between people, water, and land has given rise to a distinctive cultural landscape, as reflected in the island’s architecture, agriculture, and social organization. As both a life-sustaining resource and a source of ecological tension, water on Djerba is precious and contested. The island faces increasing water stress due to climate change, population growth, and tourism. Recent solutions, such as seawater desalination, raise new ecological and social questions. Artists are invited to reflect on the material, symbolic, and political dimensions of water—its scarcity, its abundance, its role in ritual and daily life, and its impact on the island’s future.
We are seeking artistic interventions that utilize historic and vintage photographs from Djerba as a source for new artistic reflections. We are interested in creative practices that use photography and film as artistic media, transcending the well-known clichés and the often-repeated images and stories.
Vintage Resources
Participants may use any vintage photographic materials.
Please ensure that all images are free of royalty conflicts.
If you need assistance to find amterials, please contact us asslema()seedjerba.net
Participation
Open to all interested in contributing to a collective exploration of Djerba’s heritage, where ecological, socio-cultural, and aesthetic layers intersect. We are welcoming both emerging and established artists, as well as collaborative and interdisciplinary projects.
Formats
Artworks can be submitted as
— Prints (must be provided in printed version)
— Analog slides (for display with slide or overhead projectors, slides must be provided)
— Digital images (for screen display or projection)
Submission Guidelines
Submit media artworks that can be presented as prints, slides, or digital projections. Works should engage with the outlined themes and demonstrate conceptual depth, aesthetic quality, uniqueness, or site-specific relevance. Collaborative and transdisciplinary approaches are encouraged.
Eligibility
Open to artists working in photography, video, digital art, new media, and related fields. International participation is encouraged; both solo and group submissions are welcome.
How to Apply
Prepare a draft or sample of your proposed artwork.
— Include a concise concept description (max. 300 words) outlining your approach and its relevance to the project themes
— Share with us a brief artistic statement or summary of your artistic practice
— Provide us with a link to your website and Instagram account
— Submit your application and sample images to the SEE DJERBA team via email: asslema@seedjerba.net.
Selection Criteria
Conceptual strength and relevance to the themes, aesthetic quality and originality, technical feasibility for the intended display format, and site-specific or context-sensitive approaches.
Jury
The SEE DJERBA Curatorial Collective, including curators Aymen Gharbi and Bettina Pelz, along with Fairouz Nouri, Johanna Baumgart, and Khadouja Tamzin from the MOMENTUM CURATORIAL PROGRAM.
Timeline
Online Info Session
13 JUL 2025 2:00 PM — 3:30 PM
Contact us to receive the link asslema()seedjerba.net
Submission Deadline
31 JUL 2025
Displays
14 — 16 AUG 2025 Houmt Souk
17 AUG 2025 Guellala
Documentation
We will provide high-resolution image documentation from all works that will be presented in Houmt Souk or Guellala.
Funding & Fees
We don’t provide any financial support or a fee for participants.
Info
For further information, technical requirements, or to access the image pool, please contact us asslema()seedjerba.net