For the third edition of Hamwe Festival, the University of Global Health Equity and the Kigali Center for Photography call for submissions from emerging, mid-career, and established African photographers for a photography exhibition documenting African experiences and responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

This exhibition will contribute to the documentation of these unprecedented times which laid bare cracks within our societies, communities, systems, and possibly, within ourselves. These visual stories will discuss the challenges as well as the ingenuity and strength of individuals and communities by highlighting how, amid the major disruptions engendered by COVID-19, innovation, creativity, and solidarity emerged. 

Curation and Guidelines

• Hamwe Festival and the Kigali Center for Photography will be curating this exhibit, providing free printing and framing for all of our exhibitions.
• We will select photo projects comprising 4 to 20 photographs.
• Selected projects will be awarded $250 each, adjustable to the size of the project.
• Approximately 35 images will be showcased in a physical gallery with 40 more exhibited online. Amongst those images, some will be reproduced in a print catalog and remain permanently on our website.

For valid entries:

• Each submission will include the photographer’s most recent CV, a short biography and links to the photographer’s website and social media handles
• Photographers will submit their images in projects made of  4 to 20 photographs each
• Each project will be named and be accompanied by a short description 
• Photographs will be saved and submitted as JPEGs.
• Each photograph will be 2 MB or less and saved at 300 dpi with a minimum of 3000 pixels on the longer side.
• Only digital photographs will be accepted. There should be no watermarks, identifying marks, or names of authors written on the photographs.
• Each photograph will be accompanied by a caption relevant to the image
• Each image file will be saved as: ImageTitle_by_FirstName_LastName. 
• Photographs will be submitted as a compressed file (.zip) via WeTransfer to the following email address: pandemicinsights@ughe.org

Please direct any queries to hamwe@ughe.org

Entry Deadline: September 27th, 2021

Notice of Acceptance: October 5th, 2021

Exhibition Dates: November 12th – November 17th, 2021