£12.00
Contra is a not-for-profit arts magazine exploring the relationship between visual culture and conflict.
What grabbed us about this issue...
Protest is the theme and Kara Walker is the name to find first. Her silhouette work has long operated at the intersection of race and resistance. Santiago Sierra brings a different edge. His practice is built around confrontation, labour and the systems that make exploitation possible. Raqs Media Collective are worth seeking out too. The Delhi-based group work across theory and practice in ways that give the theme a different cultural geography.
Who’s Contra for?
Contra is one for when you want to sit with something difficult rather than scroll past it. Published in print deliberately, each issue takes a single subject and gives it the space that digital media rarely allows. You can tell this is made by people who believe in the image as a tool for understanding rather than illustration. This would suit you if you’re drawn to documentary photography and visual art with a strong sense of purpose. Think of it as an arts journal with a conscience. It’s one to reach for when you want to feel genuinely informed by what you’re looking at.
Type: Long-form, visual read
Pages: 128
Instagram: @contrajournal