VICE Magazine’s Incredible Women-Only Photo Issue

In the editor's letter that opens VICE magazine's photo issue, photo editor Elizabeth Renstrom writes about the "patient eye" that every great photographer has. It's "the eye that finds the just-so mise-en-scène that discovers a moment of grace between people in horrible circumstances," she writes. "The eye that tells a new truth. It also happens that, this year, all those eyes belong to women."

VICE's photo issue regularly puts together a unique and compelling mix of images. This time, each image is from a woman's perspective. This isn't VICE's "girl issue," Renstrom clarifies. It's a collection of artistic and journalistic images that all come from a global female perspective. Not every image is of or about women, but every photo fulfills the goals of Renstrom and the magazine's editor-in-chief Ellis Jones: lessening the deficit in representation of female artists.

The 184-page issue features the work of 38 female photographers. For Renstrom and Jones, it was important to showcase a mix of veteran and up and coming talent, and images from around the world. Inside, there's a photo series about women of color forging their identities in college, photos of barber shops in little Sudan, ghouls and werewolves, and hidden gems that were packed away for years before appearing in the publication.

"A lot of our motivation always comes from having those young photographers that we think are doing great work, that we’d like to work with more and kind of help jump-start their careers," Jones said. "But at the same time, we also want to nod to the older generation that are more established photographers who have done so much already, who are amazing and who we love."

VICE's photo issue — the magazine's 15th — also features a special collaboration with Instagram. A series of 19 minute-long shorts will be posted between August 1 and August 25.

Ahead, check out 10 images that showcase the variety of work selected for VICE's photo issue, along with quotes from our interview with Renstrom and Jones about the magazine.