The project is inspired by photographers sharing ‘hidden treasures’ from their archives during lockdown.
Experienced writers often give the advice to ‘kill your darlings’.
It describes dropping an element of your narrative that you love and worked hard to create to make the overall story stronger.
This project is about celebrating those darlings.
“I am thrilled that Spectrum is working with EEP and MACARONIBOOK on this open call,” said Spectrum director Hazel Watts.
“I am really looking forward to seeing the variety of work brought together in the special edition zine.”
The capacity to love
An early submission is by Greek photographer Yorgos Kapsalakis.
Speaking about his image, he said: “This picture is an analog print that I made some time ago.
“After printing it I set some parts on fire.
“The main idea is inspired by the poetic films of Andrei Tarkovsky who often uses two elements in his movies – fire and water.
“In his Sculpting in Time he writes: ‘I see it as my duty to stimulate reflection on what is essentially human and eternal in each individual soul, and which all too often a person will pass by, even though his fate lies in his hands. He is too busy chasing after phantoms and bowing down to idols. In the end, everything can be reduced to the one simple element which is all a person can count upon in his existence: the capacity to love. That element can grow within the soul to become the supreme factor which determines the meaning of a person’s life. My function is to make whoever sees my films aware of his need to love and to give his love, and aware that beauty is summoning him’.”
#donotkillyourdarlings
The open call is for Eastern European photographers. To enter, tag your work with #donotkillyourdarlings on Instagram or email submissions@eepberlin.org.
Include details of when and where the image was taken or the project it is part of.
Entries close on May 15.
A zine, produced by MACARONIBOOK, will feature the best submissions.
EEP Berlin is working in partnership with visual artist and publisher Camille Carbonaro on the concept and design.
Spectrum Photographic will produce a limited-edition print collection of the chosen images for a Berlin exhibition at the end of the year.
Sixty per cent of each sold print will go to the artist. The remaining 40% will cover production costs and shipping.