CfP: Special Visual Essays Issue on More-than-Human Perspectives in Visual Communication

Call for Papers: Special Visual Essays Issue on More-than-Human Perspectives in Visual Communication

We use the term more-than-human, originally coined by philosopher David Abram (Abram, 1996), to frame this special issue. The concept has long resonated across disciplines, including art, science, and environmental philosophy. While non-human refers to entities other than humans, it still defines them in opposition to the human, reinforcing a binary between nature and culture. In contrast, more-than-human extends beyond this binary. It encompasses both living and non-living entities, such as animals, weather patterns, rocks, and landscapes, as vital actants in the world’s entangled systems.

This perspective challenges species hierarchies, dismantles the nature–culture divide, and expands our understanding of we. Being human means living within interdependent ecosystems, where relationships with other beings and matter are vital. As Bruno Latour and Peter Weibel (Latour and Weibel, 2020) describe, we all reside in a "critical zone", a thin layer of the Earth’s surface and atmosphere where life occurs. We do not observe it from a distance; we exist within it. We are not visitors in nature, it is our home. We live together.

The more-than-human perspective invites post-humanistic, post-materialist, and feminist viewpoints, offering broader, more inclusive horizons that have sparked discussions across disciplines, including visual communication. Yet, visual communication remains largely dominated by human-centered paradigms, focused on the exchange of information for human consumption (Borthwick et al., 2022). At the same time, the field is evolving, embracing new forms of representation such as augmented (AR) and virtual reality (VR), AI-generated imagery, non-human biological actors, and hybrid media formats. Visual communication can thus offer powerful ways to foster participatory and collaborative experiences between humans and more-than-human entities, enabling co-existence through rich, multisensory forms of media (Bennett, 2010).

Despite this potential, the more-than-human discourse remains largely rooted in written academic texts. There is still limited exploration of how to express this perspective through visual communication practice, how it might be embodied, illustrated, or interrogated through visual forms that convey its nuances.

Therefore, this special issue invites contributions that respond to the broad question:
How can visual communication engage with more-than-human perspectives through visual forms, and what are the implications of doing so for understanding visual communication practice and visual epistemologies?

This call is multidisciplinary in nature, welcoming responses from artists, designers, researchers, and visual communicators working in studios, laboratories, fieldwork, residencies, and other creative or research contexts. In this special issue, we are particularly interested in visual submissions, but are also open to a limited number of conventional research articles. The journal regularly publishes visual essays and we encourage you to review recent examples, as well as the 2011 special issue focused solely on visual essays. Potential contributors should consult our journal submission guidelines: https://journals.sagepub.com/author-instructions/VCJ

Important Dates:

Because of the focus on visual essays and the requirement for design and production, these dates are non-negotiable. 

• Special issue call release: December 2025
• Extended abstract submission deadline: 20 January 2026 (Please email abstracts to VCJ Special issue 2027 editor, Dr Juhri Selamet at vcjspecialissue@gmail.com)
• Notification of extended abstract acceptance/rejection feedback: February 2026
• Full paper submission: 15 September 2026 (Submission of Manuscripts to VCJ Manuscript Scholar System: https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/VCJ)
• Peer reviews completed/expected resubmission: Mid-November 2026
• Final acceptance expected: January/February 2027
• Special issue publication: August 2027

Please submit an extended abstract of 700 words  (including key references) along with indicative images (3-5) outlining the main argument and proposed contribution of our special issue call. The abstract should clearly explain how the full submission will address and contribute to the aims of this special issue. The images should demonstrate why the contribution is best published as a visual essay. Abstracts should be submitted via email to the special issue editor, Dr Juhri Selamet at vcjspecialissue@gmail.com

References

Abram D (1996) The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-than-Human World. Pantheon Books.

Bennett J (2010) Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things. Duke University Press. Available at: https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9780822391623/html (accessed 14 June 2025).

Borthwick M, Tomitsch M and Gaughwin M (2022) From human-centred to life-centred design: Considering environmental and ethical concerns in the design of interactive products. Journal of Responsible Technology 10: 100032.

Jewitt C, Van Leeuwen T, Triggs T, et al. (2011) Editorial: Visual Essays. Visual Communication 10(3). SAGE Publications: 251–251.

Latour B and Weibel P (2020) Critical Zones: The Science and Politics of Landing on Earth. MIT Press.