cizucu Presents “Peace, From Here” | Challenge #404

“Peace, From Here” is a global online photography contest presented by cizucu and open to all creators registered with cizucu. By curating outstanding works from among the submissions, the contest aims to discover emerging talent through the platform and foster support within the community.

This edition’s theme is “Peace, From Here.”
Perhaps it begins with recognizing the peace that already exists around us.

We often see the world through sweeping narratives. Words such as gender, nationality, and religion can help us understand others, yet at times they can also obscure the individual standing before us. Before we realize it, we may find ourselves viewing events unfolding far away through a predetermined narrative.

Yet when we turn our attention to our immediate surroundings, we find time spent with others, the familiar journey home, and landscapes that remain quietly unchanged. The word “peace” may sound grand, but perhaps its contours can be found in these unassuming moments of everyday life.

Begin where you are. Notice the small forms of peace close at hand and preserve them through photography.
Then, through that single work, let your thoughts travel to someone a little farther away or to a place you have yet to encounter.

Through photography, show us the “Peace” you have discovered in your own “here.”

danceforallthepain

cizucu Editorial Team
Could anyone fail to cherish this moment? Confronted by the sense of responsibility that permeates this work, we can only look on. Raising a child is among the most precious human experiences, as it means engaging directly with life itself. At the same time, contact with such a small and vulnerable life can evoke complex emotions, bringing us face-to-face with loneliness and a profound sense of solitude. Even so, this is a time—and a moment—we want to continue protecting. We were especially drawn to the atmosphere of lived experience that emerges precisely because of the work’s raw, grainy quality.

Clementi

cizucu Editorial Team
Could this be a scene from an old-fashioned beauty salon in rural America? The passage of time that runs through this work feels distinctly unlike that of other photographs. It may once have been an unremarkable snapshot of everyday life, but for us today, it is an important fragment—one that recalls a sense of time and space forgotten amid the rush of contemporary life.

k_filmkim

cizucu Editorial Team
This work is full of humor, yet there is also something subtly dissonant about it. The term “workation”—combining work and vacation—has become popular in Japan, but amid the demands of our busy lives, there may be moments when we unknowingly hurt someone. Work is only one part of life. Even so, the sight of two people sitting by the sea in business suits may, ironically, be a distinctly contemporary vision of peace.

Uliana Buravlebva
The alpaca gently presses against the hay, as if finding in its dry warmth a place of calm and safety. In this fragile scene, one can feel sincerity and vulnerability.

cizucu Editorial Team
Animals and humans alike instinctively seek places where they can sleep in peace. Perhaps that place is the bed to which we return each day, repeating the simple rhythm of waking and sleeping.

cwyeh_film
“A Taste of Summer”

cizucu Editorial Team
Every country and every place has its own summer scenes that we hope will never disappear or fade away: a boy catching insects, children playing in the sand by the sea. Children always seem to be an integral part of such landscapes. These are scenes we want to protect for generations to come.

【Submission Period】
Saturday, August 29–Monday, September 28, 2026

【Selected Artists Announced】
Around Thursday, October 8, 2026

【Prize】
Complimentary admission to the “photo poster project” presented by cizucu (two recipients)

【How to Submit】
・Select the “Peace, From Here” contest
・Tap “Agree to the Submission Guidelines and Post”
・Select the content of your post and submit your work

【Jury Criteria】
(1) Engagement with the theme: Does the work respond to the stated mission?
(2) Clarity of subject: Does the work communicate what the photographer seeks to express and convey their intent?
(3) Expressive quality: Does the work demonstrate a compelling perspective, composition, balance, focus, use of color, and other formal qualities?
(4) Decisive moment: Has the photographer successfully captured the right moment and timing in relation to the subject?
(5) Originality: Does the work demonstrate an inventive approach to its setting, subject, or other elements?