In Place of Home

 We are pleased to announce our second open call: In Place of Home, curated by guest editor Azadeh Behkish. This dossier began several years ago and spans the pandemic and the movements that followed.

After publishing Behkish’s ongoing project, The Lingering Experience of the Abandoned, and concluding the first editorial cycle of the magazine, our attention turned to alternative spaces—artistic and communal projects that take “home” as their center or point of departure.

These homes—informal, makeshift spaces—have emerged in Iran’s cultural landscape in the absence of accessible public venues. Whether serving as galleries, workshops, schools, or gathering places for readings, screenings, activism, or discussion, they have played a vital role in sustaining creative and social life.

In a country where public space is contested, the fragile agency of individuals has sought to counteract dispersion and disconnection. These homes have not only hosted exhibitions, but have also become their subject. As the housing economy inflated and urban life became increasingly inaccessible, homes were repurposed—film locations, memory capsules—awaiting gentrification, coveted by their owners, and increasingly out of reach for tenants.

Some homes have offered warmth, light, and inspiration—spaces of intimacy, creativity, and care. Others have become sites of trauma: silent witnesses to domestic violence, places of repression, or even scenes of torture and murder—particularly targeting dissidents, women, and queer individuals. The fragility of shelter, both physical and emotional, becomes stark in such contexts. These contradictions remind us that “home” is never a neutral space—it can nurture, protect, or betray. It can be sanctuary or threat, refuge or trap.

The overlapping crises of housing, war, migration, and exile continue to reshape the very idea of “home,” replacing it with other forms: shared languages in exile, temporary shelters, refugee camps, disaster tents. Alongside stories of displacement are narratives of hospitality—people hosting others, willingly or not, fleeing conflict and collapse.

In Place of Home explores these layered experiences through interviews conducted by Azadeh Behkish with artists currently living in Iran, and through an open call for contributions from our wider audience.

Sorkhoshi Magazine: Second Open Call

Theme: In Place of Home

This dossier, curated by guest editor Azadeh Behkish and editor-in-chief Amirali Ghasemi, seeks to reimagine and redefine the notion of “home” as a refuge, a site of everyday resistance, a stage for violence, or a temporary haven. We are seeking works that explore spaces that have emerged in place of home—cultural hubs formed during pandemic isolation, shelters for the displaced, witnesses to domestic violence, or vessels of collective memory amid urban gentrification and socio-political rupture.

We welcome submissions of:

Photography Projects

Text: essays, short story, nonfiction, poetry, narratives, or critical writing (max. 2,000 words)

Moving Images: short films, video essays, animations, or clips (max. 5 minutes)

Submission Guidelines

Focus: Works should engage with Iran’s socio-cultural or political landscape—directly or indirectly.

Deadline: August 22, 2025

Send to: sarkhoshimagazine@gmail.com

Formats:

Text: .docx, .doc

Images: .jpg or .png (2048 px on the long edge)

Video: .mp4 (max. 1 GB or send a download link)

Rights: By submitting, you grant Sorkhoshi Magazine non-exclusive rights to publish your work in print and/or online.

We look forward to your contributions.