2026

The Right to the City through Street Photography

Kyrgyzstan

“Peshcom” Public Foundation

In Kyrgyzstan, there is an urgent need to foster a more attentive and responsible attitude toward the urban environment and to broaden residents’ participation in understanding and shaping urban spaces. Street photography offers participants a safe and accessible tool for observing, expressing themselves, and discussing how the city functions in everyday life: how comfortable streets and public spaces are, how mobility is organised, how the city adapts to climate change, how access to water and air quality are ensured, whether there are “third places” for communication and leisure, how architectural traditions and contemporary design coexist, and which groups of residents remain less visible.

Project goal:

To train young people from different regions of Kyrgyzstan in street photography as a tool for exercising the right to the city, and to highlight pressing urbanisation challenges in four regions of the country (air quality, access to water, adaptation to climate change, the presence of “third places”, architectural traditions and contemporary design, and related issues) through a final photo exhibition and other visual formats.

Project objectives:

To engage at least 60 young people from the Osh, Issyk‑Kul, and Naryn regions in working with street photography and the right to the city.

1
To prepare and publish at least 5 photo reports on the urban environment, everyday life, and urbanisation in Kyrgyzstan’s regions.

2
To organise a final photo exhibition in one of the project’s regional cities (Osh, Karakol or Naryn) with a public discussion of the urban issues raised.

3
To produce a photo zine and postcard sets featuring participants’ works to promote street photography and increase the visibility of regional authors.

4

Main activities:

Development of a unified three‑day workshop programme and training materials on the right to the city, documentary photography ethics, and street photography techniques.
Delivery of three regional workshops in Karakol, Naryn and Osh, combining theoretical sessions, photo walks and public displays of participants’ work (photo‑drying and other formats).
Implementation of a dedicated photo‑reportage workshop with an invited mentor and selection of the strongest series for publication.
Curatorial work to select and prepare photographs for the final exhibition, photo zine, and postcard sets.
Preparation and publication of project materials on the website to ensure open access to information about the project, its participants and its visual outputs.

Main activities:

Development of a unified three‑day workshop programme and training materials on the right to the city, documentary photography ethics, and street photography techniques.

Delivery of three regional workshops in Karakol, Naryn and Osh, combining theoretical sessions, photo walks and public displays of participants’ work (photo‑drying and other formats).

Implementation of a dedicated photo‑reportage workshop with an invited mentor and selection of the strongest series for publication.

Curatorial work to select and prepare photographs for the final exhibition, photo zine, and postcard sets.

Preparation and publication of project materials on the website to ensure open access to information about the project, its participants and its visual outputs.